andyajoflaherty

Somewhat loosely based on the H. P. Lovecraft novel of the same name, Color Out of Space follows the Gardners - a family living out on a farm in the middle of nowhere who are struggling to make ends meet. Their life turns upside down though when a mysterious meteorite crashes by their house, mutating everything around it. Initially creating some otherwordly and beautiful flora, things take a turn when the wildlife also starts mutating... including the family...

H. P Lovecraft stories are notoriously difficult to adapt to the big screen thanks mostly to his cosmic horror monstrosities being almost impossible to adapt visually, but this film does a valiant effort. The visuals of this film are incredible, with the otherworldly colours being represented by a bizarre pink/purple hue that forever changes, a bit like when you look at the surface of a bubble and its all weird and multicoloured depending on the angle. The practical monster effects are also pretty awesome, and I must say the main 'mutation' that occurs at the beginning of the final act will stay with me for a long time, it's truly, truly disturbing.

Elsewhere we have some great performances, with Nicolas Cage going full on Cage in the final act, and even the rest of the cast are pretty good. The story itself also holds up pretty well despite being originally written almost 100 years ago. It's a testament really to how disturbing and timeless Lovecraftian horrors are.

All in all if you are in the market for a truly disturbing cosmic horror then you can't go far wrong with this. Recommended.

Horror Express follows Professor Saxton (Christopher Lee) as he transports the fossilised remains of an unknown creature back to Europe via train. Thing is, the creature soon thaws out and goes on a rampage. They eventually kill it, but people still keep dying. What on Earth is going on?

Horror Express is notable in horror circles because it features both horror icons Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in dual protagonist roles. Is it any good though? Oddly enough, despite this film being a decade older this is very similar in tone and plot to The Thing. In fact many people refer to this as 'The Thing on a train', and whereas that is not entirely innacurate, there are differences... which I'm not going into because, you know, spoilers.... but nevertheless this films maintains interest with it's twisting plot that keeps you guessing. The performances are quite good, and the monster effects... well they are good for the time. Telly Savalas also randomly turns up at the beginning of the final act as a bizarre drunken Russian general. The only downside really is the ending is somewhat abrupt and a bit... uninspired.

Overall if you like these horrors where a group of people are trapped in a location with a threat and start turning on each other, then you should check this out!

Blind Fury stars Rutger Hauer as Nick Parker - a Vietman veteran who lost his sight during the war. Trained as a sword fighter and to rely on his hearing, he travels to an old war friends house... only to find this friend has got himself into a spot of bother with a crime syndicate. In the resulting scuffle the friends' wife is killed, and Nick has to take their young son under his wing to reunite him with his father, and also take the fight to the bad guys. Because obviously a blind man with a sword stands a chance against an army of machine gun totting hooligans...

I originally watched this as a kid, and watching it again recently really did highlight that some films are not as good as you remember. I probably just enjoyed the mindless action back in the day, but watching it now I found myself going "nope. That wouldn't happen.." pretty much constantly. There's a part where Nick drives a truck in a chase scene... as opposed to, you know, the other adult in the truck who can see? Like I said, implausable. And that's not even taking into account the endless stream of goons he kills who are somehow unable to hit someone who can't see them coming...

Despite the distracting absurdity, it is quite entertaining I must admit, and the scene where he shuts all the lights off in a ball room to even the odds was quite cool. Oh, and the kid is annoying. Like, really really annoying...

Blind Fury isn't a bad film by any means, but some suspension of disbelief is definitely required...