The painters - Urbanspook

William 'Bill' Collins and Mona Lanius are the main antagonists of the analog horror series The Painter.

The killer's actions throughout the series have been documented in a series of police case file styled VHS tapes that the unseen protagonist posting the videos seems to have found in their basement, for reasons yet unknown.

The Painters only speak in the episode “MEAT” but it was only Mona, though it has been theorized that someone heard Bill panting and barking like a dog. They hardly reveal much about themselves, however, what can be gleamed about their personality comes from the state they leave their victims in and the titles they give each painting showcasing their corpses.

The Painters are unfathomably sadistic and deranged duo of killers and artists duo who takes great enjoyment and pleasure in performing despicable and horrific acts of violence upon innocent people, including men, women and children (as they are mostly vulnerable). They are psychopathic and remorseless, performing each kill with extreme brutality and killing in such a way that implies they want their victims to slowly suffer as they kill them. The Painters are also sexual sadists. Utterly devoid of empathy and morality they are.

Despite their madness and psychotic nature, the Painters are a smart and calculating killer duo, not only in how to invent creative ways to kill people, but also for how they’re able to evade authorities and stay one step ahead of them at every turn. Although their intelligence and sadism tend to border on arrogance due to their nature as a seemingly uncatchable killer who has successfully evaded the police for ages. This also causes them to slip up slightly and reveal that there’s two killers by neglecting to clean their bloody footprints. When faced with danger, Mona cowardly surrendered while Bill charged at another officer, leading to his well earned death.

While it’s unknown how the pair get along, it’s seemingly not the best, as one of the killers doesn’t wear shoes. It’s implied that the other killer is the one responsible for the paintings, which possibly suggests he’s a slave to the actual killer. Whether he’s a slave or an equally sadistic serial killer is unknown.

It could be possible that the killers are homeless or living a transient lifestyle. Both the crawlspace in IN THE WALLS and the graffiti on the lighthouse suggest that they were temporary dwellings.

Before the confirmation of a second killer in FAMILY, it was hinted in THE CLUE. Sean Kane wrote the number 2 in his own blood amidst his assault. The second killer appeared in a surveillance photo at the end, but wasn't said to be a different person at the time; many believed the first killer was (ironically) wearing a past victim's face. Many believed that since the murders were happening swiftly and professionally, and how unrealistic it was that only one person could be doing this, that the person behind these murders wasn't working alone.

The first killer was confirmed to be a woman by a portrait on UrbanSPOOK's Instagram. A separate illustration of letters, hidden as a frame in MEAT, provided her name: Mona Lanius. Her name is likely a reference to the Mona Lisa painting. The last name 'Lanius' means 'Butcher' in Latin, which can be referencing her brutal ways of killing, and the episodes titled "MEAT" and "PIGS". The portrait was the final upload for Inktober 2023.

There is a message hidden in Morse Code in the episode 'PIGS' that reads "IAMBILLCOLLINS" which could mean the second killers identity could be Bill Collins, and the reason it seems he has a missing arm is that he cut it off and put it into the barrel of mangled flesh and bones in the episode 'THE LIGHTHOUSE' to throw the police off and make them think that he had been murdered. In HELL, the morse code would turn out to be true, as autopsy revealed that the killer behind the mask was, indeed, Bill Collins. His missing arm is yet to be told, as police are still unsure why his DNA is being put into his family's remains.

In HELL, Mona is likely to be executed due to her murder count.