color out of space

WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!

Insanity, madness, horror, beauty, and surreal existential dread thread it's way through this atmospheric nightmare! The movie opens with adapted text from the original work of Lovecraft, setting the mood with his rhythmic prose and a hauntingly atmospheric wilderness where shadows creep and what little light there is streams in on clear beams that catch the pollen and makes them sparkle like stars in the daylight. It is shortly after this that we are introduced to the Gardner family.

Having recently left the "City", the Gardners hope to adapt to their country living and use the rich farmland around them to raise alpacas. First we meet Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur), the earthy and somewhat new age teen daughter. Her older teen brother, Benny (Brendan Meyer) is a pot head sneaking tokes in the barn. Her youngest brother, Jack (Julian Hilliard) is an adorable scamp. Their parents are Nathan (Nicholas Cage) and Theresa (Joely RIchardson). The family has just experienced the prolonged death of Nathan's father by cancer while Theresa is still recovering from her own cancer treatments.

Also living on the property is an aged hippy, Ezra (played to brilliant effect by Tommy Chong). Ward Phillips (Elliot Knight) is a young researcher performing tests on the Water tables in the area for an upcoming project that will dam the surrounding region  and provide a major source of water to the surrounding area.

Into these lives comes a meteor that crashes in the back yard of the Gardner home, spreading an iridescent "Color" that defies description- at times seen in hues of purple, pink, hints of gold, and sometimes even blues- this color seeps into the soil, melts into the water, and slowly begins to transform everything it comes in contact with. And forget what you think you know about horror films- you won't see the quick jumps every ten minutes, you won't be beaten over the head with an explanation, and most of the film barely holds together with a constant thread that allows the viewer to fully understand everything that's happening. This is the real horror of Lovecraft- the inability to describe what the experience is but to know that you are experiencing it. And there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Color out of Space takes liberties with the story itself, but it hits on all the familiar points where the story goes. The vegetation grows quickly, lushly, and large- but it's foul and does not nourish. The animals are changed- at first only slightly, and then more dramatically- and horrifically. The almost slow and methodical burn finally explodes when something happens near the barn, and the film never lets go from there. Cage's performance, which could be over the top and ridiculous, works in a film like this- where his erratic behavior is part of the transformation the entire family is experiencing. The finale is breath-taking, beautiful, haunting, and terrifying.

10 out of 10

The Grudge (2019)

This is the Grudge as I never thought I could see it. The formula is completely different- instead of a husband having killed his wife and son, this story apparently eschews tradition and the wife is responsible for killing the husband and the daughter. Very different from before in that they just switched the genders. Also, remember how the croaking from the first film came from the death rattling last breath of the victim with the broken neck? This time, it comes from all the ghosts and especially from the drowning victim who didn't have a cat. Totally different. And remember the creeping, crawling, moving closer within inches ghosts from the previous films? This time they appear out of nowhere and show off spastic shaking heads as if they were lead guitarists in a speed metal band. And only for a split second before cutting to show us they're not "really" there. Totally different.

This version of The Grudge is entirely different from any of the others in that it wasn't really a Grudge film as much as it was a Smudge film, just sort of barely recognizable as the Grudge and only if you squint real hard and remember the first film.

The story, on the other hand, works perfectly well and is suited to the original material. The performances aren't bad and the pacing is at least consistent. A detective mourning the loss of her husband moves to a new town with her young son, she is immediately drawn into a mystery when a body is found on the outskirts of town. The body's last known address was at the house where a recent string of deaths (Murders and suicides) have taken place. Lin Shaye continues to solidify her increasing reputation as the Godmother of Horror and should start to be spoken of with the same reverence as Vincent Price Peter Cushing, and Boris Karloff with her appearances in the genre. She is a true horror Icon.

So I am unsure of whether I've spoiled the whole thing for you, but I insist that the numbers 9 and 4 should be repeated ad infinitum in every Grudge movie from now until eternity. There's plenty of room for an improvement... maybe from watching the first Grudge film and maybe trying to do the things that actually WORK from those films rather than pretending any of this mess did.

5.49 and not a strong recommend, but not necessarily an "avoid". Still, I can't really insist that it's anything great.

2019 TOP TEN LIST

Here is my best of the year, with a countdown. 2019 was a challenging year. I'd rather not dwell on it as I nearly cut my blog out entirely, but I still enjoy watching films. I really love maintaining my lists on Letterboxd.

10. Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Long live the King! Kaiju madness erupts in this incarnation of Godzilla, which picks up where the last film left off and finds humanity struggling to survive and explore the giant monsters that lurk beneath the Earth. Enter Mothra, Ghidora, Rodan, and others- a total of 17 Titans are mentioned to have been found and humanity's time on our little sphere may have come to an abrupt end.

9. Polar:

Based on a graphic Novel produced by Dark Horse comics, "Polar" is a fairly standard Assassin taking out his former employers story. Mads Mikkelson is the Assassin, and it's a fiarly kinetic, fun, and amusing little comic book style story.

8. The Furies

A gruesome and fairly twisted flick about several women who are kidnapped and hunted by several masked killers for the sport and entertainment of others. It's a gory spectacle that is elevated by the pure artistry in the gore effects, including a terrific defacing of one victim.

7. It: Chapter Two.

While it doesn't succeed in capturing the same momentum of the first film, the continuing story manages to remain faithful to the book and has a few decent sequences of it's own. Bill Hader's performance is terrific and Jessica Chastain carry the weight of the majority of the film, but James McAvoy somehow manages to fail in capturing the charm of Bill.

6. Shazam!

So few films are willing to embrace the warmth, innocence, and pure fun that comics have long held for children. Many of our current films try to twist these heroes with jaded and "edgy" interpretations, from the Justice League to the Avengers- there is a sense of something dark and haunting about our heroes. Then- There's Shazam! And Billy Batson is the pure and unadulterated look at what it should mean to be a child in the eyes of a child, even one as frustrated and edgy as Batson.

5. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark:

Based on the collected works compiled by Alvin Schwartz, this film manages to creep, crawl, and worm it's way into the imagination to become one of the most effective genre films of 2019. It's PG-13 rating doesn't work to diinish the creepiness of the film and it's lack of patently offensive gore and vulgarity does not reduce the impact of the scares.

4. Avengers: Endgame

Pure spectacle, Endgame brings back our heroes for another go-round in the MCU. Five years after their failure to stop Thanos, the Heroes reunite to try and set back that which went wrong. They don't want to change the past as much as return those who have been lost to the world they left behind. Fun adventure, lots of plot holes, a number four on my list for good reason.

3. REady or Not

Pure fun.

2. Alita Battle Angel

Holy crap, this movie had EVERYTHING in it!

1. One Cut of the Dead

If there was one film I want people to see from this year, this movie is it. But you have to stay with it for the whole run- you can't leave because you think it's boring, you can't leave because you don't quite get what's happening... everything is answered in the movie and it's well worth the wait and the watch. I guarantee you have never seen anything like this before.