Colour Out Of Space

There's a scene about 1/3 of the way into Colour Out Of Space where a maniacal Nicolas Cage slamdunks his entire crop of tomatoes into the kitchen bin while profanely ranting in front of a horrified Joely Richardson. It's something to behold and something only he could pull off. It's easily the most normal scene in this wacked out new film from Richard Stanley based on the famous H.P. Lovecraft story.

With two cult hits under his belt (Hardware and Dust Devil) Richard Stanley was offered a chance to direct a new film version of H.G. Wells 'The Island Of Dr Moreau' in 1996. From the start the production was a disaster, studio execs didn't agree with his vision and the film's two leads, Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando were living up to their awkward reputations. The film had all the signs of being a disaster so Stanley was fired and replaced with John Frankenheimer. Unsurprisingly the film was dire and Stanley didn't get to direct a feature film for 24 years after. Now he's back and going on what he does here I hope he stays around a bit longer this time.

The Gardner's are having a miserable time. Theresa is recovering from a mastectomy that she feels has taken her youth and her sexuality. Not helping her recovery is the move she's just made into the countryside with her husband Nathan and her kids Lavinia, Benny and Jack. Nathan's attempts at growing tomatoes and raising Alpaca's for a living are laughable and the valley they are living in has a terrible internet signal damaging her attempts to keep in contact with her work clients. Lavinia has turned to wiccan magic in an attempt to help her mother get better and Benny is coping with all the madness by smoking a lot of weed. One night an object comes screaming out of space and lands smack bang in their front yard. The problems they've all been experiencing lately are about to feel very minor indeed.

Nicolas Cage has always been fun to watch but latter day Nicolas Cage is a joy to behold. It's like he flipped the "don't give a fuck anymore" button in his head and his performances have become more and more crazed in the past few years and this new outlook suits the material here perfectly. It's a story where very little is explained and everything leads to more questions. Anyone looking for satisfactory answers here will be annoyed but this one's all about the bonkers journey. Do you like a bit of existential dread in your films? Have you every wanted to see what happens when an alien force fuses two people together? Well now you will. Ever wanted to see Nicolas Cage letting loose with a shotgun in a barn set homage to John Carpenter's The Thing? This is the movie for you. Have you an interest in Lovecraftian lore and his whole Cthulhu mythos? This might interest you so. Do you hate the sight of Alpaca's and love 70's weed heroes? Oh man you're gonna love this.

One thing I like about Stanley's return to film making is his embracing of old school film making techniques especially practical fx. Far too many horror directors these days lean into CGI and it never looks right and always takes you out of a scene. Practical make up effects and gore will always add a visceral, wrenching edge over digital techniques. There's things you'll see happening in this film that will give you a proper gut reaction and you'll feel a smidge of what the characters in the film are feeling. That feeling of madness, fear of the unknown, feelings of disgust, feelings that make this into, for me, a pretty damn successful adaption of Lovecraft's work. Too many times in the past adaptions of his stories have been held back by anaemic and uninspired direction but Stanley lets the good times roll here and we get the oomph as a reward. You'll particularly enjoy his building towards an aesthetic and sticking with it til the bitter end. Eye candy a-gogo.

In selected cinemas now. Definitely not for everyone and some of it will disturb but if you want a solid slice of gooey chaos you won''t go wrong with this.