[Editorial] 7 Bizarre Yet Beautiful Black and White Extreme Horror Films

Looking for a bizarre and slightly disturbing horror movie to watch? Then look no further than these seven black and white horror films that blend beautiful cinematography with brutal, mind-bending content.

Brand Upon the Brain (2006)
Dir. Guy Madden

Brand Upon the Brain is a modern movie which successfully achieves the feel of classic horrors such as Frankenstein and V. The influences of such works and the silent movie period are prominently displayed through the use of black and white cinematography, and use of cut scenes where the narrative is shown between scenes, similar to the style silent movies are set up. Although Brand Upon The Brain is arranged like a silent movie, there is a narrator who tells the story throughout, giving it a story-telling atmosphere, different from the usual set up of characters talking to convey the story. There is also a pleasant soundtrack filling the spaces between the story being told to us, which was a common device used in the silent movie era. The story is bizarre and there are elements of classic horror mixed with emotional and psychological elements making the movie feel unique.

Wedding Trough (1974)
Dir. Thierry Zéno

In this film there is no dialogue and only one character - a man who lives alone on a farm with his animals. He becomes attracted to his female pig and after a few attempts, has intercourse with her. Even though the act is insinuated with no actual footage or proof that his penis penetrates the pig, the scene is still quite harrowing to watch. Time goes by and she gives birth to a litter of piglets who the man grows very fond of, only to later choose to hang them, killing the female pig as well. It is not very clear why, yet it is implied that he is not pleased with how the piglets are responding to his nurturing efforts and he no longer has feelings for the pig. What makes the movie seem artistically beautiful is the black and white cinematography paired with the score of classical, almost religious music. Although there are various sound effects such as the animal noises which make the movie feel like a strange ASMR video, the score makes up a little for its lack of dialogue.

Begotten (1991)
Dir. Edmund Elias Merhige

Begotten is a silent movie which employs a similar use of sound effects as Wedding Trough, including squelching, bird noises and groans. These sound effects are part of what makes the movie quite hard to watch as they start to feel quite repetitive. Visually it is rather grainy at times, yet there is still something quite beautiful about the film as it is surreal and thought-provoking. There are hints of philosophy coming through via the themes of God, creation, and destruction within the film. However, this theme is subtle, and it does take a lot of concentration to grasp what is happening at times. Begotten has gained attention from a broader audience due to its inclusion on the Disturbing Movie Iceberg, featuring quite low-down on the iceberg tier ranking, meaning those who have made these visuals consider the movie to be very disturbing.

Flesh of the Void (2017)
Dir. James Quinn

Flesh of the Void seems to be inspired by Begotten in a few ways; distorted black and white imagery and a bleak overtone to name just a couple. The soundscape created is similar to the deep heavy guitar music featured in some of Lucifer Valentine’s movies such as Slaughtered Vomit Dolls, with the intention to unsettle and create a certain mood. It has a surreal quality throughout and is quite an unsettling movie at times due to its atmosphere. Although there is a dark theme overall, and a film that definitely falls within the extreme movie genre, with the black and white cinematography and the use of such an eerie score, the film is pushed into the art house style. Flesh of the Void feels more like a surreal nightmare come to life, with not much really piecing together, instead each scene feeling like one obscure occurrence after another.

