Halloween Spooktacular

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Pausing to say this: I'll have to write my review tomorrow. I also pose a question to all of you:

 

[Totenkindly]

Needed a comfort film, so I watched my new 4K of The Sixth Sense.

I never quite viewed this as horror, to me it just is character drama with supernatural elements (kind of like Mike Flanagan's stuff as well). The enduring qualities of the film are just really the arcs of the three main characters (Malcolm, Cole, and Lynn) and how they all resolve in hard-won ways.

Obviously Malcolm is centered in his role and desire to help children; in a sense, he's also justifying the award he has just won at the film's opening, but the kids always mattered to him. Balanced against this is feeling like it is costing him his relationship with his wife. The end of the film, he resolves both.

Cole states what he wants pretty early in the film -- not to be afraid anymore. The first time we see him, he is scurrying along to the sanctity of a church, where he at least feels safe. But he is terrorized everywhere else in the film... by his peers, and feeling like he's not necessarily living up to his mom's expectations after his dad abandoned him, and also by the objects of his secret which we discover partway through the film, spinning our interpretation of events on its head. There's that beautiful scene where Lynn greets Cole home from school by telling him all the wonderful make-believe things she has done that day -- and when Cole reciprocates, we hear a boy who just wants to actually fit in and be liked by his peers. The last thing he fantasizes about is "being carried around on their shoulders triumphantly"... and the end of the film brings that full circle... but also brings he and his mom together.

Lynn's arc isn't as complex but essentially her husband left her, and her son has problems he doesn't let her help with, and she is working two jobs, and she feels like she is badly failing as a mother and is no one to be proud of. Cole working through his fear and telling her what's wrong contributes to both of these insecurities being washed away.

I have always loved Toni Collette in this film, she has always felt like the quintessential ESFJ who here might not be gifted with leaps of intuition or prodigious knowledge, and often she feels confused and overwhelmed by life, but she fiercely and tirelessly loves her son and any time her frustration or anger threatens to get the better of her, she just doubles-down and fiercely protects and loves him even more. She is Cole's protector and champion and nothing is going to take away her love and commitment to him, regardless of the cost.

It is not a perfect film, there's early signs of Shyamalan being too in love with his ideas and tossing in things that muddy the waters (like "automatic writing" and Cole's "Stuttering Stanley" freakout, which seem to move away from "ghosts" as the root of all the film's weird happenings), but the parts that are there are just really nuanced and top-notch. Any careful rewatches will just note little details that reflect on the film's ending -- even the first time Malcolm comes home to find a bare plate on the table and his wife in bed, as he's standing there, she curls up a little tighter and pulls her shawl a little tighter, as if the temperature had dropped. Even his brief cameo is okay, in that his lines make sense and are very limited. It is a pretty emotionally coherent film and I wish he hadn't let his fame go to his head, where he let his ideas get more grandiose, rather than refining them and keeping his films tighter.

The emotional moments generally land, including the side bits like with the girl ghost Cole finally helps at the film's end. The ghosts are generally handled in an eerie way too. (Like when she grabs his ankle as he passes the bed, then peers out at him with cold dead eyes. Or the boy who obliviously tells Cole to come see his dad's gun, unaware the back of his head has been blown off.)

James Newton Howard's soundtrack is also top-notch. he's talked before about how the music is almost like "another animal in the room" stalking about, as if about to spring. It really pushes the emotional beats up a notch and drives home the ending.

I really like watching how Malcolm builds trust with Cole in the opening parts of the film, by providing him with information about himself, asking him the right questions without prying, respecting him, playing the "mind-reading game," etc. They actually develop a rapport on film, with Malcolm proving he is an adult that can be trusted and then with Cole eventually turning the tables and advising Malcolm / helping HIM heal as well.

