A Serbian Film

In case you were wondering... He's holding a machete. And he finishes.

I'm not sure where to start with this one. I don't know which genre you can label A Serbian Film. Is it horror, exploitation, torture porn, soft core-gore, shock? All of the above? I don't know if there's an appropriate name for this flick's genre. I've seen a lot of gore hound flicks and I wouldn't put this into the top. It isn't the goriest and most violent film I've ever seen but it is definitely one of the more disturbing. I don't believe you need an iron stomach to watch it either. I've seen people hold MARTYRS above this but I totally disagree. I don't hold MARTYRS anywhere higher than the ground because it wasn't any good. Like I said it isn't the goriest it's just that what's going on is very disturbing, particularly a few stand out scenes. Whether or not you've heard of A Serbian Film  you may have heard about the newborn rape scene, yes, you read that right. In the film it is enthusiastically referred to as "newborn porn". Well... it's there. Thankfully we really don't see it but what is shown is probably too much for some people. I really didn't turn away at any moment or wince during this film but some scenes did in fact leave me quite speechless and /or with a blank stare complete with gaping mouth, that was one of those scenes.

If you guessed dick biting and a facial, you're correct.

A Serbian Film, (directed by  Srđan Spasojević) follows Milos, a retired porn star who lives with his wife and young son.  Being that they live in Serbia it pretty much sucks and they have no money. Then an old porn pal comes to him and tells him that he could make enough money to set up his son for life, all he has to do is one last porn flick. Eventually Milos agrees. The porn film he makes starts off strange. He has no script, just an earpiece where the director Vukmir instructs him, his job is to show up and because of him not knowing beforehand he gives legit reactions to what's going on because where he goes to film there are already cameramen waiting for him, dressed like S.W.A.T. dudes. When Milos finally realizes that these people are totally fucked up he tries to get out of it. However... Vukmir, the director, spikes his whiskey (with enough aphrodisiac to keep a bull fucking for weeks) and what follows are flashbacks of what Milos has done.

Yeah that's a pipe.

If there's anything to compare this with, think of 8mm from the side of Dino Velvet... and then some. It's like that. The films Dino Velvet makes in 8mm are a little mild compared to Vukmir though. But if both films were set in the same universe, Vukmir and Dino Velvet would probably be pals. Behind all of the crazy shit you'll see there's actually a deeper message to be had oddly enough. According to a friend who recommended it (yeah my circle is strange like that) articles I've read by other sites and interviews I've read with the director and writer, apparently A Serbian Film is kind of a metaphor for all of the horrible things done to the Serbs by their leaders. Before watching this film I had read that so I felt what was going on more than I would have. Had I not read that I would've marked this as just another torture porn flick that I enjoyed. The director definitely knows how to make a movie though, it looks amazing. Every scene, for some strange reason, reminds me of a Silent Hill video game. The settings are just creepy and shadowy and dingy.

The newborn rape scene, believe it or not, has nothing on this scene. 

You'd think that with a film like this that the acting would suck but it doesn't. Much like the fantastic job Srdjan Spasojevic did with directing, the acting is surprisingly really good and pretty convincing for the most part. Milos, played by Srdjan Todorovic, is really good here. So all of the players came and did their part pretty good unlike other gore flicks. But was it any good? Well... I enjoyed it. A lot. We've all probably seen worse at some point and I'm sure some may have even searched for worse and successfully found it on 4Chan. Like I said the gore, rape/sex and violence is easy to stomach... it's more who is involved with what is going on with the gore, rape, sex and violence that's a little tough to stomach. My one big problem with the film that totally ruined my suspended disbelief is one particular guy Milos kills at the end: Since he's so jacked up on bull-aphrodisiacs, his dick is like a spear... and he stabs this guy in his eye with it. With all of the insanely realistic shit that went on for the entire movie, this popped up and totally took me out of the moment. It was at this scene that I shook my head and wondered why it was even considered. Thankfully, though I'm not sure that's the word I'm looking for, the very ending makes up for it with some crazy, horrible, insane shit. Literally the last 25 minutes your stomach will be in knots because of what's going on. Despite the terribly horrifying things we find out Milos does (through flashbacks), and despite having no control over himself thanks to the drugs, when the credits roll make no mistake: Milos is a victim. A Serbian Film can be a tough pill to swallow for some people. A lot of people, like myself may find the ending slightly too predictable but one thing is for sure though, when it's over and you like it or hate it, you'll never forget it.

Fan-Gasm Score:

Would have been 4-Stars were it not for the ridiculous "Dick Kill".