The Colors of Evil is an animated short film created by Phillip Simon and Alyse Miller at Ringling College of Art and Design, and uploaded to YouTube
on August 1st, 2012.
The premise involves a girl named Vivian who decides to summon a demon to get revenge against her bully Nancy. However, the demon she summons appears to be harmless and not what she hoped for.
Tropes:
- All There in the Manual: Nancy is never referred to by name in the short, although Vivian's Dartboard of Hate has her name written on two newspaper articles about her. Her name is given in the credits.
- Alpha Bitch: Nancy is a stereotypical mean popular girl who wears a ton of makeup and bullies Vivian, who finally decides to summon a demon to make her stop.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Belphagor is a demon who behaves like a big, cuddly, friendly dog, and his body shape resembles a cartoon dog bone.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Once Belphagor witnesses Nancy bully Vivian, he takes action against the bully by overwhelming her with his cuteness.
- Cuteness Overload: Enforced. When Belphagor confronts Nancy to protect Vivian, he does so using his cuteness to overwhelm her.
- Dartboard of Hate: Vivian has an entire wall of her room covered in crossed-out pictures of Nancy, newspaper articles about her, and a picture of her impaled with an axe and a meat cleaver.
- The Dog Bites Back: The premise of the short is that Vivian wants to get revenge against Nancy.
- Face Palm: Vivian does one when she realizes Belphagor has followed her out of the house and to the bus stop.
- Hate Sink: Nancy's introduction is her pushing Vivian out of the bus and then stepping on her while talking on the phone all while directly insulting her. It makes Belphagor enforcing Cuteness Overload on her extremely satifying, especially when he steps on her afterward as well.
- I'm Standing Right Here: Nancy trash-talks Vivian on the phone to someone while Vivian is standing next to her at the bus stop. Vivian's lack of outward reaction implies she's used to it.
- Ironic Name: Vivian has a name phonetically similar to "vivid," but dresses in dark and gloomy clothing. It's her rival Nancy that wears bright and colorful clothes.
- Kick the Dog: Nancy's introductory scene is her shoving Vivian off the bus and stepping on her.Nancy: Thanks for being my floormat again, Vivian. I know you don't mind since you look like dirt anyway. Ta-ta!
- Killer Rabbit: Belphagor may look fluffy, adorable, and friendly, but that's just a part of how he deals with his victims.
- Minimalist Cast: The three characters in the short are Vivian the goth girl, Nancy the Alpha Bitch, and Belphagor the adorable demon. Justified as this short is a student-made animation project, which usually have simple storylines and small casts of characters so they can be completed by a certain deadline.
- No Name Given: While refered to as Belphagor on this page, thats only the name on the demon's tag and the demon doesn't actually have a name otherwise.
- Origami Gag: After Vivian summons the demon Belphagor, she tears apart a photo of Nancy to demonstrate what she wants Belphagor to do, then hands him an identical photo. He swishes it around in his mouth for a few seconds before spitting out an origami crane, which makes Vivian pound her head against the desk.
- Our Demons Are Different: Vivian wanted a deadly demon to get revenge against Nancy only to get Belphagor, who is a cute and cuddly demon. She soon finds that to be what makes him deadly.
- Paper Destruction of Anger: To demonstrate to Belphagor what she wants him to do to Nancy, Vivian takes a photo of her and tears it into tiny pieces, then hands him an identical photo. He puts it in his mouth, chews for a few seconds, and spits out an origami crane.
- Parodies for Dummies: Vivian summons a demon using a book called "Demon Summoning for Kids".
- Rainbow Puke: Upon suffering Cuteness Overload from Belphagor, Nancy lets out a rainbow from her mouth that hits a satellite and destroys the moon.
- Wacky Sound Effect: Vivian makes a sound like a squeaky toy when Belphagor picks her up and hugs her.
- The Voiceless: Vivian never speaks a word throughout the short. The only sound she makes is a grunt of frustration when she can't get Belphagor to kill Nancy like she wants.
