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4[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/PaintTheTownRed https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paint_the_town_red_9.png]]]]
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6->''"C'mon, team. Let's go paint the undefended town a nice shade of 'BLAM'."''
7-->-- '''Elf''', ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''
8
9In the course of a CruelAndUnusualDeath or even when it's just that EverybodyWasKungFuFighting, things get messy. And the things that suffer most are the buildings (inside and out) in town that get covered in everyone's blood. It's usually also the sign of a [[AxCrazy particularly violent]] [[SerialKiller person]] walking around just [[ProfessionalKiller doing what they do best]]. Someone may help the job along by leaving a BloodyHandprint. HighPressureBlood could also do the trick, as well as a victim dealing with [[BoomHeadshot a gaping]] [[YourHeadASplode head wound]]. Particularly shown when a director takes [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank creative liberties on death scenes.]]
10
11If a hero comes running back home only to find their family and friends used this way, it may lead to a HeroicBSOD.
12
13Usually goes well with {{Gorn}} with a side of LudicrousGibs for in-your-face action. Contrast BloodlessCarnage.
14
15Not to be confused with PaintTheIndexRed.
16
17----
18!!Examples:
19[[foldercontrol]]
20
21[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22* Anywhere Ladd and Claire go in ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'', this is standard.
23* In the ''Anime/BloodTheLastVampire'' movie, Saya wasn't afraid of doing this, even [[spoiler: in front of a nurse who didn't have the foggiest idea of what was going on.]]
24* Commonplace in ''[[Literature/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan]]'', often [[BloodyHilarious played for laughs]].
25* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', this is Scar's calling card. And it later becomes commonplace for [[spoiler:Wrath/King Bradley]].
26* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', this is Alucard's favorite activity. [[spoiler: Seras]] invokes this trope once, smearing her opponent all over a wall. Likewise, when Anderson goes berserk on a group of Nazi vampires, his AxeCrazy hacking leaves a giant swastika of blood on the walls... and then he splatters it with even more blood and ruins the effect.
27** Which then leads us to the villainous example of Rip Van Winkle, who ''also'' paints a Nazi swastika on a captured aircraft carrier of the British Navy. Sadly, she ran out of paint and had to improvise...
28* Happens quite frequently in ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead'', thanks to the zombies.
29* This is the signature of the titular ''Manga/IchiTheKiller''. The comic and film open with a crew cleaning up his mess.
30* Often used to imply or enhance the amount of incredible violence that the Angels and [=EVAs=] are capable of in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', most memorably when [[spoiler: Gendo orders the autopilot to take over and destroy the EVA being piloted by Touji after an Angel hijacks it]].
31** In the second ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movie, Sahaquiel's death is changed so that the Angel explodes into a gigantic wave of blood, which then washes over Tokyo-3. One must wonder how long it took to clean all that up.
32* Zoro from ''Manga/OnePiece'' revels in this trope. His enemies don't spill much blood but he himself loses a hell of a lot of the stuff in almost every major fight.
33[[/folder]]
34
35[[folder:Fan Works]]
36* More like island, but in ''Fanfic/MyHeroAcademiaUnchainedPredator'', the Slayer, after slaughtering the entire Steel Sabers organization, turns I-Island into a blood covered slaughterhouse that is completely uninhabitable.
37[[/folder]]
38
39[[folder:Films]]
40* The bridge of the ''Film/EventHorizon'' combines this with MeatMoss. The ship's previous crew apparently [[GoMadFromTheRevelation tore each other apart quite gruesomely after the ship came back from its FTL jump]] and it's implied that's what's left.
41* ''Film/TheGamers'' had a rather spectacular example from the LudicrousGibs side of this trope, after Nimble decides to backstab Hunk. With a ballista.
42-->'''Gamemaster:''' Well, that's 264 points of damage. You splatter Hunk all over the common room. The patrons shriek in horror and run out of the inn, occasionally slipping on blood and entrails. You're now alone in a room that looks like a vat of beef stroganoff exploded in it.
43* Literal example in Creator/ClintEastwood's ''Film/HighPlainsDrifter''. When the protagonist takes over the duties of sheriff, he has the town painted red and renamed Hell ''before'' the shooting starts.
44* The elevator scene in ''Film/TheShining''.
45* In ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'', Doctor Manhattan is shown once using his powers to turn a bunch of thugs into chunky, red paint. Restaurant patrons [[BloodSplatteredInnocents weren't happy]].
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Literature]]
49* Averted in many fights in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' series thanks to the fact that creatures from the Nevernever have [[NoBodyLeftBehind auto-cleanup on destruction.]]
50* This occurs on a few occasions in ''Literature/TheGeneralSeries''. {{Discussed|Trope}} when Raj notes that it's the first (or one of the few) times he's literally seen streets run red, and this is because an army got massacred on each occasion. (One of them was about forty thousand or so troops disembarking off their ships to discover that Raj's men are waiting in ambush -- with rifles and field guns. They take casualties of something like 50% before they manage to surrender.)