How long does Cole know what Malcolm really is? The film shies away from providing a definitive moment. Very obviously in the last scene, which is like Cole's last gift to Malcolm because he knows he won't see his friend again after helping him -- you can see it on his face. There's some ambiguity in the middle of the film, where it could go either way, but in the beginning of the film you could think that Cole knows, by his initial responses to Malcolm at their first few meetings. So I lean towards Cole knowing from the start (resulting in his fear response) which then changes as Malcolm asserts repeatedly his stability and harmlessness to Cole.

 

[The Cat]

Needed a comfort film, so I watched my new 4K of The Sixth Sense.

I never quite viewed this as horror, to me it just is character drama with supernatural elements (kind of like Mike Flanagan's stuff as well). The enduring qualities of the film are just really the arcs of the three main characters (Malcolm, Cole, and Lynn) and how they all resolve in hard-won ways.

Obviously Malcolm is centered in his role and desire to help children; in a sense, he's also justifying the award he has just won at the film's opening, but the kids always mattered to him. Balanced against this is feeling like it is costing him his relationship with his wife. The end of the film, he resolves both.

Cole states what he wants pretty early in the film -- not to be afraid anymore. The first time we see him, he is scurrying along to the sanctity of a church, where he at least feels safe. But he is terrorized everywhere else in the film... by his peers, and feeling like he's not necessarily living up to his mom's expectations after his dad abandoned him, and also by the objects of his secret which we discover partway through the film, spinning our interpretation of events on its head. There's that beautiful scene where Lynn greets Cole home from school by telling him all the wonderful make-believe things she has done that day -- and when Cole reciprocates, we hear a boy who just wants to actually fit in and be liked by his peers. The last thing he fantasizes about is "being carried around on their shoulders triumphantly"... and the end of the film brings that full circle... but also brings he and his mom together.

Lynn's arc isn't as complex but essentially her husband left her, and her son has problems he doesn't let her help with, and she is working two jobs, and she feels like she is badly failing as a mother and is no one to be proud of. Cole working through his fear and telling her what's wrong contributes to both of these insecurities being washed away.

I have always loved Toni Collette in this film, she has always felt like the quintessential ESFJ who here might not be gifted with leaps of intuition or prodigious knowledge, and often she feels confused and overwhelmed by life, but she fiercely and tirelessly loves her son and any time her frustration or anger threatens to get the better of her, she just doubles-down and fiercely protects and loves him even more. She is Cole's protector and champion and nothing is going to take away her love and commitment to him, regardless of the cost.

It is not a perfect film, there's early signs of Shyamalan being too in love with his ideas and tossing in things that muddy the waters (like "automatic writing" and Cole's "Stuttering Stanley" freakout, which seem to move away from "ghosts" as the root of all the film's weird happenings), but the parts that are there are just really nuanced and top-notch. Any careful rewatches will just note little details that reflect on the film's ending -- even the first time Malcolm comes home to find a bare plate on the table and his wife in bed, as he's standing there, she curls up a little tighter and pulls her shawl a little tighter, as if the temperature had dropped. Even his brief cameo is okay, in that his lines make sense and are very limited. It is a pretty emotionally coherent film and I wish he hadn't let his fame go to his head, where he let his ideas get more grandiose, rather than refining them and keeping his films tighter.

The emotional moments generally land, including the side bits like with the girl ghost Cole finally helps at the film's end. The ghosts are generally handled in an eerie way too. (Like when she grabs his ankle as he passes the bed, then peers out at him with cold dead eyes. Or the boy who obliviously tells Cole to come see his dad's gun, unaware the back of his head has been blown off.)

James Newton Howard's soundtrack is also top-notch. he's talked before about how the music is almost like "another animal in the room" stalking about, as if about to spring. It really pushes the emotional beats up a notch and drives home the ending.

I really like watching how Malcolm builds trust with Cole in the opening parts of the film, by providing him with information about himself, asking him the right questions without prying, respecting him, playing the "mind-reading game," etc. They actually develop a rapport on film, with Malcolm proving he is an adult that can be trusted and then with Cole eventually turning the tables and advising Malcolm / helping HIM heal as well.

