Horror that does ‘RED’ well #1

How is it August already?

I… this year is a blur and I find myself disassociating at times so I look up and boom, we’re in August. Cos this month is going to be a little bit busy for me on a personal level, I wanted to do something a little easier and colorful. We’re inching closer to the end of summer and into fall (my favorite season) so lots of color and cooler weather, things slowing down a bit. There is a future post idea that I’d love to tackle and I am in the middle of figuring it out but until then, we’re going to circle around my favorite subject: COLOR.

And COLOR and HORROR go hand in hand. We’ve seen it, it’s been discussed on the blog many times and I think it’s something that people take note of, explore and share because color is such a huge part of our lives whether we realize it or not.

First color on the blog: RED.

Let’s see what horror movies that do RED really well. Spoilers beware?

BY YEAR:
Blood and Black Lace (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Don’t Look Now (1973), Profondo Rosso/Deep Red (1975), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Carrie (1976), Suspiria (1977), The Shining (1980), Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Akira (1988), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Freddy vs Jason (2003), The Village (2004), The Descent (2005), Mandy (2018), Suspiria (2018), Us (2019), X (2022), Pearl (2022).

Yes, there are other films that could fall into the category of color but I didn’t want to overdo it. I wanted to showcase an amount that shows off how color can be used. For some films, it’s dramatic and creates a mood, think of Carrie at the prom after the blood moment. And others like Pearl, wearing red is such an emotional color with her passionate yet anger filled nature and then mental relapse cos the last few minutes of that movie, my goodness!

But I just love, love love when directors or the creative aspect/teams use color to emphasize the narrative. I mean, you might not understand what’s going on but colors are a sure way to tell a story. Imagery in general does that. Fun fact, the reason why we have those beautiful depictions of Biblical scenes within glass work, especially in churches? A lot of people were not able to or have access to read (only the rich, sounds very familiar) but the art of visual depictions can help people understand what is happening and I feel that same sentiment with color used in film in general.

I’ve done similar posts from the recent Roy G Biv of Horror to many posts under the “color theory” tag so if you’re interested, please check those out! I’m not sure when I’ll do another post like this, I’ll try to spread it out but until then… I’ll see you guys at the end of the month!

Peace, love and chicken grease 🙂