Visual Research- Dario Argento's Suspiria and Colour in Horror

In the previous half of the project at hand I wanted to do a more subversive colourful take on a creepy fairytale narrative.

I had been initially inspired by Dario Argento’s colours in the film Suspiria, although I forgot to mention two other more recent films which have used garish colours to evoke a gloomy otherworldly atmosphere. Crimson Peak by Guillermo Del Toro, and Parasite by

What I ultimately love is how much the colours identify or inform the environment and the characters who it represents.

I want my colours to indicate the change in location and the different realms these monsters inhabit.

It’s the main reason my protagonist is going to be this white silhouetted child, not to represent purity but to indicate the endless possible outcomes and colours the character takes in, white is the colour default next to black and it helps contrast and put most of the audience into the characters shoes as a blank avatar.

I start out my film with a striking red, an urban city that breathes with life, but also chaos and danger working in tandem.

The police station and the forest in which the bobby ogre chases our protagonist is darkened with a different shades of contrasting blue, the only warmth shown will be the yellow light from the windows of the station and the ogre’s eye itself.

When we transition to the road with the lollipop witch, we have shifted to shades of purple to indicate a more mysterious foggy atmosphere contrasted with the ugly grin of our witch. These are not the colours of your typical lollipop lady and they are not supposed to be.

The Wolf Dentist’s home/office is a mixture of two colours, the grassy green and the very same red for the city imply a false image of peace. The green is trying to be calm but is offset by the blood red floor.