Color Out of Space
RLJE Films | Release Date: January 24, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chandler LevackJan 24, 2020
Past the surface flaws of Color Out of Space, there are shiny Cage diamonds to be found. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiJan 23, 2020
The addition of Cage to the already heady cinematic brew definitively puts it over the top, making it the kind of cult movie nirvana that was its apparent destiny from the moment the cameras started rolling. Read full review
83
The Film StageJosh LewisSep 10, 2019
The final result is a movie that feels as paranoid, cruel, ludicrous and radiation-poisoned as its characters; the kind of movie that is on an irregular and grotesque wavelength of its own making and will leave people not just in disbelief about what they just saw but what any of it meant, if it meant anything at all. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMar 6, 2020
It takes a lot for a movie to out-bonkers Cage on this kind of form. Color out of Space manages it in style. Read full review
80
IGNTom JorgensenJan 23, 2020
Color Out of Space is a delightful surprise. The film’s success is best viewed through the lens of Nicolas Cage’s increasingly deranged performance, which always entertains as it heightens, but never at the expense of servicing the story and elucidating just how dangerous the Color is. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJan 23, 2020
Using shape-shifting as a messy metaphor for sickness and childhood trauma, Stanley and Cage leap so far over the psychological top that they never come back to earth. By the end, my own eyeballs hadn’t changed color, but they must have looked like pinwheels. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJan 22, 2020
For audiences who don't know the books, this is a bracing, blasphemous horror that pulls you in and twists your nerves. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJan 23, 2020
Color Out of Space is full-bore, glorious B-movie Cage: Cranked up to 11, spattered with gore and bellowing about alpacas. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 23, 2020
As the Gardner family descends into madness, with the purple-pink light seemingly taking possession of the house and the grounds, director Stanley and his creative team come up with original and in some cases quite effectively nauseating touches. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJan 22, 2020
Color Out of Space is a trashy, ridiculous science fiction/horror film. It is silly, poorly written and, well, I liked it. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJan 3, 2020
Stanley does a remarkable job keeping the film grounded in emotional reality all things considered, but it’s admittedly an idiosyncratic movie about unconventional people made by an offbeat director. Read full review
75
The PlaylistCharles BramescoSep 10, 2019
Stanley ratchets up the off-kilter humor while playing down the deep melancholy present in the short story’s original text. This observation could be seen as a knock on the director’s approach, but for audiences going in with zero expectations beyond a good time, the interlaced humor feels like nothing more than playing to Cage’s unique strengths. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJake ColeSep 10, 2019
The film is a vivid depiction of how a confrontation with the unknown can so easily shatter the fragile bonds that hold us together. Read full review
73
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpJan 24, 2020
Color Out of Space feels shaggy at the edges but so rich within them that the flaws of the DIY aesthetic matter less than the merits of Stanley’s perspective. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 27, 2020
What distinguishes the latest Cage freak-out is the care with which it’s paced; not until halfway through does he start to lose his hinge, and, even when his face is sprayed with blood, he keeps his glasses on, as if hoping to settle down with a book. Oh, and, if you’ve always wanted to watch him milk an alpaca, your time has come. Read full review
70
Screen DailyJonathan RomneyJan 23, 2020
The result is a cheerfully lurid mess that goes goofily off the rails after a slow build, and will offer few surprises for adepts of Lovecraft or of screen schlock. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungSep 12, 2019
A satisfying shot at bringing a classic of the sci-fi/horror genre to modern audiences. ... Hitting the main plot points with well-designed SFX and some impressive night photography, Stanley's film manages to be frightening indeed, even with star Nicolas Cage’s semi-farcical leavening adding some nutty laughs. Read full review
65
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJan 23, 2020
As things grow more dire and mad for the Gardners, don’t be surprised if you find your eyes starting to water and your head starting to pound. It’s not an altogether pleasant experience, but it’s probably the exact sort of nightmarish, unquantifiable situation that would make H.P. Lovecraft proud. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 22, 2020
The B-movie king is in rare form in Color Out of Space, a sci-fi thriller that might have been titled “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Magenta” had horror icon H.P. Lovecraft been born a lot later, and — you know — had a sense of humor. Read full review
63
Washington PostHau ChuJan 22, 2020
As untidy and un-profound as “Color” may be, Stanley swings for the fences, when almost any other director-in-exile would have tried to get back in Hollywood’s good graces with an act of penance. Score one for the eccentrics of the world. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeFeb 27, 2020
The whole thing looks as if it was dreamed up under the influence of a quality batch of LSD. I laughed out loud at the hokiest bits. But I’ve got to admit I was sucked in and genuinely scared, too. Read full review
60
EmpireNick de SemlyenFeb 24, 2020
It’s not as effective as Mandy or The Mist, both of which it evokes at points. But Color Out Of Space is still an audacious and admirably out-there attempt at cosmic horror. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayJan 22, 2020
The movie is most successful when it ditches the particulars of the text and just grooves on how it feels to be displaced and disgruntled, stranded in a surreal mindscape that in some ways makes just as much sense as any other day on a dreary alpaca ranch. Read full review
60
CineVueChristopher MachellSep 10, 2019
If there is any real complaint to be levelled at Color Out of Space, it’s that it has more ideas than it knows what to do with. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis HarveySep 10, 2019
Entertaining but uneven, the result is a deliberately over-the-top sci-fi horror exercise that loses some focus as the action grows more psychedelically unhinged — its oscillating tone not necessarily helped by Nicolas Cage growing likewise, in one of his less inspired gonzo-style performances. Read full review
58
ConsequenceSarah KurchakSep 10, 2019
With its wacky space shit, off-kilter gore, creepy atmospherics, and hammy breakdown, most of which happen all at the same time, Colour Out of Space is, inarguably, one hell of a trip. It’s just not a trip that everyone is going to enjoy taking. Read full review
50
Original-CinKaren GordonJan 24, 2020
The movie looks pretty good, given that it’s small budget effort, and it achieves a sense of tension. But beyond that, the result is frustrating. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedJan 24, 2020
It’s not much of a story, so understandably, it’s not much of a movie, either. But for shock effects, the aliens that descend upon the Gardners are admirably grotesque and some of the special effects are admittedly hair-raising. Read full review
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