How long does Cole know what Malcolm really is? The film shies away from providing a definitive moment. Very obviously in the last scene, which is like Cole's last gift to Malcolm because he knows he won't see his friend again after helping him -- you can see it on his face. There's some ambiguity in the middle of the film, where it could go either way, but in the beginning of the film you could think that Cole knows, by his initial responses to Malcolm at their first few meetings. So I lean towards Cole knowing from the start (resulting in his fear response) which then changes as Malcolm asserts repeatedly his stability and harmlessness to Cole.

I always liked the implication that the kid knew what Malcolm didnt and never pushed the issue. Showed maturity in Cole's character.

 

[Totenkindly]

I always liked the implication that the kid knew what Malcolm didnt and never pushed the issue. Showed maturity in Cole's character.

Cole led a very conflicted existence. He was a young boy with all the anxieties and fears that come from that, but also gifted with deep empathy and awareness -- so he was also wiser than a lot of adults (including his mom).

I think at first he was aware but didn't know what to do with Malcolm and those like him -- he was still afraid and/or figuring out what to do -- and then as he became more aware of the specifics of Malcolm (plus really liked and depended on him) his emotional awareness told him to not speed things along. I really like how understated it is at the end -- "I think I know how you can talk to your wife," is all he really explains, and leaves the rest up to Malcolm because he knows it's not his place.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The stuttering Stanley thing is weird, but I like the bit preceding this where Cole says "They used to hang people here", and the teacher is like "No, they didn't this was a courthouse, there were judges", and Cole goes "They were the ones that hanged everybody." I don't know if any of this is actually true of that location, but it reminds me of the debates people have about history. In this movie, though, we have a kid who can talk to ghosts and tell you what actually happened.

At least one of the big parks in Philadelphia was actually a cemetery. I don't know about any gallows anywhere, though.

 

[Totenkindly]

The stuttering Stanley thing is weird, but I like the bit preceding this where Cole says "They used to hang people here", and the teacher is like "No, they didn't this was a courthouse, there were judges", and Cole goes "They were the ones that hanged everybody." I don't know if any of this is actually true of that location, but it reminds me of the debates people have about history. In this movie, though, we have a kid who can talk to ghosts and tell you what actually happened.

Yeah, I did like that bit too. The teacher only knows the conventional history back to a certain point, Cole is getting the news from very specific people who actually saw what happened, even if his knowledge is limited to what those ghosts know.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Day 35: The Island of Dr. Moreau(1996)

Summary: A mad scientist makes furries on a deserted tropical island. None of them have four asses.

The opening credits are pretty great. We see a bunch of different animal eyes and some random scenes of things under the microscope. I'm guessing this was considered to be very cutting edge stuff for the time. There's some use of CG.

After I finished, I realized that this movie is spiritually a werewolf movie.

This movie starts on a life raft with a few men fighting about something. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on here. However, a caption says this is taking place in the Sea of Java, which makes me think that maybe it's a fight about the usefulness of forcing everyone to stick to an object-oriented paradigm. (There, that's my stupid programming joke that even people who know what I'm talking about wouldn't find funny.)

One of the men on the raft is David Thewlis, who played a werewolf in the Harry Potter films (coincidence?). David Thewlis somehow winds up on an old-fashioned sailing vessel; I missed how exactly this happened. But on board is Val Kilmer, which means that this film has a Batman, which is curious considering that the movie also has a Catwoman. We'll get to that. Kilmer takes him to the eponymous island of his employer.

Thewlis goes into Moreau's villa and meets Fairuza Balk. Thewlis is taken by her. Kilmer says of her, "Oh, she's a pussycat." Teehee. (She's a Catwoman, having been evolved from a cat due to Moreau's experiments.)

We discover that the island is home to weird creatures who seem both man and beast. We learn that Moreau has been creating this creatures via experiments, infusing animals with human DNA.

