By You guys liked Mandy right? I didn’t really… But Guillermo del Toro did!
MANDY: Crazy. Good. Crazy Good. Gorgeous. See it. pic.twitter.com/KnSeTfEffo
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 16, 2018
He’s way more reliable than me! Well take note, weirdos, because Mandy production company SpectreVision and everyone’s favorite bad lieutenant Nicolas Cage are reuniting for more cosmic weirdness. And that’s just the start of the good news.
HP Lovecraft’s short story “The Colour out of Space” was published in 1927, telling the story of a remote Massachusetts community plagued by a meteorite that struck the grounds nearby. Flora and fauna mutate, weird stuff happens in wells, and people start to get got, son. It’s about your usual Lovecraft.
Cage, almost channeling his gonzo Internet meme persona into actual films, is seemingly on the up after years of on-demand releases. He’s joined by Joely Richardson (Red Sparrow, Nip/Tuck) and Tommy Chong (Up in Smoke) in his latest trek into madness.
Directing our romp through the hills of New England is none other than South African filmmaker Richard Stanley. “Who dat,” I hear you ask. I had to double-take myself when I read the name. Stanley is responsible for the cult sci-fi horror Hardware (featuring my all-time favorite cinematic robot; sorry, 3PO) and equally-obscure and gritty horror western Dust Devil. I implore you, dear reader, to seek these out. They’re trashy in just the right ways, and feature some really bizarre visuals and styling on Stanley’s part; a taste of what’s to come!
Yet for the devoted video store following of those films, Stanley is almost better-known for a movie he didn’t actually make. The troubled production behind the Marlon Brando-led Island of Dr. Moreau originally had Stanley on as director, but the whole thing was such a mess there’s even a feature documentary on it. I’ve not seen it, and actually don’t know the specifics of the production, but I’ve heard it’s a real humdinger.
But it’s great to see Stanley back in the saddle after an apparent hiatus from mainstream film for some twenty years, and while I wasn’t randy for Mandy, the audience it’s reached naturally leads one to hope for a similar success story with Color Out of Space. My real hope for all this is a rediscovery of Stanley’s earlier films, and some effort to make them more-readily available… A guy can dream (scheme)!
Nicolas Cage to Star in Horror Movie ‘Color Out of Space’ [Variety]