A Serbian Film

I can't remember the last time I received a review disc of a film that had arrived on these shores with such controversy and notoriety, certainly not one that had been cut by as much as this one had by the BBFC, who demanded 49 cuts over 11 scenes totalling 4 minutes and 11 seconds. Critical and audience reaction to the film was divided with some people walking out and words like "disgusting" being used and it appears that film critics are divided with some people lauding the movie whilst others derided it as nothing more than exploitative trash.

The film follows Milos, a retired porn star, who lives with his wife and young child in a happy and relaxed retirement, even when his son finds one of his videos, watches it and wonders what his dad is doing to those women. Although he has saved a great deal of money, it isn't enough to last until his old age and, when the offer of a massive amount of money for a one last job comes from a former colleague of his, Leyla, he is intrigued.

Unfortunately, the strange and rather sinister man behind the project, Vukmir, won't tell Milos anything about the job, only that his prowess as a sexual superstar will be needed and the less he knows the better. Vukmir seems to have an extremely dark side and Milos is shocked to see that his new employer shows him a video of a baby being born, crying when it is slapped on the backside and continues to cry when something, we don't exactly what, happens to the newborn. Whatever is happening on-screen, it clearly is something extremely disturbing as Milos can't even bear to look.

Every day, Milos is picked up by a chauffeur driven BMW and driven to the filming location, a home for orphaned and abandoned children. This initially, and unsurprisingly, strikes Milos as an extremely odd location for a pornographic film and there is no crew in the traditional sense, only two cameramen -- both burly and well built men who look more like bodyguards than filmmakers. Before he sets foot in the building, one of the men puts an earpiece in Milos' right ear in which some instructions are relayed to the lead actor. To his surprise and alarm, Milos finds that the set is, as Vukmir explained, extremely realistic and that there appear to be abused children around, either in person or in a position to watch the sex scenes which, Milos is told, need to be extremely rough.


After shooting several scenes which he finds to be slightly beyond the pale and regrets signing up in the first place, Milos tells Vukmir that he wants to quit and doesn't even want the money. The next thing he knows, he wakes up in his house and his clock indicates that four days have elapsed. To compound matters, he has a bloody nose, his clothes are covered in blood and his wife and son are nowhere to be found. Milos also has some rather extreme and disturbing mental flashes that may be memories of what has happened in the 'missing time' or perhaps something to do with the blow on the head he has received and his appetite for Jack Daniels whiskey.

In any case, Milos is desperate to find out what has happened and whether Vukmir is, like his brother, a policeman, told him, a respected child psychologist and former member of State Security. What he finds and remembers will change his life forever.

I really didn't know what to expect from A Serbian Film as it had (as it says on the rear cover) been compared to Gaspar Noe's Irreversible, David Cronenberg's Videodrome and Darren Aaronofsky's Requiem for a Dream in terms of its brilliance and disturbing content whereas other critics were less glowing in their praise. In any case, I went into this with an open mind, not knowing what to expect apart from 'extreme content', as the packaging warns.


Writer-director Srdjan Spasojevic claims that the film is an allegory for the troubled recent history in the Balkans and life in Serbia where people are put upon by their employers and treated almost as cattle for being consumers -- metaphorically raped from the moment they are born to when they die, and even afterwards. Spasojevic says that some of the allegory is lost in the cut scenes but A Serbian Film still contains metaphors for the troubles going on in the world and how the general public is treated. I'm not so sure about the allegory as I don't know the intricacies of politics in the Balkans or the minutiae of the socio-economic climate in Serbia, perhaps if you do, you will notice the allegory.

What it lacks in a deep or meaningful subtext, it makes up for in extremely disturbing and hard-hitting content that will give even the most hardened horror fan moments of discomfort and feelings of deep unease. Some people on the Cult Labs forum have it down as one of the most offensive films they have ever seen, and that is a forum populated by people who have seen a great range of horror films, some of which were once on the infamous DPP list and are not available uncut in this country. Anyhow, I found the film to be extremely well made and those who have described it as anything else clearly weren't watching it with an eye on the direction, cinematography, editing and other technical aspects. The acting is also very good and convincing with well rounded characters and some suitably disturbing and bizarre performances, especially by Srdjan Todorovic, who plays Milos and Sergej Trifunovic, who is wonderfully mysterious as Vukmir.


