Lovecraft- The Colour Out of Space (Analysis)

Weekly Lovecraft no. 1? I give a simple analysis of the classic horror tale by HP Lovecraft.

[thesuperguyboyshow]

Just getting into HP Lovecraft, this was my first story and Jesus I love it. Idk why it’s so simple but affect at its story. I feel the Colour has to be one of the most interesting entity/creatures I’ve seen in media. (I’ve seen a lot of horror movies) The idea of something not being able to physically touch but it slowly killing you and everyone around you is so scary. It just gives me such a overly drawn out illness killing you type of vibes. I love this story so much.

[ryanlyvers]

I always picture the colors that you see on the sides of bubbles that you blow or maybe the color that appears when gas is in water. A sort of shimmering mix of colors as opposed to just one solid. Actually exactly like how they designed the Shimmer on the movie annihilation but more solid and less transparent.

[jonathanskipper]

The Colour Out of Space is perhaps my favorite H.P. Lovecraft story. This was an awesome watch! Thanks! I will definitely tune in every week for Lovecraft!

[keepinitreal]

Who's here after the movie?Wow I went from watching Mandy to this and absolutely loved them both.You explained this very well 👍👌

[montalineberger]

Great review of one of my favorite stories. I've always imagined the color as many colors like in an oil slick.

[benjaminfouche]

You need to analyze The Temple, The Dunwich Horror, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

[fret]

Great analysis David - I should note that The Color Out of Space is actually Lovecraft's favorite of his works, so you're in good company! It was one of the earlier Lovecraft stories I read and actually just a couple days ago I re-listened to an audiobook reading of it by the Youtube channel, Horrorbabble. I highly recommend looking into them for anyone who likes weird fiction and old school horror audiobooks. If you're interested in strictly Lovecraft audiobooks though, you can't do better than the ones narrated by Wayne June. He is bar none the best audiobook narrator I've ever heard, and some may know that he was actually brought on as the narrator of the lovecraftian RPG game, "Darkest Dungeon." Some of Wayne's narrations can be found here on youtube, but I was only able to find all of the ones he did by buying them on Amazon or Audible.

I don't think Color out of Space is my favorite Lovecraft work, but it sure is an excellently paced story, with a fantastic payoff - the revelation that the whatever-it-is still lives, and that there's going to be a reservoir put in over that land adds the perfect note of dread to end the book on. I think the story also works really well because the threat is completely and purely alien - it's not really presented as if it's malicious or anything. It's just a completely foreign force whose existence threatens everything sane around it. It makes for a really great threat because you Lovecraft was kind of able to play with a little bit of "man vs nature" within the threat instead of it being purely extrinsic.

[UnsoberIdiot]

Sorry, I had a very difficult time paying attention to what you were saying. Your hair is just.. gorgeous. So distractively beautiful.

[cindigoiskijonali]

This has always been my favorite Lovecraft story, loved your analysis.

[pluz]

So....anybody here know the game 'darkest dungeon'? Very Lovecraft inspired, has a dlc called 'the colour of madness'. Cannot speak of it highly enough, so lovecraft fans go check it out :)

[rafaelalandrade]

The Colour is essentially a Star-Vampire, that drains the life-force from everything living around it in order to restore its own power (the meteorite may be seen as its sarcophagus. Once breached, the Colour takes refuge in the well, and from there starts draining the environment). It's one of the greatest examples of "subversion of expectations" done right (as opposed to recent abysmal failures at trying that). Even if you know it's a Vampire, you come in expecting Dracula, and instead get a cosmic horror.


One of the great Lovecraft pieces indeed.

[riphopfer]

That’s the ‘blasted heath’, good sir.

[n.b.]

Facts concerning the late Arthur Jermyn and his family. It's a short read and you can sort of predict the outcome, yet when it happens it's still a shock.

[RSEFX]

I don't recall the term "withered" heath. I think was called the "blasted heath".

[alexvodka]

I am doing a coursework on H.P. Lovecraft's specific genre of existential and cosmic horror, so I read a lot of literature on the subject and specifically The Colour Out of Space. I found a really interesting take in a book (Lovecraft in the 21st centruy; dead but still dreaming), where the mysterious, indescribeable colour could be suggested as closer to something like radioactive rays or similar. This derives from the historical context of the 1930s, where the otherwise positive expectations of nuclear advancement are watered down as this is when we see the first negative and transmutative properties of long exposure to radioactive material. While it's unlikely that the meteor is actually radioactive, I just thought the similarites between the corruption of The Colour Out of Space and an example like Chernobyl to be incredibly intriguing.

[astrayadventurer]

Weekly story reviews I like it doesn't have to be only lovecraft

[elizabethlyons]

I watched it last night at a one night screening here in Cincinnati.
I really enjoyed it. The changes made I felt didn’t take away from the story.

[donmario]

The Colour out of Space is the creepiest story from all the stuff Lovecraft came up with. The majority is just plain out boring. I would love(craft) to hear what you bring up next.

[thegreatskinkpriest]

This novella was incredibly gripping and awesome to read.

[georgebarrett]

You're a master rhetorician David, you've got me hooked.. "The slow transition from what's known and understandable, into something bizarr, fantastical, and horrific."----How about applying
...."Let the 'good times' {uh-huh, yea (wink) sure} roll, let them knock you around.. let the good times roll, let them make you a clown.. Let them leave you up in the air, let them them brush, your rock'n'roll hair.. Let the good times the stories be told, they can say what they want.. Let the photos be old, let them show what they want..
(near all of them love you when you give them the tried and true universal.. once you step out of their playground's boundaries Decent Into we see how few real friends the illusion is real, let them give you a ride.. if they've got thunder and appeal, let them be on your side".
Funny, how some few just KNOW (Lovecraft, for sure) from the very beginning.. Great idea for a weekly, I love it my friend.