Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Die Farbe" or "The Colour Out of Space" is a German, (mostly) German-language film from 2010 and so far the most recent work by Vietnamese writer and director Huan Vu, his second full feature film. "Writer" is of course only partially correct here as the base material comes from the fairly famous American writer H.P. Lovecraftand Vu adapted his work for the screen here. I have not read Lovecraft's work, but I am sure that his involvement with the project is the main reason why this film is actually somewhat known still. It is not too long, only runs for 80 minutes (without credits) and is almost exclusively in black-and-white. It is the story of a man looking for his father and the strange occurrences he meets on the way. The film does not really deliver through great story-telling, but in my opinion it is all about the haunting atmosphere in here. There were some scenes that were okay to watch, but overall I was not too impressed. The scene with the huge insect gave me the chills though, now that was some scary stuff for sure. But it is just not enough for a film of this runtime and maybe half the runtime could have been a better choice. Anyway, after seeing this one I cannot say I am particularly sad about Vu's lack of filmmaking in the last six years as the movie did not get me curious about other works from him. The ending wasn't that great either and the sudden inclusion of color into black-and-white films has been done better on many occasions. This film came out shortly after the very successful "Das weiße Band" (Haneke), another black-and-white movie, and I wonder if this inspired Vu perhaps to make this creative choice as well. Anyway, the outcome here is underwhelming. I give it a thumbs-down and do not recommend checking it out.

Rabh17 This one should be on the list of anyone who loves Lovecraft. While this one doesn't have any of the more well known Mythos in it...it's a measured telling of what is actually a Tale of the Unknown more than it is a Horror Story.The use of Black & White may look cheap, but it fits with the tone and tenor of the era that it was set in. Color TV did not exist then. The CGI may look simple...but the focus of the story is the people and the 'Colour'. Sometimes when the FX is stunning...you only see the FX and not the story. And Good Horror is more than simply good CGI.The Telling of the story as a mix of English and German with Subtitles was a different experience, but it didn't subtract from the tale, because the story moves slowly enough that the subtitles are there long enough to be read and become pseudo-invisible. Besides, a hallmark of Lovecraft is that most of the stories are a RE-TELLING of past events thru the witness's eyes and memory Again-- this one is a slower, langourous story. Told through the eyes of the German farmboy who grew up when the meteor came down. And I dare say, the film makers polished and filled in some of the blanks of the original short story. There is no scientific explication by any of the characters here, but you will see that what happened was the intersection of the Earthly with the UN-Earthly...and unfortunately and tragically for the people in the valley...the presence of the Unearthly is just simply inimical to earthbound Life.This one is good for a Late, after midnight viewing on Saturday night.

munir-7 This is an amazingly precise adaption of Lovecraft's novel. The Black & white, together with the slow pace and sober atmosphere of the whole movie, works well in creating an atmosphere that really comes close to reading H.P. Lovecraft. There is one major mistake though that I think spoils the whole film: Language! The main part of the story is set to a remote village in or near the Black Forest, which absolutely makes sense. But in such a place, given the 1930's, people would speak dialect, except perhaps the scientists. In the film they don't! As a result, the spoken language sounds dry and synthetic, like a bad synchronization. (Compared to this, the obviously German actor playing an American is minor, and when the young man tries to speak "bad German with American accent", it's simply hilarious. - If they couldn't find or afford appropriate actors, why didn't they make it a silent movie? Maybe only native German speakers will notice that, but as far as I am concerned, this flaw prevented me until now from watching "Die Farbe" a second time. Which is a pity, because everything else is really well made and congenial to H.P. Lovecraft's style - something that can't be said about many HPL adaptations.

Sandy Petersen I had heard of this film, but had dismissed it, pretty much because after seeing DIE MONSTER DIE, and THE CURSE, I had decided I was done with "Colour Out of Space" knock-offs. They're nearly as bad as the "Lurking Fear" knock-offs.A friend I trust strongly recommended it to me, and so I bought a copy. I am so glad.DIE FARBE is in black and white, and it is a period piece. It takes place in three time periods – 1975, the 1930s, and finally 1945. The film-makers moved the action to Germany (where they are located), and World War II is referenced, but they did not make the mistake of having the war be the central topic.DIE FARBE is well worth seeing for any Lovecraft fan. One clever touch they achieved was that the only color in the movie is THE Colour, if you get my meaning, but even here they are very subtle. The first few times the Colour shows up it is pale, and easy to miss or (more likely) to leave you uncertain you saw anything.WHY DIE FARBE RULES The movie doesn't follow the stale Hollywood 3-act plot sequence (apparently it is taught in school nowadays, mentally shackling new generations of would-be screenwriters). Instead, the movie simply builds up a more and more ominous mood until finally horror comes to fruition.The film also doesn't follow the execrable trope of trying to explain everything either before or after the fact. It just lets the events unfold, yet remain inexplicable. Of course, this leads to confusion for spoon-fed viewers. But after all the whole point to the Colour is that we cannot understand it – it is an entity so alien that the only way it can interact with us is to feed.The sets and cinematography were excellent, in my opinion. The actors were decent, though not not world-beaters. Sometimes the film is a little slow, but that is the nature of a mood-piece. I was certainly never bored.WHY DIE FARBE DROOLS Well, it doesn't really drool. But it has a very few minor weaknesses. One is the fact that the supposedly all-American protagonist early in the film speaks English with a strong German accent. I sympathize with the film-makers. Given that he was the guy they wanted, they were stuck with his non-American nature I guess.I still liked the show though. That minor false step didn't ruin it. Check it out.