I can't say that this is a film I particularly enjoyed and am in no rush to watch it again (I will at some point, but not in the next week or so) but it is a film that is extremely well planned and executed. I wouldn't necessarily go so far as to call it a mindless splatter film but it is a very nasty and disturbing piece of exploitation cinema and those who enjoy/appreciate such films and the 'Category III' Hong Kong films which are renowned for their gore and extreme content will find much to appreciate and admire in this.

Srdjan Spasojevic set out to make a film with a political statement and one that will make you sit up and reconsider their place in the world and perhaps do something to change it. The fact that the film has been so widely cut in the US and UK means that the allegory has been somewhat diluted and any film with such gratuitous and extreme content is bound to only be seen by a minority. A Serbian Film could therefore be seen as a failure in terms of getting the director's message about life in the Balkans (and beyond) to a wide audience as this will only appeal to a minority of horror fans.

The Disc

Extra Features
This Blu-ray comes with an introduction (4:05, HD), which is exclusive to the Blu-ray, by writer- director Srdjan Spasojevic, who begins talking straight at the camera and to you, the viewer, before he turns to his right as if he is being interviewed and imagines the sort of questions he would be asked, giving some background and an overview of the subtext in the film to prepare you for what you are about to see. This isn't available on the menu but plays automatically when you select 'Play Film'.

The only other extra feature is Filmmaker's Insight (9:38, SD) in which Srdjan Spasojevic and his co-writer Aleksandar Radivojevic appear in a Q&A session after a screening of the film, flanking Alan Jones and answering questions about the cuts, the controversy and why they decided to make the film. Spasojevic does most of the talking and rather dominates proceedings with Alan Jones rather just standing there, making sure they aren't going to overrun and occasionally looking for the next questioner in the audience.

The box comes with a 12 page booklet containing a predictably intelligent and well written essay by horror film journalist Alan Jones, writing as the organiser of Frightfest.


The Picture
The visual quality is quite superb with excellent contrast levels and strong and vibrant colours. Flesh tones are consistently realistic and the locations add to the general sense of unease -- it's as if Spasojevic had watched David Lynch's back catalogue and decided on the sort of lighting, angles and décor he wanted for some of the more sinister scenes.

A Serbian Film is very well shot and designed and the prosthetic penis that Srdjan Todorovic wears is extremely realistic and I don't mind admitting that I winced a bit when he threatened his 'director' by holding a knife to his rather impressive member. The editing and cinematography help to make this as disturbing a piece of work as possible and the SFX make-up helps to make people appear as if they've been really beaten up.


The Sound
You have the choice between DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtracks and the former is clearly the better of the two with an extremely clear and well separated soundtrack which is helped by the amount of bass that it emits which helps to underscore the tension and sense of unease in the same way as the scores for David Lynch's more obscure and disturbing works do.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the DD 2.0 stereo option but it pales in comparison to the DTS HD option which is much sharper, clearer and makes the film a much more eerie, creepy and disturbing watch.

The subtitles are generally very good although there are some errors such as 'fozen' instead of 'frozen' and the sentence in which the word 'who' is missing. Generally though, they are clear and easy to read and free of spelling and grammatical errors. It is peculiar that they are burnt in and aren't optional but this is a release for the UK and I can't imagine there are many people who speak Serbian fluently that will rent or buy this disc.


Final Thoughts
A Serbian Film is clearly not going to be a mainstream film and one that will find homes in the collections of every horror fan but it is an extremely interesting film and one that is worth watching if only for curiosity's sake. I wouldn't put it in the same league as the other films mentioned on the rear cover (Videodrome, Requiem for a Dream and Irreversible) but it is an extremely ambitious piece of filmmaking and one that is done with great skill by everyone behind the camera and performed very well by those in front of the lens.

It is perhaps a shame that the disc doesn't come with more extra features but, then again, there isn't a great deal more to add to the things that Srdjan Spasojevic talks about in his introduction. Whether you rent or buy is up to you but it is a film worth watching, but don't say you haven't been warned when the packaging says "Warning: This Film Contains Extreme Content" -- they weren't kidding!

A Serbian Film is a nasty piece of exploitation cinema, and I mean that in a good way.