What I was hoping for from Color Out of Space…
After watching the trailer for Color Out of Space, I pretty aggravated with the direction the writers chose to go with this movie. I wanted to see a period piece set in the late 1900th century with the characters in the story. Unfortunately, we won’t be getting a direct adaptation of the story released in the September 1927 issue of Amazing Stories. Not even the bright words “By Author H.P. Lovecraft” will convince me that “Based on a Story” isn’t looming in the background.
What we know so far…
The Gardener family move to a rural area after their life in the big city. When the patriarch of the family, Nathan Gardener (played by Nicholas Cage), tries his hand at farming, a meteorite begins to change the surrounding vegetation. The strange light emitted from the meteorite marks a change for the Gardner family as the land seems to become polluted leading to strange changes among the residents of the farm.
What seems to be the differences…
Between the story and movie, the same theme still exists. The time period is clear in the trailer. We’re dealing roughly around our own era (basing this mostly on the older son’s computer). The Gardner family has changed one member of the family, that of a daughter in place of the middle son. The names are different for all of the characters.
What will remain the same…
A lot of the downfall of the farm seems to play out the same. The animals, presumably what’s under the tarp, are going to start decaying. The absence of the Mother, Theresa Gardner (played by Joely Richardon), in the latter half of the trailer seems to foreshadow a similar fate as her story counterpart. The children beginning to develop there madness and Nathan Gardener succumbing to his own decay all follow the story.
What can only be guessed…
There is still a lot left out of the trailer. I’m assuming the character Ezra (played by Tommy Chong) is the Ammi Pierce of this story. It would make sense since the idea of Ammi is that he’s suppose to be crazy. Maybe this character got a bit more exposure to the meteorite. Why he’s a shaman? That I can’t guess.
The character Ward Phillips (played by Elliot Knight) looks like he’ll be the scientist from Miskatonic University. I can’t quite make out the symbol on his back (0:47), but it’s appears to be crescent moon with a letter in the middle. Possibly an “M” or Miskatonic or an “A” or Arkham. It seems Ward will end up getting attacked by one of the many corrupted trees (1:54). A quick note, Ward Phillips was one of H.P. Lovecraft’s pseudonyms.
The daughter of the family, Lavinia Gardener (played by Madeleine Arthur), will play a big role in this telling. Though that role isn’t very clear, the glowing eyes and rune in her forehead seems to point to something bigger. None of the characters in the original story were ritualistic in any way but the name Lavinia leans to another story.
Lavinia Whately is the daughter of Wizard Whately in H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror. If this film is trying to build up a tie in to other stories, that might make the new telling worth it.
Is Color Out of Space Worth Watching?
I can’t say I’ll be the first in line at the movies to see this but I will check it out. I think that despite the success of Mandy, the critic reviews (6.5/10 IMDB; 85% Rotten Tomatoes; 66% Metacritic as of Dec 19, 2019) will probably speak true to the general public’s opinion.