Thewlis and Fairuza are out in the jungle. Fairuza stumbles across a dead rabbit. This is a good moment, the dead rabbit horrifies her (very uncatlike), but we see a moment where she also seems tempted by it. See, Dr. Moreau is basically one of those weird people who try to make their cat vegan.

Not long after this, the big man himself enters on to the screen in a procession, and the movie ratchets up to another level. This performance, this interpretation of Dr Moreau lives up to the hype. I've heard about the wild off-screen antics of Marlon Brando in other films, like Superman and Apocalypse Now. I would imagine that every single bizarre thing about this character was something Marlon Brando personally demanded and insisted upon. Marlon Brando was a very strange man, and coming from me, that's saying something.

He's caked in white makeup and wearing rags around his face for some reason. We're not told the reason for any of this. A later scene shows him taking the makeup, so this is not supposed to be some aspect of the character's appearance.

There is the famous piano duet (parodied above in Austin Powers) which left me howling. There are so many incredible moments. There is a dinner scene where Brando explains the meaning of his work, and claims he has created the perfect society. We later learn that this perfect society is dependent on things like serum and pain transmitters to even work; it's kind of an artifical construct, even though he insists that he fixed everything just be removing a few genes. We also see the religion Brando has created, and how he has set himself up as God.

Alas, all things must pass, and Brando must exit the movie. The scene in which this happens actually has effective moments. Brando is at the piano when he is encircled by his creations. It's very intimidating and evoked some fear. Brando acts like he has everything under control, but you get the sense that he's panicking. He really starts to lose it when the pain transmitters don't work, and finally finds himself torn apart by his creations.

I'll note the scene where Brando is torn to shreds is not nearly as effective as in the Charles Laughton version, even though it's more implied there. This version is gorier but does not accomplish what it sets out to do as well.

After this we get some weird scenes where Kilmer is doing a Brando impression. I guess the idea behind this character is that he's becoming a beast, too. (Or an annoying ENXP type that just likes screwing things up for the fun of it.)

Balks fang's start to grow back because she has not been given the serum by Kilmer. I was expecting scenes of her claws growing back (like in the Laughton movie) because they are hinted at earlier, but we don't go. Balk wants to be human and hates the idea of reverting back into a beast. Thewlis tries to find serum for her, but to no avail.

After this, we get some weird scenes where Kilmer is doing a Brando impression. I guess the idea behind this character is that he's becoming a beast, too. At one point he presides over a furry orgy, and it's exactly what it sounds like. He's raised above them in an old-fashioned elevator and everything. Despite his permissive attitude towards orgies, though, he doesn't last long as king of Moreau's island and is replaced by a dogman. (This is one of the few things I've seen with a good cat and a bad dog, although I know an example of this in real life.) Balk is hanged which I found shocking. I thought she had a shot at making it to the end.

The last bit is total chaos as the furries fight each other for supremacy. The bad furries all kill each or something. This part of the movie went on a little too long. Not that it would fix the movie, but I would trim maybe five minutes from this part.

Thewlis makes a raft and prepares to leave the island, but promises the surviving inhabitants that he will return to try and help them stop from reverting into beasts. The surviving furries say that this is a bad idea, and the whole experiment of Moreau's was a mistake.

We get a montage where he is reminded of the devolving creatures of Moreau's island when he sees the horrors of the world. This part is kind of affection but it's on the nose and didn't really need to be said, because we could already put that together from the ending of the movie.

I don't remember where it takes place in the movie, but there's a scene where Thewlis tries to get on a boat and is attacked by CGI rats, which I guess are supposed to be experiments of Moreau's. At first we only see one in a silhouette, which made me think that Rizzo the Rat was going to show up. This is another goofy scene in a movie full of them.

This is a great bad movie. It doesn't drag and gets to where you need it to go pretty early on, and when Brando shows up, the experience starts peaking. It also helps that this is a great story. It stimulates all kinds of interesting ideas about biology, science, ethics, religion, society, law, etc. The fact that this is a terrible movie doesn't obscure that. I ought to read the H.G. Wells story sometime. I will also say that prosthetics on all the creatures are all excellent; the only thing that doesn't work are the goofy CG mice.

