It has been a long time since I’ve watched a good crime thriller that has managed to keep my attention from start to finish, but I can definitely say the new Netflix movie Colors of Evil: Red did just that! This movie is set in a coastal town where the body of a girl named Monica is found. But this isn’t just any ordinary crime scene—her lips are mutilated, and the pattern of the killing matches a case from 15 years ago. Is it the same murderer, or are the cases unrelated with different motives altogether? Detective Leopold Bilski is on the case, working tirelessly to uncover the truth. Monica’s mother, Helena Bogucka, is also deeply involved and determined to find out what happened to her daughter. This film dives into the dark and twisted evil nature of humans, which will make your skin crawl and reveal just how sick some people can be. If you’re into intense crime thrillers, Colors of Evil: Red is a must-watch!
Spoilers Ahead
Why did Jakubiak die?
The movie starts on a very positive note with Monica, a girl in her twenties, getting a job as a bartender at the Shipyard Club. From the get-go, it’s clear that Monica is a sweet talker and quite attractive, and people really dig her charm. But as she got into the business, she started dealing drugs on the side. At first, it seemed manageable, but soon she realized she had to do it secretly to avoid serious consequences. What kind of consequences, you ask? Well, the boss of the club, Lukasz Kazarski, is a gangster and drug dealer who runs various illegal operations under the cover of running a legal shell company. Lukasz is a dangerous man. Monica witnessed firsthand how he dealt with betrayal—one of his men was caught dealing drugs behind his back, and Lukasz brutally sliced his lips off and dumped his body after slitting his throat. It was a horrifying sight. Wanting to get out of the drug business, Monica trusted her supervisor, who had promised to protect her and claimed to be her lover. But you know how some men are with their promises. Instead of helping her, he betrayed her, selling her out to Lukasz to save his skin and keep his drug dealings a secret. This left Monica vulnerable and at the mercy of Lukasz, who began to exploit her. He molested her, chained her up, and used hurtful objects on her.
Monica endured unbearable pain and bled heavily but couldn’t bring herself to tell her parents about these things. After all, they were respected lawyers, and she felt it would be too much of a burden for them. Tragically, Monica’s body was later found on the seashore, with her lips sliced off. The detective, Leopold Bilski, started investigating and found a striking similarity to another case from fifteen years ago. A girl named Zaneta Caleta, who had also partied at the same club, was found dead with her lips sliced off. The prime suspect back then was Zaneta’s fiancé, Jakubiak, who was sent to jail for the murder. Here’s the shocking part: Jakubiak had just been released around the time of Monica’s murder. Naturally, suspicion fell on Jakubiak again, especially since blood-soaked t-shirts were found behind his house. It seemed to fit perfectly—he was the murderer. But when the police interrogated him, he strictly claimed he was innocent and that someone was framing him. It sounded like the classic “innocent” act that perpetrators play, right? He insisted that even fifteen years ago, he had never wished Zaneta any harm and had even bought her an engagement ring. He did not kill her. He loved her and wanted to marry her. But instead, he went to jail for something that he did not even do. Feeling hopeless and realizing he’d be sent back to prison and get abuse again, Jakubiak decided to end his life. He jumped from the window of the police station and died on the scene.
What happened to Lukasz?
By now, you get the idea that Lukasz is a horrible human being who shows no mercy to anyone. He often told Monica that he wanted to marry her, claiming she was his future wife. I think he wanted to show his power and dominance over her as if he owned her. The problematic part was that Monica’s mother, Helena Bogucka, who is a high court lawyer, sensed something off about the club and her daughter’s dealings there but did nothing about it. Meanwhile, Leopold Bilski at the police station discovered that another girl had been molested by Lukasz at the club earlier, but her statement mysteriously vanished, and Lukasz wasn’t charged. This suggested that the police were also involved and were not willing to upset the powerful and evil Lukasz. Shockingly, it turns out that Monica’s father was Lukasz’s lawyer. He confessed to his wife that Monica had come to him the day she was murdered to reveal everything Lukasz had done to her. He admitted that all the victims with their lips sliced off were not Jakubiak’s victims, but Lukasz’s.
Despite knowing that confessing this would debar him, the father didn’t care; after all, he had already lost his daughter and felt he had nothing left to lose. He wanted justice. Monica’s father gave Leopold Bilski a thumb drive with all the information proving that Lukasz was the murderer and responsible for the lip-cutting. When Leopold Bilski and the police team went to arrest Lukasz, they found a torture chamber in his house with chains, shackles, and instruments of torture everywhere. They eventually found the cut lips in his locker and discovered a bracelet made from human skin, which was horrifying. DNA tests confirmed it included Zaneta Caleta’s DNA, proving Jakubiak’s innocence. This makes you wonder how many innocent men have their lives ruined by these vile predators. It also turned out that a police officer named Spider had helped plant evidence against Jakubiak, and he was later killed by the police. Even after all this, when Leopold Bilski and Helena Bogucka thought they had finally found the perpetrator and served justice for Monica, Lukasz claimed he might have humiliated and tortured her out of anger but never murdered her or cut her lips. So, the real killer was still out there.
Who killed Monica?
This film represents all sorts of men in society—how vile, cruel, evil, selfish, and pathetic they can be. Some suppress their feelings so badly that they end up oppressing others and putting people in danger. Lukasz got arrested, and Helena Bogucka was finally happy until she realized the murderer was actually someone else. You see, the coroner of the case, Tadeusz Dubiela, had been dating Helena for a very long time. His son, Mario, was one of Monica’s good friends and had always had a crush on her. He wanted to sleep with her, but Monica didn’t know about his feelings. When they met, Monica kept telling Mario that she didn’t want to sleep with him and that her whole body hurt from what she had been through. But Mario insisted that if she could sleep with guys like Lukasz, she had to sleep with him too. Monica thought of Mario as a friend, someone she could turn to in her time of need, but he took advantage of her. When she kept pushing him away, he banged her head on the floor, and she died on the spot. It was an accident, but the frustration behind it was not so accidental. Mario believed that just because Monica slept with others, he had a right to sleep with her too. His father, the coroner, was frightened for his son, knowing he was too weak to survive in prison. So, what did he do? He knew that Jakubiak had come to town after his release from prison and could be framed by showing that he still followed the lip-cutting pattern of victims like Monica. Tadeusz was also equally responsible for this crime. This story shows that it’s not just ordinary people or villainous gangsters involved in horrible crimes, but also people in authority. It makes you wonder who you can trust. Helena was likely thinking the same thing. Tadeusz confessed everything to Helena, giving back Monica’s ruby ring to her, and then he killed himself with a gun.
Colors of Evil: Red is a powerful film that exposes the darkness within society and the courage it takes to come forward with it. At the end, we see Helena, who has been hurt and betrayed, wishing that Tadeusz could have killed her to spare her from all the pain she is dealing with. But you know what Mario did? Despite knowing he was weak, he wasn’t afraid. The movie showed that it takes courage to stand up and admit your mistakes, and Mario did just that. He went to the police station and confessed to his crime. He will definitely be sent to prison; we know that. Why was Leopold Bilski so involved in this case? Obviously, to show that not all men are evil—some genuinely care. But also because his own little daughter’s name was Monica, making this case even more personal for him. Thankfully, he did justice to Monica. However, we are sure there are dozens of victims who fell prey to Lukasz and died like this, but they are still unrecognized. One thing is certain: these men are truly evil, seeing women as objects to use and discard as they please. We hope men like Lukasz and those who pretend to be good but are actually evil reveal their true nature and get caught.
