Entertaining adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft's work are, in my estimation, few and very far between. While I've been pleasantly surprised by a few films over the years, for the most part movies tapping into Lovecraft's work tend to feel like they're miles away from the cosmic horror themes that saturate most of the author's stories. Five years of working at a video store and taking home anything that promised to delve into the Cthulhu Mythos have, I confess, made my approach to these kinds of films rather antagonistic. They have to prove themselves to me.

That bit of explanation given, it was just such an attitude I brought when I sat down to watch 2020's Color Out of Space. After about fifteen minutes, the film broke past my antagonism and hooked me. I was drawn into the narrative, which, while diverging from Lovecraft's short story still maintained that approach of cosmic horror that the author pioneered. I've become cynical enough with modern films that I kept waiting for the film to jump off the rails and sacrifice all that it had done right for some unsatisfying wrap-up. Fortunately this was far from the case and I'm the first to say I'm pleased it exceeded my expectations.

“The Colour Out of Space” has been adapted a few times before. The most notable will be Die, Monster, Die from 1965 with Boris Karloff and Nick Adams. That film transplanted the story to a decaying manor in England and, while the limitations of effects work at the time can be excused, the disjointed and often abrupt pacing of the script isn't so easily forgiven. Not even the presence of a horror legend like Karloff was enough to salvage the movie from being a mere curiosity rather than a classic. Much more successful was the 'old time radio' adaptation created by the crew at the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society for their Dark Adventure Radio Theatre series. That adaptation put the story back in the place and time of the original story, to great effect. It is useful to mention these particular versions as they, along with the text itself, form the material against which my judgment of the 2020 film is founded.

Color Out of Space opens with hydrologist Ward Phillips (Elliot Knight) interrupting a Wiccan ceremony in the woods conducted by Lavinia Gardner (Madeleine Arthur), so from the very first frames of the film there's an occult vibe being established. Lavinia is irked by Ward's interruption and angrily tells him he's on private property. Ward responds that he's conducting a survey for the county, explaining his presence in these remote woods. Instead of remaining with Ward, the narrative follows Lavinia back to the Gardner farm where we're introduced to her father Nathan (Nicolas Cage), mother Theresa (Joely Richardson) and brothers Benny (Brendan Meyer) and Jack (Julian Hillard). The story lingers long enough to develop these characters and their relationships with one another. Then the meteorite hits in the dead of night.

The advent of the meteorite is, of course, the linchpin for everything that will follow. The mayor from Arkham comes out to inspect the strange object and it isn't long before news-crews arrive to report on the rock from space. However, it's already too late, as the strange rock has disintegrated overnight, seemingly vanished without a trace. Ward returns and makes the acquaintance of the other Gardners during this time and Benny leads him to a shack in the woods where Ezra (Tommy Chong) lives, a hippie squatter left over from when Nathan's deceased father owned the farm.

Those familiar with Lovecraft's story will know that there was a cosmic essence within the meteorite, manifesting as a strange color. As in the story, this color seeks shelter in the darkness of the Gardners’ well and from this bastion, its corrupting radiation begins to change everything in the vicinity, eventually escalating into an apocalyptic fury.

Color Out of Space does a magnificent job of gradually building the strangeness and tension. Director Richard Stanley is to be applauded for the restraint to allow his film the right amount of pacing to maintain that feeling of mounting dread. As the corruption spreads, it warps not only matter but time and space, creating moments when not only are characters uncertain of what has happened – or when it has happened – but the audience is drawn into that same sensation of being out of sync. The more physical manifestations of the color's presence are likewise handled with care. I was very surprised by just how much of the effects work was practical as opposed to computer-generated. And some of the things here are truly gut-wrenching in their design. As a fairly jaded horror viewer, I can honestly say that the last time I saw a monster that physically repulsed me was in 2006's The Host. There are things in this film even nastier than the ichthyoid mutant in Bong Joon Ho's movie.

Just as much horror is drawn out of the performances, however. Nicolas Cage is well-known for an eccentric style and it works great here in displaying the collapse of his mind into madness. For instance, early on he tells his children a story and does an impression of his father. Later, he starts using this 'father's voice' when his grip on sanity wanes. All the other actors are well-fitted to their roles and for the most part deliver in all their scenes. Even the apparent comic relief role of Ezra takes an ominous turn and the contrast between where the character starts and where he ends is still another crooked angle in the film's non-Euclidean geometry.

I'm a hard one to please when it comes to movie adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft, but Color Out of Space hit all the right notes for me. The cosmic horror is there and for once it balances the slow usurpation of normalcy with the monsters and madness. Certainly the story has been moved forward to current times, but the core of Lovecraft's tale is very much there.

C.L. Werner has had nearly thirty of his novels published by Black Library/Warhammer since 2003, where he is especially known for his tales of Matthias Thulmann: Witch Hunter and Brunner the Bounty-Hunter. Werner has also written several tales of his sword-and-sorcery protagonist, Shintaro Oba. He hopes to see a collection of his Shintaro stories published soon.