Mike Goes To Movies

Color Out of Space (2020) Richard Stanley's, Color Out Of Space is like a psychedelic greatest-hits of the horror genre. Although it is an adaptation - based on HP Lovecraft's 1927 short story of the same name - many of these old short stories/novellas are often concise and lacking in overt detail and dialogue. And so an adaptation such as this one will often take liberties in fleshing out the story and the world it takes place in. As well, unless its a period-piece, additional changes are often required to contemporize such old stories for modern audiences. All of these factors are present in Color Out of Space and, in that, Stanley has put together a fun and overly-trippy nightmarish romp. While it doesn't succeed in every way, it is nevertheless a fun ride for any B-horror movie fans out there. The film follows the Gardner family who, after leaving the big city, have recently moved into an old farm of the family's out in a secluded part of the countryside. Ther...

The Lighthouse (2019) Though his style likely isn't for everyone, I must say that to me writer/director, Robert Eggers, is a pretty fucking cool guy. The Lighthouse is Eggers follow up to his fantastic, family-driven, nightmarish folk tale, The Witch (a must-see for all horror fans). In a similar vein, The Lighthouse is another psychological horror/thriller period piece that is about two lighthouse keepers, or wickies , as they're called, who work on an isolated lighthouse that sits atop a rocky outcrop constantly battered by poor conditions and extreme storms. Like the best psychological horror, The Lighthouse is a downward spiral: it starts off normal enough but, like the psyches of our wickies, things slowly begin to derail as forces both natural and unnatural seep into their lives and haunt them from the inside out. Willem Dafoe plays the veteran keeper; the nature of the job has clearly taken its toll over the years and he may be hiding some insider knowledge of the ...