Color Out Of Space (film) - Nicolas Cage vs H.P. Lovecraft

[Neil]

agnpaFLo0to

[MinionZombie]

I watched it on Prime a couple of months back. It's a slow-burn sort of movie in the first half, but once it really starts cranking up the weirdness it gets pretty messed up and chilling.

It could have used slightly better pacing, but overall I really dug it. Great doom-laden tone, good writing overall, Cage ramped it up a bit too much on occasion but was generally good, and the whole look and feel of the movie was superb.

Definitely worth checking out!

[Neil]

Ta... I'll add it to my list ;)

[EvilNed]

I want to see it, even though I think that the hype regarding the director Richard Stanley is a bit too much. He hasn't shown himself to be that great.
Turned out he was a wife beater as well.

[MinionZombie]

Nevertheless, it's a good film (surprisingly, considering Stanley was involved in that Island of Dr Moreau arse-up), and the proceeds (i.e. what SpectreVision earn from it) are apparently going to relevant charities. And if you're going to be put-off by watching because of Stanley, then you'll not be able to watch anything Lovecraft-related, considering his dodgy past (e.g. initially a supporter of Hitler, generally quite racist in his thinking - as was sadly common in his era).

Then it comes down to the art vs the artist argument - and ultimately that's down to personal taste and tolerance. I'm quite uncomfortable with writing off art simply because of a person attached to it (considering, say, a film, that's quite the fuck-you to everyone else involved), but I can also understand how a certain someone being involved can sour the viewing experience. Any time an American film uses that Gary Glitter song (e.g. in Joker), whatever it's called, I can't help but cringe. It's probably more pronounced with, say, an actor because they're on-screen. There's actors who I used to really not like who I've changed my opinion of, and likewise there's actors who I dug who have totally turned me off.

There's many great artists of the past who'd get cancelled out of the fucking universe in a flash these days due to their personal conduct - and yet the quality of the art itself remains.

I didn't recognise the name of the writer/director personally, so I was just walking into the film as-is, really. And it was a good flick. Great atmosphere and some icky fucked up practical effects.

[JDP]

I might be wrong, but at this moment I can't recall any truly great adaptation of Lovecraft to the screen. The best ones, so far as I can remember right now, are the Night Gallery episodes based on his stories.