Jonah Matukewicz

I’ve had a book full of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories sitting in my room for a while now but I have only read a few stories, such as *Dagon. *I am curious to read *Color Out Of Space *now to see how it stacks to its film adaptation. From what I know of Lovecraft’s style of horror though, I feel this film should’ve focused much more onto the actual cosmic horror of the color itself breaking down reality around the characters instead of having it occupy the bodies it “touches”. Then again though I have not read the original story, so if the same thing that happens here happens there then I guess my point doesn’t stand.  This film was quite beautiful at times, and honestly that’s what makes it scary. It’s fascinating to see how something so vibrant could be so indifferent. The acting was subpar aside from Nicolas Cage. I think he did a pretty good job portraying a man consumed by denial and madness in the face of something beyond comprehension.  I just feel disappointed by what I think this could’ve been.

Can’t help but give this the benefit of the doubt. I loved this movie when I was a kid and I still love it now. Such a fun time.

This film had a few really great moments but they get drowned out by the dull rest. The twist at the end was pretty interesting to see as well.

*“The box. You opened it. We came.” *         Clive Barker’s Hellraiser proved to be quite the surprise to me. To start off, I found the ideology of the Cenobites to be quite interesting, merging pleasure and pain into one universal experience. They torture those who open the box not out of malice but out of exploration, expanding them beyond the boundaries of one-dimensional slashers and adding to their cosmic mystery. Their designs are also awesome, I like Pinhead and Chatterer the most. I feel that their designs feel the most mutilated and out-there, making them look and feel aligned with their ideology.           I also found the story to be quite entertaining as well. Despite her twisted actions I honestly couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Julia, as despite her love for Frank she also seemed scared of him in the beginning. To me, it felt like Frank was forcing her to be in love with him, but she eventually did fall in love. Then again, only a little sorry for her, she and Frank 100% deserved what was coming for them. Especially Frank. Speaking of him, the practical effects used to recreate him looked amazing, even by today’s standards. He looked almost life-like, but that cannot be said for some of the other practical effects. The creature that chased Kirsty through the Labyrinth in the hospital looked rough, but I feel that can be excused again as this film came out almost 40 years ago. The characters in this were fine for the most part, but I honestly didn’t really care for them that much as I was only drawn to watching this for the Cenobites. They were honestly quite basic for the most part except for Julia and Frank and of course, the Cenobites.             The horror was right down my alley for the most part. Lovecraftian entities operating on motives we don’t fully understand? Hell yeah! The costume design was superb, elevating the Cenobites to something beyond human. A lot of the horror also stemmed from sexual themes, which I believed were done pretty well. This film was a lot freakier than I anticipated! I do find it funny though that most of this film takes place in one singular house, despite it not being a “haunted house” film.          My only main gripe is that the Cenobites didn’t appear enough! Hopefully we see more of them in the sequel. Solid horror film.