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
54* The Viking song from ''Series/HorribleHistories'':
55--> We're gonna paint the whole town red... LITERALLY!\
56With the blood of the dead... LITERALLY!
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
60* This is promised as part of the Apocalypse in Literature/{{Revelation}}, the last book of Literature/TheBible. We are assured that in the End Times, the battle of Armageddon will happen and the battlefield will be flooded with blood to the height of a horse's shoulder. [[note]]Given the Real Life note below about the destruction of Jerusalem in Crusade times, it is possible that from the point of view of a man living in that bit of the Middle East, this has already happened.[[/note]]
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:Video Games]]
64* ''VideoGame/AlienShooter''. At any given time, you will be deluged with dozens upon dozens of monsters, each of which leaves a big puddle of blood, limbs, and guts when it dies.
65* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'': Caleb actually says "I'm gonna paint the town red" at the beginning of one level. He stays true to his statement.
66* Popular GameMod ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLKZhu_dgxA Brutal Doom]]'' runs mostly on this trope and LudicrousGibs. Examples include painting several walls and ceilings with a [[GatlingGood minigun]] and a double-barreled shotgun spreading people across a field. As blood confetti.
67* ''VideoGame/{{Crimsonland}}'' isn't just a fancy title for the game. All enemies, be it the zombies or GiantSpiders all leave a red blood patch upon death, and the ground soon gets covered with their blood to create a crimson land.
68* Inevitably happens in the ''{{VideoGame/Decision}}'' series, since zombies tend to cluster up and their dead (for good) bodies and also be destroyed by [=AoE=] weapons. It's most prominent near defensive towers, where the zombies all head for a single point and the tower can have up to three explosive weapons installed on it.
69* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress.'' Especially in the latest version, where bathing is a bit broken so attempts by dwarves to wash all that blood and vomit from battles off results in a giant puddle of blood all over the floor...
70** Our very own SuccessionGame, ''{{LetsPlay/Waterburned}}'', has so much blood it ''lags the game''.
71** In some evil areas of user-generated worlds, blood can rain from the sky.
72* From ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series' backstory comes Pelinal Whitestrake, the [[LongDeadBadass legendary 1st Era hero]] of mankind/[[FantasticRacism racist]] [[TheBerserker berserker]]. Believed to have been a [[EternalHero Shezarrine]], [[GodInHumanForm physical incarnations]] of the spirit of the [[GodIsDead "dead" creator god]] Lorkhan (known to the Imperials as "[[IHaveManyNames Shezarr]]"), Pelinal came to [[FounderOfTheKingdom St. Alessia]] to serve as her [[PhysicalGod divine champion]] in the war against the [[AbusivePrecursors Ayleids]]. Pelinal would fly into fits of UnstoppableRage (''mostly'' directed at the Ayleids) during which he [[BloodSplatteredWarrior would be stained with their blood]] and left so much ''bloody carnage'' in his wake that Kyne, one of the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Divines]], would have to [[CueTheRain send in her rain]] to cleanse Ayleid forts and village before they could be used by Alessia's forces.
73* ''[[VideoGame/{{Hatred}} Hatred]]'' is all about a very angry man going on a rampage with the goal of killing as many people as possible.
74* ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' by default is very bloody, but equipping the Jones mask makes blood puddles triple in size and adds some guts in them too. This seems to be the default setting in the [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber sequel]].
75* Used to great effect in ''VideoGame/{{Madworld}}''. All the game environments are entirely black and white when you first enter them. You proceed to kill your enemies and the game's intense {{Gorn}} will ensure that this trope occurs.
76* ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden II'' (2008) makes you able to cover the places you go through with blood from your enemies.
77* ''VideoGame/PaintTheTownRed'', which revolves entirely around brawls in various settings like [[BarBrawl a biker bar]], a disco and [[PrisonRiot a prison]]. Enemies that get hit will have blood gushing from their wounds, and all that blood splatters on the floor and walls, so it's possible to have every floor and wall in the area turned red by the end of a fight.
78* ''VideoGame/PresentableLiberty'' never shows the state of the city on screen (as the player is imprisoned indoors for the duration of the game), but Charlotte and Salvadore send the player letters detailing [[spoiler:the spread of TheVirus and the bloody mess its victims leave behind. It's implied that the entire city is covered in blood and guts by the time Salvadore arrives.]]
79* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' and it's sequel have you playing as a superpowered invidual, who can rip through almost anything in mere seconds. That includes humans. And almost nothing can stop you from turning everyone you see into fine red paste.
80* Late-game raids in ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'' will bring a large number of attackers to your colony, and killing all of them will paint the ground red. This is not very good, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome because things like pools of blood or corpses decrease the beauty rating and give bad feelings to your colonists]].
81* In ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'', while you can't actually do this in the game, there is a perk named "Paint the Town Red".
82* In ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'', the character [[AxCrazy Peacock]] mentions the trope by name in her battle introduction. However, [[BloodlessCarnage this doesn't actually happen in-game.]]
