2019, Richard Stanley (Hardware) -- Netflix
It didn't take much forethought from Pantone to name Ultra Violet (18-3838) as the color of the year 2018; it had been emerging with neon cyberpunky imagery for years prior. Faces splashed in bright neon lighting, halos glowing in the background reflecting in puddles, fashion photography and car ads all drawing upon spectrums of pinks and purples and colours we might not be able to name. So, to adapt this culturally prevalent image into an HP Lovecraft story about an indescrible colour emerging after a meteor fall is not unexpected. I am absolutely love and simultaneously disturbed by this ability for media and pop culture to decide something that can saturate our brain.
Richard Stanley, infamous for his involvement in the infamous The Island of Dr. Moreau, returns after decades of obscurity with a Nicolas Cage flick, a body horror and psychological piece that is both successful yet... basic? As Kent mentioned, a lot of things just don't make sense, or have any revealed reason to be. Sure, while watching it, you are not likely to care, as the movie is so lustrous, with the said pinks and purples abounding, and Nic Cage going full on Nic. But pick at the threads and it will likely unravel. That is often typical of horror, though, so I am not so bothered.
Nic is Nathan, a farmer (?? we don't really see much beyond the alapacas and some tomatoes) living on the remote land his father left him with his family. His wife has recently recovered from breast cancer and is struggling to keep her financial advisor job going, despite the shitty satellite internet. Daughter Lavinia fashions herself as a Wiccan, son Benny is a stoner, other son Jack Jack is all thick glasses and dinosaurs. Almost immediately after the meteor hits, Nic starts heading where we expect him to, smelling things that he shouldn't smell.
Rocks from space bring unexpected things; that is to be expected. This one brought something an organism or an intelligence that can only be inferred as malevolent, as it changes the plant & insect life, as it infects their water, as it does unspeakable things to the alpacas. Yet, in the end, after it has run its course, I am not sure what the end goal of the pinky-purple emanations were. But again, I am not sure the movie cares if we know the whats and whys, as long as we enjoyed the ride, and I did.
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