Whenever Brando's little companion was on screen, I couldn't help but hear the following in Isaac Hayes's voice:

"Just what the hell are you supposed to be? It doesn't look like anything!"

This, of course, made me laugh.

So, yeah, this is a good bad movie that really does live up to the hype and is extremely watchable.

 

[The Cat]

The make up and rags are for the humidity, heat, and sun. Same with the ice bucket hat. He mentions it in the movie.
Montgomery goes insane. Its arguable that he and Meraou were insane the whole time, but Montgomery was at least able to seem sane for a chunk of the movie. Montgomery didnt believe in what the good doctor was trying to do, but he helped in exchange for money, drugs, sex and meat. Pretty much the quintessential henchman for a mad scientist.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The make up and rags are for the humidity, heat, and sun. Same with the ice bucket hat. He mentions it in the movie.
Montgomery goes insane. Its arguable that he and Meraou were insane the whole time, but Montgomery was at least able to seem sane for a chunk of the movie. Montgomery didnt believe in what the good doctor was trying to do, but he helped in exchange for money, drugs, sex and meat. Pretty much the quintessential henchman for a mad scientist.

What about offscreen?

 

[Totenkindly]

Altered States (1980) with William Hurt I think in his first film role (?) -- he was pretty good looking at 30 -- doing experiments with psychedelic compounds, sensory deprivation, and genetic reversion.

For 1980, the effects were likely pretty decent -- they seemed better than The Manitou a few years before -- but I think the film feels undercooked even if it reaches the 1:42 hour mark. It feels like it is missing a reversion episode in the middle of the film, and it really needed more story development, it needed to really drive home and be centered around how Edward's lifelong pursuit of science has neglected his relationships including his relationship with Emily, yet it is his relationship with Emily (and her love for him) that stabilizes him -- this is the big moment of awareness that is supposed to drive the end of the film but it falls kind of flat. Emily even gets a pretty decent speech near the end, about how even with an impending divorce and trying to move on, she basically can't quit him, which just guts her to the core because it hurts too much.

I think this film could been just a shining gem if they could have really developed it properly.

The set centerpiece where he reverts to a simian-like human is pretty good (effects and all) for what it is.

 

[Totenkindly]

Color Out of Space (2019) was great. I knew I would love it with just the first 5-10 minutes. Such grounding in the visual and audial eeriness of the woods and recitation of Lovecraft's actual prose, a great opening to establish characters. So well done, and it really felt like it channeled Lovecraft. My only dislike was maybe 2-3 times I think Cage's performance was not as quite restrained as it needed to be to mesh with the rest -- he kinda went to 11 a bit early, although in the ending act, 11 was appropriate. But such a decent cast (including Joely Richardson! And Tommy Chong?!)

it kind of fills in the missing pieces for me with Garland's "Annihilation" as well -- this was what Garland meshed with the book source about the Southern Reach to make his film. Garland's version is more "sciency" while this is more "fantastical horror" but with kind of the same effect. One reviewer said that Stanley's film here might be a bit too artsy for the people just watching horror films, but that's why I love this film -- it's a slow burn, you can feel the dread increase as the film progresses and more magenta shows up in the landscape (starting one flower at a time), until everything finally goes to shit. I've seen attempts at Lovecraft before but it's been the recent films like The Lighthouse and Color Out of Space (and Annihilation) that have been nailing it, because it really takes a more surreal than literal approach, and creating a consistent "feeling" vibe versus being intellectually coherent necessarily.

Really glad I watched this finally.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Day 27: Color Out of Space

Summary: A family in a rural New England home find their lives turned upside-down upon the arrival of a meteorite. Weird things a-going, weird things a-coming, weird things a-doing, around here!

