Movie Review: Color Out of Space

So, last night I went to an advance showing of Color Out of Space. If you don't know, it is based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story by the same name, though HP used the Commonwealth spelling.

The movie opens up with a passage from the short story: "West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight." I'm sure more of the first paragraph of the story was used but I can't quite remember exactly.
The movie also ends with a quote from the story, "What it is, only God knows. In terms of matter I suppose the thing Ammi described would be called a gas, but this gas obeyed laws that are not of our cosmos. This was no fruit of such worlds and suns as shine on the telescopes and photographic plates of our observatories. This was no breath from the skies whose motions and dimensions our astronomers measure or deem too vast to measure. It was just a colour out of space—a frightful messenger from unformed realms of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes."

I'm not going to discuss the story that much, but the characters are very well acted, and you really learn to care about them and want to see them escape. There were some good humorous moments that I think were more of the great chemistry and writing for the actors. The family feels very real and you get the sense that they have indeed grown up together. The verbal sparring between the older brother and sister felt very real. I really loved was the absence of jump scares, which saturate the modern horror genre. The tension just builds and builds till the climax with a satisfying ending.

The effects were very well done in giving the Color a bizarre and mind bending appearance. The special effects team and editors did a beautiful job creating this haunting yet beautiful atmosphere. The team definitely was inspired by the effects of Annihilation (2018). Though Annihilation clearly was inspired by the Colour out of Space short story.

Another thing that I loved is all the easter eggs for fans of HP Lovecraft. I didn't feel pandered too and they fit in. For example, the hydrologist wears a Miskatonic University shirt. It was done in a great way, and I smiled every time I spotted an easter egg.

If you like horror and like HP Lovecraft, this movie is a must see. I look forward do Richard Stanley's next foray into Lovecraftian horror, "The Dunwich Horror".