Wednesday, October 17, 2012

OCTOBER 17: SEVENTEEN FILMS THAT WOULD LOOK AWESOME IN BLACK & WHITE

I've done this type of feature before, three times.  I love the look of black and white horror, and while I'm not saying that all films should be monochrome - I do love the way the atmosphere and mood changes when a film is only a few colors. Take these seventeen shots for example...

1) ABSENTIA

2) THE RAVEN

3) SHUTTER

4) THE PRESENCE

5) HELL NIGHT

6) ROSEMARY'S BABY

7) SAW

8) FRAGILE

9) THE AWAKENING

10) AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM

11) PHENOMENA

12) THE MIST

13) SHIVER

14) THE WOMAN IN BLACK


15) GOSFORD PARK

16) HOUSE OF VOICES

17) THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW

11 comments:

Budd said...

I don't see a lot of love for the mist, but I really liked it.

Anonymous said...

Awesome, and I agree wholeheartedly with each one. Some other flicks that I think would also work well:

- Insidious
- The Ring
- The Changeling
- 28 Days Later

Anonymous said...

Christine, what exactly is the difference between a supposedly 'real' black and white movie and simply turning the colour down on you TV ?.

Christine Hadden said...

Budd: I absolutely LOVE The Mist!

Cortez: I did use The Ring (twice) and The Changeling in my previous B & W posts...check them out!

http://fascinationwithfear.blogspot.com/search/label/Black%20and%20White%20horror

Christine Hadden said...

Anonymous: Obviously you could just turn the color off the TV and get black and white for anything you want. What's your point?

Anonymous said...

My point Christine is: So why would you want to buy a special edition black and white version of a movie like the one they did with "The Mist" for instance if simply turning the colour down on you TV achieves the same thing and saves you $8 ! ?, thats why i thought the special edition black and white versions of originally colour movies might in some important technical way be 'true' black and white as opposed to the 'false' black and white achieved by simply tuning the colour down on your TV.

Christine Hadden said...

Anon: You sure do get hyper about this subject. First of all, I never said anything about BUYING a special edition B & W version of any film. These are just examples of how mood and atmosphere change the look of a color film if they are only in B & W.

Secondly, yes, I suppose one could sit around watching films with the color turned down/off on their tv to get the effects of black and white. I however, have never done so and don't feel the need to make such a fuss about it.
I don't recall mentioning anything in my post about buying films, did I?

But thanks for reading.

Michele (TheGirlWhoLovesHorror) said...

I'm of the opinion that pretty much any film would look better in black and white. I love black and white film and photography because it forces you to focus on the actual subject, the characters, the dialogue, without being distracted by color. Plus, the different shades of gray and the intensity of the shadows can just look so beautiful.

Of course, though, color is often used very effectively in film these days, so they can't all be in black and white. But man, do I love the ones that are!

Anonymous said...

Christine, you were getting a little bit cheeky and churlish in your replys to the Anonymous com-girl-ter, could that be because you really knew it was Jervaise Brooke Hamster all the time ! ?.

Christine Hadden said...

Agreed, Michele. Sometimes with all the gimmicks in film, including color and 3D, etc. kind of take away from the actual STORY. Black and white forces you to be aware of what is going on, and dialogue becomes so much more important. Like the scene in Psycho where Norman and Marion are having their chat in the parlor. With nothing else to really pop out at you, you are forced to truly listen to Norman as he slowly unravels. Great stuff. (Also another reason the color version of Psycho blew ass.)

Christine Hadden said...

Anon: Yep.
And as for your other seven random vulgar comments, here's one for you: may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your crotch and may your arms be too short to scratch.
How's that?