I made a joke about this movie using magenta for an color that has never been seen before by humans, but this was a good movie. Anyway, I suppose magenta is as good as any, because it's a non-spectral color which means that iT only exists in our minds.

My only dislike was maybe 2-3 times I think Cage's performance was not as quite restrained as it needed to be to mesh with the rest -- he kinda went to 11 a bit early, although in the ending act, 11 was appropriate. But such a decent cast (including Joely Richardson! And Tommy Chong?!)

Let me guess, one of those times was Nicolas Cage vs. the tomatoes, right?

The opening narration sets the stage really well.

I have to wonder about this daughter's witch ritual. Did she somehow summon this thing? Is she tapping into magic that is somehow linked to alien technology? Is this part about witchcraft something in the short story? She also mentions that she wants to leave this place, and she leaves it psychologically at the end of the film.

I was very shocked by where this movie goes. Things get crazy! There was so much tension. It's horrifying to see the disintegration of a family unit like that. The closing narration, accompanied by an ominous implication, actually sent shivers down my spine.

I also the colors were beautiful. There is the eponymous color, particularly with those beautiful flowers and mantis-like creatures. There is also blue, like the blue of the beam of the flashlights and the clothing on the siblings. Maybe blue is the opposite of the Color Out of Space? It looked beautiful either way.

This was an excellent example of pure horror.

 

[Totenkindly]

So I watched a lot of film over the last 24-32 hours.

The Watchers: This is Shyamalan's nepo baby daughter directing and him producing. Ironically the directing might be the best part of the film -- it shows a bit of talent. Where the film really fails is the writing and story development. It manages a treatment on a topic that might have been interesting and makes it almost the least interesting it could have been, after an okay start. There's some laughable moments, the character arcs are sketchy or non-existent, and there were ways to really tie in an arc for the main character to the overall arc/theme for the story that just were not explored well. it all seems to hinge on a twist (sigh) partway through, which then proceeds in bad form to make a rather forgettable picture. It was also a real waste of Georgina Campbell's talents as an actress. I can't even comment on Dakota Fanning's performance, which i guess was decent enough -- but the film was so disappointing that it's hard to care about her role in it.

Caddo Lake: The pseudo-scifi film is another Shyamalan production that I think fares much better, it borrows one of the circumstances from Dark and explores it on a very personal level. The setting is one that hasn't changed much over decades, making it hard to track or pinpoint time, contributing the story's success. Dylan o' Brien and Eliza Scanlen (looking a bit older from when i saw her in Sharp Objects where she was so great) are solid actors and anchor this film successfully, and it's really great to see Lauren Ambrose here who presents a great foil to Eliza playing her daughter because they're both great at playing rebellious firebrand sorts. There's a lot of sparks and passion in their interactions, which really is what makes the ending work so well. It's really more of some character studies / dramatic arcs with scifi flavoring, but still very enjoyable.

Strange Darling: Great film. Ribisi (the actor) does the cinematography, which is really interesting from a color perspective; and both Willa Fitzgerald (she's so versatile as an actress!) and Kyle Gallner nail this. Their moments in Act 1 and 2 are just kind of amazing in terms of how hard they both are to read. Throw in a few more veteran cast like Ed Begley Jr and Barbara Hershey (they seem so effortless at making their minor characters leap out of the screen) and good ol' Gomey from Breaking Bad, for example, and you've got a well-acted film. What's really intriguing is how the studio jumped all over this in the pitch, then got really cold feet on Willa a week into filming and then tried to recut the film into linear order after filming ended, resulting in a drag-out battle that needed stellar test audience response (which it got) for the studio to stop fucking around with it. And it came out to great acclaim. (I know sometimes studios save bad movies but how many horror stories do we know where studios also fuck up good ones because they lose their balls halfway through the shoot?) In any case, it's a creative, interesting film in the presentation and acting mainly, even if the plot or character development isn't really extensive. The non-linear sequencing is important to obscure what's going on for the bulk of the film, generating mysteries that grab the audience's interest. One might be tempted to call this Tarantino Lite or something (since he's famous for this kind of sequences + oddities and taboo topics that also appear in this film), but it doesn't really "feel" like Tarantino and is really its own thing. Just a really enjoyable watch... aside from the unsettling moments lol.