Eraserhead (1978)
Dire. David Lynch

Eraserhead defers from the usual surreal elements that you would expect from a David Lynch movie by taking things back to basics. Black and white, few practical special effects and an almost silent movie make it stand in contrast to the aesthetics, bold colours and heavy dialogue of many intertwining stories such as in Inland Empire and Fire Walk With Me. The opening sequence shows a person operating a machine and soon a strange baby can be seen going down to Earth to become a part of Henry and Mary’s life. Lynch visualises an otherworldly place in this sequence and the idea of fate and our lives being connected to something more than we think is hinted at too. There is a great sense of both unease and mundanity throughout the movie, the characters say very little as if they do not really have anything to say. Yet what they are going through is obviously having an emotional impact, with moments where Mary shows great unease and distress, especially towards the strange premature baby she has given birth to. She approaches it as if it is not from her own body, instead an unfamiliar being which adds to the alien atmosphere. Other bizarre touches are the décor of Henry’s small flat, and the piles of dirt placed on the floor and on top of furniture, including one with a dead plant in it. These unusual set pieces look strange and add an extra touch of surrealness to Henry’s life. The way Eraserhead is mostly set within one location also gives the room a sense of being a liminal space, a space between other places, and when we see the lady in the radiator and Henry becomes a part of her space it feels as if there are other dimensional spaces that only Henry seems to be able to become a part of. Overall Eraserhead has a bleak atmosphere and bizarre storyline, yet feels so visually stunning to watch and observe Henry, Mary, and their unnamed baby’s life as it unravels.

Human Centipede 2 (2018)
Dir. Tom Six

Director Tom Six stated in an interview (special edition disk of The Human Centipede 2) that choosing black and white over colour was a deliberate aesthetic decision so that some scenes could leave something to the imagination of the audience. This choice to capture Martin’s exploits gives the second movie in the trilogy a very different atmosphere in comparison to the first film. Although there are many close-up shots of blood and faecal matter, viewing these without colour compromises the audience’s visceral reaction, which would have happened if the scenes were shot in colour. All this makes Tom Six’s choice to use black and white instead of colour really poignant, both artistically and emotionally. This aesthetic choice gives Human Centipede 2 a more sophisticated feel rather than it being a movie which otherwise could be labelled as torture porn trying to shock people with visuals of people in agony whilst bleeding and defecating. Another interesting choice which works for the character of Martin is that he does not speak one word throughout the whole movie, making him seem silent by choice thus allowing us to see how the abuse and torment he has experienced has impacted him mentally and physically. As serial killers and kidnappers go, Martin is definitely quirky as he is nothing like the typical killer, we see him wheezing and coughing a lot, and dragging bodies around is a lot of effort for him. He feels a lot more realistic than many killers we see in movies. Lawrence Harvey does a fantastic job giving emotion to this character with his flawless facial expressions and body language in the movie. In fact, it is hard to not feel for Martin as you watch him go through life so tormented and mocked even though you know he is quite the pervert and you see him do grotesque things to people, because of how Lawrence portrays him in such an endearing way.

Bunny Game (2010)
Dir. Adam Rehmeier

Similarly, Bunny Game falls into the more extreme movie genre and again the aesthetic choice to show the movie in black and white rather than colour creates an alternative atmosphere and mood. Bunny Game is quite simple as far as plot goes but has effects which create a visually interesting experience for the viewer, such as flashing images showing the intensity of some of the drug taking that the torturer is going through. The emotion is captured well and there is a pure sense of desperation that comes from the kidnapper’s victimd and who is being tortured over a length of time. Interestingly the movie is banned in the UK due to its content of real abuse and branding upon the actress, who was comfortable to go through these acts for the sake of creating a movie which would best portray the real life experiences she had been subjected to. It seems odd that the movie could be banned for something that has happened with consent when there are many movies showing realistic scenes where torture or violent sex occur in a non-consensual way, yet as they are purely fictional are deemed more acceptable. Still the movie has reached an audience who appreciate this style of film and it has had some success despite this UK ban.

Censor made a real splash in the horror scene throughout 2021 with Welsh director Prano Bailey-Bond providing a captivating, pleasingly messy portrait of Enid (Niamh Algar) a film censor battling her own personal demons as well as the reception to a new ‘video nasty’. While the characters within the film are English and the film is set in England, Bailey-Bond’s own interest in that period of time comes from her own consumption of those films within Wales. So much of the attention on the moral panics around Video Nasties is often focused on England, when the impact was felt much more broadly and has clearly shaped the tastes and interests of up and coming filmmakers.

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