The Colour Out Of Space - 2010!

Die Farbe (The Color) is the finest film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space which has been made. Despite the shift of the setting to Germany in recent times, the story is mostly a flashback told by a man with (as we learn) somewhat unreliable memories. We meet a young American who learns that his father, a WWII veteran has gone missing in the countryside of Germany. He goes to find him and discovers that the area is being sunk beneath water by virtue of a new dam project and that most of the area will soon disappear. While looking for his Dad he finds a man who knew him during the war and who tells a bizarre and frightening story of a meteor which landed on a farm and slowly over time destroyed the family that lived there.

The movie is in black and white (with one exception), done on a relative shoestring so it's necessary to forgive some dodgy special effects (especially the ones which are supposed to be invisible). It was originally proposed as a final school project by two film students but when that didn't develop they made it on their own with much help from their friends. What saves the picture and makes it work is the wonderful natural setting and beautiful farm buildings. There's a powerful sense of realism to this work, key to making a Lovecraft story tick.

The exception to the black and white presentation is the "color" itself which is a weird deep pink of some kind. Set against the pale black and white backgrounds the color shimmers and attracts the eye in even the smallest dollops. The thing about the story by Lovecraft is that much is almost seen, and that begins to happen in this movie where you start seeing things which aren't really there, but  need to be for the story to happen. It's putting us in the same position as the Gardners, surrounded by the unknown and peculiar and frightening and becoming unsure of our own senses.

Many movie makers give lip service to Lovecraft and claim to want to cleave close to his vision, but few do. These guys get it and realize that the beauty of Lovecraft and the horror is that which is only suggested. We see, only dazzling hints which spark our minds to fill in the gaps in just the same way the narrator has overwritten his memories of terrifying events which have in many ways blighted his life.

If you like Lovecraft you will enjoy this film -- but be patient.

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