Anyway, this ended up being my "final" slate for Hallowscream 2024. I haven't rewatched "Drag Me to Hell" yet -- the 4K finally releases today and I am hoping to get it by Thursday so I can watch it in style. I know some folks really are attached to different Raimi films; but I think this is my favorite over all, esp for the bonkers ending that totally needed to happen.

 

[Totenkindly]

I made a joke about this movie using magenta for an color that has never been seen before by humans, but this was a good movie. Anyway, I suppose magenta is as good as any, because it's a non-spectral color which means that iT only exists in our minds.

Yeah. I mean, you have a piece of visual media, so color has to exist (unless it's gonna B&W it like The Lighthouse). I think the magenta was a good choice to visually stamp it, and I think it is handled very effectively. I love how it's just there with the meteor at first but then starts appearing in the flowers popping up one by one, then other elements, then finally the whole things seems to shade magenta by the end.

Let me guess, one of those times was Nicolas Cage vs. the tomatoes, right?

Yeah, I was like dude just chill -- that and 2-3 scenes around it, he just peaked early and it was a bit jarring, and he got that "crazy Cage" twang in his voice that almost drove the film into caricature. The director should have pulled that back a bit.

I have to wonder about this daughter's witch ritual. Did she somehow summon this thing? Is she tapping into magic that is somehow linked to alien technology? Is this part about witchcraft something in the short story? She also mentions that she wants to leave this place, and she leaves it psychologically at the end of the film.

I don't think she MEANT to, but I have not read the story to see if that is mentioned in it.
It's Wiccan (she clearly spells it out), not Alexandrian spellcasting.

The irony is that she is not summoning demons, she's calling on archangels.
According to Rudolf Steiner, four archangels govern the seasons: spring is Raphael, summer is Uriel, autumn is Michael, and winter is Gabriel.

Before me, Raphael.
Behind me, Gabriel.
To my left...
...Uriel.
And to my right, Michael.

And this is her prayer:

I call upon the principalities of earth, air, fire, water, and ether.
Be present with me now.
Spirit of fire, continue to burn out any trace of cancer from the body of Theresa Gardner, my mother.
Grant me your protection.
Grant me my freedom.
And last, not least, get me out of here.

Here is the irony: Michael rules fire; Gabriel, water; Raphael, air; and Uriel, earth.
But she calls upon the principalities of those + ether.
I think Lovecraft referred to the Elder gods as traveling through space via ether?

So maybe it is IRONY rather than INTENT?
That she would ask for these things, that end up being granted by a force of pure chaos that destroys her family?
So maybe you are right in that she unleashed (or at least synced up with) something horrible coming her way.

Anyway, bonus links:

Color Out of Space (2019) - Transcripts - Forever Dreaming

West of Arkham... ...the hills rise wild... ...and there are valleys with deep woods that no ax has ever cut. There are dark, narrow glens where the trees slope

transcripts.foreverdreaming.org

"The Colour out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft

'The Colour out of Space' by H. P. Lovecraft

www.hplovecraft.com

I was very shocked by where this movie goes. Things get crazy! There was so much tension. It's horrifying to see the disintegration of a family unit like that. The closing narration, accompanied by an ominous implication, actually sent shivers down my spine.

Such a great ending. I like that the guy named Ward tries to protect them all but fails. He survives, but it haunts him; the water is very deep, but even then "I will not drink it."

I also the colors were beautiful. There is the eponymous color, particularly with those beautiful flowers and mantis-like creatures. There is also blue, like the blue of the beam of the flashlights and the clothing on the siblings. Maybe blue is the opposite of the Color Out of Space? It looked beautiful either way. This was an excellent example of pure horror.

