Poisoned Earth pt 2 (the Curse, 1987)

This adaption of the Color of Space picks up at the time the meteorite crashes.  Going back to a small farm setting the focus is on the struggling Crane family.  The local realtor is working on a secretive deal to get people to sell their land to him cheap, but Nathan is holding out.

This film amps up Nathan as a religious man, making him a stern preacher.  His youngest son Zack feels out of place in his family.  There is the implication that his mother has a wandering eye and has been unfaithful.  The family is a bit stressed before the meteorite lands, but once it hits, the family starts to unravel.

This is closer to the original story, though as I recall, the religious emphasis  is more prominent in the movie.  The effects range from decent to blatantly obvious latex masks that do not blend very well at all. Claude Akins is very good at the role of deeply religious man teetering on the edge.

This is a decently fun adaption, clearly done on a restricted budget. One of only three films directed by actor David Keith, this showed some promise.  The Curse became an anthology series with three more direct to video films.  The Curse II: the Bite (which I have a soft spot for) and the Curse III: Blood Sacrifice and a film not actually made for the franchise call Catacombs (but titled as the Curse 4: the Ultimate Sacrifice) had no connection to the first film, and none were based on Lovecraft either.

Again, this is a decent adaption, it is definitely very much a product of the eighties, even in its reflection of the world encroaching on the struggling farmer. But it is a fun watch.