Nicholas Cage has been doing experimental film after experimental film, and Color Out of Space may be his most experimental one yet. He went from doing a few Blockbuster flicks to ones that have bizarre concepts. Color Out of Space is a film in which Signs (2002) is mixed with Poltergeist (1982) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with an odd concept of horror. I found myself having fun during some moments with Color Out of Space, but also consistently wondering how hard the film is trying to seem visually grotesque with crazy sci-fi elements. I believe it is more of the film’s setting that makes it strange for its audience.

Nicholas Cage plays Nathan Gardner, the owner of a farm that is hit with a meteorite that carries revealing elements for Gardner and his family. An alien force has taken over the farm. When that happens, a variety of disasters occur causing the family to experience scary situations with the animals on the farm. And, the damage keeps on growing. Color Out of Space displays weird scenarios that are not unlike Mandy (2018). That film also starred Cage and had a similar plot, but was much more disturbing with gory violence. The current movie was also quite disturbing with alien-type revelations and unexpected jump scares.

For me, Color Out of Space seemed to be more a sci-fi thriller that needs to find its audience. I had moments where I was interested and some where I was not interested, and that is not because of the film seeming weird, but instead because the acting and writing seemed to be dry. Fortunately, the visuals are top-notch. That is important and what ultimately makes people want to watch Color Out of Space. People will watch the film more for the strange plot over the acting or the writing. This is a common type of film for Cage to do. It fits him, but it felt too much like watching Mandy all over again. Alien movies (like this one) require a certain type of audience who enjoy violence with alien attacks and lots of gore. That is what Color Out of Space consists of.

After much thought, I am going to give Color Out of Space two stars. Honestly, I like to be fair and rarely bash movies. However, this movie is close to two hours of experimentation with many ridiculous scenarios consisting of animals and people’s weird behavior, all because of a meteorite. I wish there would have been better rationale for how the conflicts evolved which is why I viewed the film to be a below average experience.