I'm just really enamoured with this film. I'm kinda surprised it ever got made, lol.

 

[The Cat]

Lovecraft and his pulp horror fantasy gang were big into the aether ie ether.

As time and science marched on it was used less and less, Lovecraft romanticized it more and more.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Regarding Raimi: I was thinking of doing another pure horror entry. Then I remembered that it's been I while since I've seen Army of Darkness, which is largely a slapstick comedy with talking skeletons. So I will be revisiting that soon.

I don't think she MEANT to, but I have not read the story to see if that is mentioned in it.
It's Wiccan (she clearly spells it out), not Alexandrian spellcasting.

Do you understand the difference? I don't. I do know that the originator of Wicca was a man named Gardner, which is the last name of the family in the film. Perhaps the implication is that they are descendants. Interesting. Maybe they were targeted for that reason...

The irony is that she is not summoning demons, she's calling on archangels.

I noticed that. I think it wasn't uncommon for witchcraft to work like that in the past 1000 years, actually.

According to Rudolf Steiner, four archangels govern the seasons: spring is Raphael, summer is Uriel, autumn is Michael, and winter is Gabriel.



And this is her prayer:


Here is the irony: Michael rules fire; Gabriel, water; Raphael, air; and Uriel, earth.
But she calls upon the principalities of those + ether.
I think Lovecraft referred to the Elder gods as traveling through space via ether?

So maybe it is IRONY rather than INTENT?

I never thought she intended it. She wanted to leave but she also wished for good health for the mother. I'm under the impression that many Lovecraft stories involves humans messing with things they don't understand and than unleashing unimaginable horror as a consequence. This would fit with that.

That she would ask for these things, that end up being granted by a force of pure chaos that destroys her family?
So maybe you are right in that she unleashed (or at least synced up with) something horrible coming her way.

Anyway, bonus links:

Color Out of Space (2019) - Transcripts - Forever Dreaming

West of Arkham... ...the hills rise wild... ...and there are valleys with deep woods that no ax has ever cut. There are dark, narrow glens where the trees slope

transcripts.foreverdreaming.org

"The Colour out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft

'The Colour out of Space' by H. P. Lovecraft

www.hplovecraft.com

I ran CTRL+F on the story, and only saw three mentions of the word witch. So, maybe there's no daughter character in the story who practices witchcraft.

Such a great ending. I like that the guy named Ward tries to protect them all but fails. He survives, but it haunts him; the water is very deep, but even then "I will not drink it."

I'm just really enamoured with this film. I'm kinda surprised it ever got made, lol.

Yeah. It doesn't play it safe or shy away from things at all.

 

[Totenkindly]

I guess technically Alexandrian is just a subset of Wiccan, one of its many flavors.

Alexandrian Wicca - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I guess technically Alexandrian is just a subset of Wiccan, one of its many flavors.

Alexandrian Wicca - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I wish we had more info in that article. The only thing we have detail on is info on the initiation process, really.

I just found out the director of the Color Out of Space was the original director of the Marlon Brando Island of Dr. Moreau. There's even a documentary about it. That might be a November watch....

 

[Totenkindly]

I just found out the director of the Color Out of Space was the original director of the Marlon Brando Island of Dr. Moreau. There's even a documentary about it. That might be a November watch....

Yeah, I had noticed that -- that movie seemed to be troubled, from everything I read, but he was so good with this film I feel like I need to watch that at some point too.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Yeah, I had noticed that -- that movie seemed to be troubled, from everything I read, but he was so good with this film I feel like I need to watch that at some point too.

The story is really compelling underneath, I think, and that helps make the movie remain highly watchable despite all the weird and dumb things. I'm going to assume Brando clashed with him (maybe because he made bizarre demands and Stanley wouldn't give in to them) and maybe was responsible for him getting fired. My intuition tells me that every weird thing about Brando's character for this movie was Brando's idea, because he was like that. I don't know why, but that's the way he was.

Props for his activism at the Oscars in the late 60s, though.