83* Variant in ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'': Splatting an opponent causes them to explode in your team's ink color, so combine that with the need to ink territory as an objective or even just a mobility aid, and you can literally paint the town red (or whatever color your team is).
84* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' allows you to turn the walls and floor red with the blood of any enemies you've attacked near them. Most of the time you'll mostly end up seeing blood trails from body parts rolling around, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHNNQOlKxew some mods]] bring this to the point of BloodyHilarious BlackComedy.
85* ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'': The main way for [[KillerRobot V1]] to heal is to be standing next to the enemy mobs as they get [[MoreDakka shot down]] or [[LudicrousGibs blown to bits]] in order to bathe in their spilled blood, which has become fuel for the machines. As a result, V1's rampage across Hell tends to leave a red trail.
86* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': Any blood splatter from hurting an enemy or NPC will remain long after the player has left the area. The easiest way to paint an area is to use the fifth Thaumaturgy power, Blood Boil, which causes the target to explode into LudicrousGibs and similarly obliterates anyone in the range of the explosion. It can be a shock to return to an area where you exploded someone and see that it's still red all over.
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Webcomics]]
90* ''Webcomic/AvasDemon'': After she hits her RageBreakingPoint and goes DrunkOnTheDarkSide, Ava [[http://www.avasdemon.com/pages.php#1353 quotes the trope]] word for word, then sets off on a OneManArmy rampage.
91* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': One of the [[SuperSoldier Jägers]] quotes the trope [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ggmain/doublespreads/ggcoll12_017_018_large.html?date=20111219 when they return to Mechanicsburg.]]
92* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': After a TortureTechnician foolishly [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-15 takes the head of his father hostage]], [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-08-16 Tagon paints the walls red with his blood]]. For added points, [[LodgedBladeRecycling Tagon uses the very scalpel]] the torturer threw at [[EyeScream his eye]]. Tagon's father and Tailor later {{discuss|edTrope}} the [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-10-06 aftermath]].
93-->'''Karl Tagon:''' I'm worried that my son is being sneaky and brutal because he ''enjoys'' it.\
94'''Tailor:''' No. If Captain Tagon is being especially brutal it's because [[ItsPersonal this is now personal]]. [[RoaringRampageOfRescue They kidnapped you, and he loves you]].\
95'''Karl Tagon:''' And he's showing his love by painting the walls with the blood of my captors.\
96'''Tailor:''' Not just their blood. Did you ''look'' at that wall? I didn't know a knife could do that.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Web Original]]
100* ''WebVideo/CarmillaTheSeries'': [[WickedCultured Mattie]], Carmilla's loving vampire sister, invites her out to "paint the town red" exactly as one would expect her to-with [[FullyEmbracedFiend enthusiasm]]. What's a girl to do with a reunion after decades but party?
101* ''Literature/ChakonaSpace'': In a recent story set in Neal Foster's more distant past, he doesn't paint the town so much as the ceilings of a starship's bridge and sickbay.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Western Animation]]
105* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': AxCrazy [[HollywoodCyborg Cyborg]] Barry mutilates [[ButtMonkey Brett]] in the ISIS elevator, covering the floor in blood[[note]]That's how you get ants![[/note]]. He also [[CouldntFindAPen uses some of it to write]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice "Barry Was Here (So was other Barry)"]] on the wall.
106* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' parodies this in ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E23TheHooffieldsAndMccolts The Hooffields and McColts]]'', when Ma Hooffield commands her clan to bombard the [=McColt=] fort with [[EdibleAmmunition tomatoes.]]
107--> Man the [[FunetikAksent tomater]] slingshots! We're gonna paint their mountaintop red!
108* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock Samson has performed this on occasion.
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Real Life]]
112* A suicide bomber rushed a tank. This happened. The tank suffered no damage.
113* A number of [[DeadBabyComedy dead baby jokes]] go along these lines: ''How many dead babies does it take to paint a wall? Depends how hard you throw them.''
114* At the end of the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades First Crusade]], the Crusaders, driven by hunger and thirst into a truly epic frenzy, slaughtered everything in sight when they entered UsefulNotes/{{Jerusalem}} in 1099, such that the streets were running with blood up to the horses' fetlocks, and bloodstains could be found everywhere in the city.
115** Note that this wasn't the first time that staining carnage had struck Jerusalem; during the interminable wars between the Eastern Roman and Persian Empires in the 5th-7th centuries CE, Jerusalem changed hands several times. The Eastern Romans were Christian and the Persians, while Zoroastrians, counted the Jews as their allies. Each time the city switched, the Persians would purge the city of Christians and repopulate it with Jews, and vice-versa...one imagines that quite a few stains came out of that.
116* Non-Lethal example: Ever sneeze towards a wall with a bad nosebleed?
117* This was said to have happened during UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, during the executions at the Place de la Concorde.
118* Blood stains still remain on walls and floors at Tuol Sleng prison, where many prisoners were held, tortured, interrogated, and executed by the [[UsefulNotes/{{Cambodia}} Khmer Rouge]].
119[[/folder]]
120

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