COLORS OF EVIL: BLACK

Poland, 2026, 110 minutes, Colour.

Jakub Gierszal, Marianna Zydek, Andrzej  Chyra, Adam Bobik, Piotr Zurawski.

Directed by Adrian Panek.

Colors of Evil: Red was the first in a series of crime thrillers, police investigations. It introduced the prosecutor, Blisko, who solved but was something innocent a thorn in the side of the authorities. And, this will happen at the end of this film.

The prosecutor is in the Polish countryside, little to do, but investigating the case of a missing boy, two years earlier, whose very busy mother claiming that he is with cousins in Belgium, but this being proven untrue. The audience has seen the little boy on the road getting into a car and driven away, then a mysterious figure sawing his head off in the forest and burying him with a ritual, the severed head between the legs – echoes of local vampire mythology.

An author comes back to her hometown for research after being away for 20 years, bringing her young son who is abducted during a fair. This leads to the uncovering of sexual abuse of young boys and girls 20 years earlier, three middle-aged men who are investigated, earlier victims, one the son of the church organist.

A local businessman becomes a suspect but it emerges, not a spoiler, that it is his dead father who was the abuser, taking photographs of his victims. There is consultation with the local priest who says there was no abuse in his parish even though there was in other areas of Poland. He helps the prosecutor identify the children in the photos.

There are some twists in the plot, the revelations and a final confrontation with the man who had abducted the young boy – and the recovery of the author’s missing son.

A very well-made Polish thriller – and hoping for the third film in the series.

1. The second in the series, Prosecutor Blisko, crime, police investigations, complex characters?
2. Setting, town, police headquarters, homes, the forests countryside, the church? Musical score?
3. The background of Prosecutor Blisko, previous case, criticisms, transfer, demoted? Family background, ex-wife, young daughter, her coming to visit, enjoying her company, giving more attention to his case? His wife taking her home?
4. Settling in, the lack of cases, the police superiors, the young assistant? Background of the disappearance of the young boy, the audience seeing him walking, getting into the car with a stranger, buried in the forest, his head removed? Blisko and his friend with all the details of the past cases? The dossier on this case missing?
5. Meeting Julia, her son, returning for research or her book, her reputation, 20 years away from the town, the death of her young sister, alienation from her mother, her mother the mayor? At the fair, her mother speaking, her son disappearing? Anguish, the search, everybody out searching the forests? No sign? Her upset, going to her mother’s house, the confrontation between the two?
6. Investigating the boy disappeared, his mother, the many children, information that he was with cousins in Belgium, the mother and response to the police? Further investigations, no cousins?
7. Julia, memories, her sister, molested, suicide? The young boys, the organist and 40 years, digging the graves? The three men as victims, Patryck, his approach to Julia, her rejection, his affair with her mother? Arek, son of the organist, his disabilities, helping his father, his disfigurement, the children turning on him at school? Michal, son of the police chief, his mother and the restaurant? His reaction to the story of Julia’s son’s birth and later suspicions?
8. The photos, the role of the priest, his comments about sex abuse in Poland, in parishes, not in his, his memory, identifying the children in the photos? The interrogation of each of the men, their stories, not identifying the young woman?
9. The role of the police, the police chief not knowing about his son, the son confiding in his mother, opening the restaurant? The later revelations about covering for the offender?

• The references to the meat company, the CEO, interrogation, search, his father’s photos?
• The flashbacks to the little boy, reading the book about the myths of the vampires, his mother, the businessman, encouraging him to read? The influence on the boy, his growing up, his abducting Julia’s son? (And initial suspicions on Michal and his cellar?)
• The climax, going into the woods, the son hooded, the shooting of the offender?
• The aftermath, Julia and her relief, her mother, the truth about the police chiefs and the documents, covering for the businessman, his philanthropy, financing the church, financing Arek and his surgery, the the philanthropy – yet his being the abuser?
• The impact on Blisko, his going to see Julia…?