Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic [Other horror films: The ABCs of Death (2012, segment ‘R Is for Removed’)]
I think most people in the horror community have at least heard about this one. Known most commonly as A Serbian Film, Srpski film is a controversial film, sometimes listed as one of the most disturbing movies ever made. Given the content in the film, I don’t have a problem with that label, but I also think it’s fair to say that the film isn’t without merit.
First, though, I should say that I don’t usually go out of my way to watch extreme movies. I’m one of those casuals who watches movies that I think I’ll enjoy (unless I’ve seen it before, in which case I need to rewatch in order to write a review for it, but that’s beside the point), and I don’t find most extreme horror to be likely candidates as an enjoyable film. I’ve seen a handful of more disturbing films, of course – Men Behind the Sun, The Human Centipede, Schramm, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Wedding Trough. I even watched half of Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood (though I turned it off as I was feeling ill).
That said, most extreme cinema isn’t something I’m too keen on seeing, and A Serbian Film is no different. I’d heard of this one plenty of times, of course, but I didn’t know anything about it. I had heard it was disturbing, and sickening, and, from some people, that it never should have been made. It’s hard to pinpoint why I chose to watch this earlier today, but I think it was just plain curiosity – despite not being into these types of movies, I wanted to see if it was as bad as I’ve heard.
And you know what? It’s that case of overhyping things in your mind, because while this movie was definitely disturbing, I was honestly expecting worse. There are three scenes that I found the hardest to watch, and two of them weren’t even that explicit. Disturbing, sure, but not explicit. There was a lot of violence at the end of the film, but at that point, it felt little different than what you’d expect from a rape/revenge movie, at least to me.
I guess what I’m saying is I thought this movie would be worse. I thought I’d be shook after finishing it into a silent stupor, not wanting to talk for the rest of the day. And that didn’t happen. There are some shocking scenes here, but even one of the most disturbing scenes, revolving around the main character’s son, is one that didn’t really come as a surprise to me at all. I’d heard the movie was fucked up, so the fact they went where they did didn’t faze me all that much.
Insofar as the details are concerned, I’m not giving them away here. I can say that there are some decent, gory portions – someone gets decapitated, someone else gets a chunk of flesh torn from their throat, someone gets their eye fucked out. Actually, I have to say, that last one just felt over-the-top in a silly way, so though the movie is a dismal and dark one, that scene sort of took me out of it. It’s a violent and disturbing film, but some of the violence, at least to me, feels entirely typical.
Few of the performances here really stood out that much to me. Sure, Srdjan ‘Zika’ Todorovic made for a perfectly fine lead, and Sergej Trifunovic made a decent antagonist (although I could have done without his rambling about pornography, art, life, and Serbia). I’m not surprised by where Slobodan Bestic’s character went, but I sort of wished we got more from him. Otherwise, though, nobody here really did much for me.
Obviously, A Serbian Film is a movie that would appeal to only a small subsection of movie-lovers. Personally, while I didn’t think it was near as bad as expected, it wasn’t a movie I necessarily enjoyed watching. To be fair, the more objectionable material doesn’t even pop up until an hour into the movie, so it’s not like the whole thing is disgusting, nihilist debauchery. Enough of the last forty minutes are, though, that I think this one viewing will also probably be my last. It has it’s fans, though, so more power to it.
5/10
Jiggy's Horror Corner 