Colors of Evil: Black is a sequel to Colors of Evil: Red, both Polish thrillers adapted by Adrian Panek for Netflix from Malgorzata Oliwia Sobczak’s Colors of Evil (Kolory Zla) trilogy of novels. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, “trilogy” means “three”, so another sequel adapting the final book seems a pretty safe bet, especially given that the first movie was an unexpected hit, and the second improved on it in significant ways.
And this was despite the fact that the first movie wasn’t especially well received. It boasts an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but only from five reviews, since the mainstream Western press tends to neglect international streaming releases. The audience rating of 56% is much more indicative of disappointment in a movie that was, on balance, fairly generic for long-time fans of grim international thrillers, around which Netflix has very much cornered the market.
But Colors of Evil: Red drew tens of millions of viewers and, following its release in May 2024, consistently charted in the Top 10 non-English movies on the platform. That was enough to get a sequel greenlit, and given that the sequel is a better movie with a more compelling approach to its central character, Leopold Bilski, and the knotty generational case he has to unpack, the sequel is likely to do similar numbers.
Here, Bilski is transferred from the coastal setting of the first movie to an insular rural community in Poland’s Kashubia region. The provincial town with dark secrets is a familiar template in Polish fiction, both among bestsellers and within streaming platform thumbnails, and it’s one that travels well. Netflix has been pumping these things out consistently, but the business strategy of building a small franchise around a recognisable recurring lead gives the familiar template international legs. Theoretically, Colors of Evil: Black should outperform its predecessor on the back of recognition alone.
The novels also provide the streamer with a roadmap of where to take the character next. This film is an adaptation of the second novel; the third and final one, Colors of Evil: White, concludes the literary trilogy, and would likely see the next film off with a bang, at least if the evolution between the first and second movies is continued into the third. Bilski tends to investigate cases that are much more complex than straight-up whodunnits, with their implications touching on themes of generational trauma and institutional cover-up, so whatever pickle he gets himself into next time around is likely to be pretty serious.
The subtitles of each book also indicate both the nature of the case and, perhaps, Bilski’s moral journey in investigating them. Red is symbolic of rage and violence, and the first movie was more up-front with its horrors in this respect. Black, conversely, typically speaks to an emotional and moral abyss, a psychological emptiness that definitely reflects the plot of the sequel.
The symbolism of the colour white tends to have chirpier connotations, perhaps representing rebirth or an escape from the murkier implications of previous cases. It evokes clarity and simplicity, often a clean slate, which could find Bilski moving on from his current role and away from the darker sides of the job.
If Colors of Evil: Black gets even close to the first film’s success, it’s likely that Netflix will pull the trigger on a sequel sooner rather than later.
