Color Out of Space (2019)

Written by CinemaSerf on March 23, 2024

The "Gardner" family hope to escape the rat-race by moving to a rural New England farm where they can settle and enjoy the peace and quiet. Ha, not for long though. A giant meteorite crash lands into their garden and before long it seems to be exuding a menacing glow that is corrupting all it touches. "Nathan" (Nicolas Cage) and "Theresa" (Joely Richardson) are initially more perplexed than anything else, but gradually he starts to lose his grip on reality and what ensues becomes more dangerous for just about everyone as the alien entity encroaches with a clear desire to take over the place - if not the entire world. There are some fun moments in this, not least from the hammy Cage who just let's run with his character and from the young "Jack" (Julian Hilliard) who obsesses about his pal in the well whilst his mother carelessly amputates a few of her fingers! It looks ike it might be down to their ageing hippie neighbour "Ezra" (the scene stealing Tommy Chong) and to the visiting "Ward" (Elliot Knight) who seems to be able to keep a clear head - he also fancies the daughter, to rescue them from a fate worse than death. The visual effects are basic and rely heavily on colour, splodges of goo, and shotgun fire and there is maybe a little more comedy here than director Richard Stanley intended as the films starts to take the shape of a 1970s edition of "Dr. Who". It is watchable, and Cage just about holds it together - but the story is strung out far too thinly and the pace struggles to keep going for all but two hours.