'Parasite' Black And White Poster Shows New (Spoilery) Perspective

Bong Joon-ho was frequently compared to Alfred Hitchcock after the release of his Oscar-winning masterwork Parasite. And soon, audiences will get to see Parasite as if it was shot in Hitchcock's time (at least, early on in his career). A Bong-approved Black-and-White edition of Parasite is coming soon to U.K. theaters and to the Curzon Home Cinema streaming service, and to mark the occasion, a monochromatic poster has been released. But like the film itself, the Parasite black and white poster offers a whole new perspective.

Parasite Black and White Poster

One of the incredible things about Parasite is how it can change your perspective, which is exactly what the poster for the Black-and-White edition of the film does. The poster, debuted by Empire Magazine, does more than simply put a greyscale filter on the memorable one-sheet, it switches things around so that you're seeing the image from the original poster, of the Park and Kim family lounging on the central house's lawn, from behind. But who is that shadowy figure coming up behind them? Well, that's a spoiler.

It's unclear why the ball is the one thing that is in color — like the black bars in front of everyone's eyes, some of the symbolism in the marketing remains a mystery — as it didn't really play a major part in the events of the film. If the scholar's rock was in color, that would make more sense, but the rock, which can't even be seen from this perspective, isn't really that colorful to begin with. But take a look at the original poster below to see how this black-and-white image is the reverse image — literally.

Releasing Parasite in black and white fulfills a "a life-long dream" of director Bong Joon-ho, whose primary inspiration for the monochromatic edition comes from the 1922 silent horror film Nosferatu. Bong, who has seen the black-and-white edition twice now, couldn't be happier with the finished product, saying back in January, "I watched the black and white version twice now, and at times the film felt more like a fable and gave me the strange sense that I was watching a story from old times. The second time I watched it, the film felt more realistic and sharp as if I was being cut by a blade. It also further highlighted the actors' performances and seemed to revolve more around the characters."

Parasite: Black-And-White Edition is set to arrive in U.K. cinemas and onto the Curzon Home Cinema streaming service on July 24, 2020.