History Main / RedFilterOfDoom

* In ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'' the nighttime lighting turns to hellish red during the resurrecting ritual to fully restore Conan's life, due to Valeria having to fend off against the demonic spirits that want to abduct him.

This trope is pretty common in animated films; below are just a few noteworthy examples.

This trope is pretty common in animated film; below are just a few noteworthy examples.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

The red filter, where everything shifts to a basically white-red-black spectrum, is often used to facilitate a change in mood. That change in mood takes plenty of forms - fist-pumping action by the light of a smoldering car, perhaps, or passionate romance by the light of young blood.

Then, there's the [[Red:Red Filter of Doom]].

Then, there's the Red Filter of Doom.

[[folder: Anime]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Film - Animated]]

[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* In ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'', in [[MouthOfSauron Morden]]'s more adversarial encounters with characters, the surrounding lights and ambience would darken and redden in his presence. This is seen when he encounters Londo when their relations are strained in "Interludes and Examinations", and when he encounters Kosh in "Signs and Portents". The ExpandedUniverse ''Passing of the Techno-Mages'' novels described Morden's encounters with Galen thusly as well.

[[folder: Music]]
* Used in {{Music/LOONA}} Olivia Hye's video for ''Egoist'' when Olivia [[spoiler: sets fire to the swan plushie, bed, and Eden uniform.]]

[[folder: Theater]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* In he fourth season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'', a deep red sun and, later, moon herald the arrival of an AncientEvil.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* A soldier who fought for the Union at the Battle of Antietam during the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar reported that "the whole landscape for an instant turned slightly red" as he charged the enemy lines.
* Joe Biden used this in a [[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62761332 2022 speech]] criticizing the Republican Party before the 2022 midterms.

* This happens when you die in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI''.

* Happens in some air-combat simulators when the player's pilot is "wounded," e.g., the ''VideoGame/Il2Sturmovik'' series. In some games with this, the worse the player is hit the redder the screen is tinted.
** ''F/A-18 Hornet'' has this if you pull excessive negative G-forces.
** Many realistic flight sims, like ''Falcon 3.0'' or ''VideoGame/Il2Sturmovik'', would give you a red filter for negative G's ([[HighPressureBlood due to the blood in your body being forced up into your head]]), the filter becoming more intense the more negative G's you pulled. For ''positive'' G's, the screen would darken instead, to show that the pilot was beginning to black out for the opposite reason. Neither condition being terribly good for the pilot. Both instances are TruthInTelevision, "black-out" and "red-out" being serious problems for combat pilots.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Stray}}'', if at least one Zurk is latched onto you, the screen will turn redder and redder as it takes away more of your health, and you die if you fail to shake them off. After shaking the zurk(s) off, the red filter goes away as you recover your health. On a grander scale, there are some areas where the atmospheric lighting has a red tint to it, usually associated with the zurks.

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* ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest: Open Season'' turns the screen red whenever you blunder into a GameOver.

* A short story titled WebOriginal/MereanaMordegardGlesgorv is about a Youtube video of a man staring at the camera. The video has a a dark, red filter. He then [[SlasherSmile smiles]] for the last two seconds.

* Music/{{Genesis}} used this for Phil's EvilLaugh on "Mama." Live performances replicated this by illuminating Phil with red uplighting.

* Used a few times in ''Film/{{Napoleon}}'', most notably during the final stages of the siege of Toulon, when the black-and-white film stock is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_tinting tinted]] red.

Oddly enough, the best-case scenario with this is that the source of the red light is immediately apparent - say, the moon has turned blood-red, or there's a glowing doomsday device in the center of the room, or [[BattleAmongstTheFlames something nearby is on fire]]. If the only indication that it's a Red Filter of Doom is that it's not particularly romantic, there's just a general air of ominosity, or the fist-pumping action scene that was in regular saturation a few seconds ago has suddenly slowed and turned the color of blood, we can only issue a general warning to ''brace yourself''.

* Used for significant impact by Creator/AkiraKurosawa in ''{{Film/Kagemusha}}'' (in the dusk/sunset scenes of UsefulNotes/TakedaShingen's army marching), and most notably ''{{Film/Ran}}'' (the closing shot of [[DownerEnding Tsurumaru at the cliff]]).

* Happened a lot in the old ''Creator/ShawBrothers'' kung fu movies when a major character died a bloody and often ''painful'' death.

See also ColorWash, PhotoshopFilterOfEvil, RedEyesTakeWarning, and RedAlert.