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A Serbian Film

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A pointless shocker and societal allegory, a film whose imagery is so gruesome as to leave you scarred for life...or rolling your eyes for 100 minutes.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Srdjan Spasojevic

Srdjan "Zika" Todorovic

Sergej Trifunovic

Jelena Gavrilovic

Katarina Zutic

Slobodan Bestic

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Movie Review | 'A Serbian Film'

Torture or Porn? No Need to Choose

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By A.O. Scott

May 12, 2011

In spite of its generic title, “A Serbian Film,” directed by Srdjan Spasojevic, has already provoked scandal on the festival circuit and fascination from devotees of extreme cinema. At first glance — and few are likely to dare a second — it belongs in the high-concept shock-horror tradition whose most recent and notorious specimen is probably “The Human Centipede.” As is often the case with movies like this, “A Serbian Film” revels in its sheer inventive awfulness and dares the viewer to find a more serious layer of meaning.

Milos (Srdjan Todorovic), a stringy-haired, sad-eyed fellow who has retired from a career in pornography to spend more time with his wife (Jelena Gavrilovic), their son and a large bottle of Jack Daniel’s, is pulled back into his old profession by an offer from Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic), a cinéaste whose perversity is matched only by his pomposity. Milos, he says, is “a Balkan sex god,” the Nikola Tesla of fornication, whatever that means. Lured by a fantastic sum of money, Milos signs up for a project that Vukmir promises will produce a world-historical and uniquely Serbian work of art.

In setting up this premise, Mr. Spasojevic seems to be settling into a De Palmaesque realm of queasy, kinky, suspenseful comedy, teasing the boundary between titillation and revulsion. Once the shooting of Vukmir’s movie starts, however, that line is definitively transgressed, as “A Serbian Film” descends into a spectacle of increasingly cruel and gruesome sexual violence. Rape, incest, murder, torture, necrophilia — these words seem positively genteel in reference to the grisly scenes that Milos joins, mostly against his will. Newspaper-friendly euphemisms do not really exist for the images Mr. Spasojevic conjures up. Suffice it to say that they make the bad bits of Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” look like the Smurfs.

What you make of this spectacle — which is filmed, not without skill, in slick and lurid widescreen composition — will depend to some extent on how you interpret the movie’s title, with its deadpan implication of typicality. “A Serbian Film” refers both to Mr. Spasojevic’s movie and also, perhaps more directly, to the movie inside it, which Vukmir envisions as a transcendent expression of Serbia’s national identity . The framing tale, with its allusions to the Balkan wars of the 1990s and the greed and political corruption that followed, can thus be seen as a piece of corrosive social criticism, exposing a national psychology of sadism, misogyny and self-pity. That it may also be an example of those things is no contradiction. “That is cinema!” Vukmir exclaims as his masterpiece reaches its unspeakably savage climax. “That is film!” It’s hard to argue, even though this Serbian film is almost as hard to watch.

“A Serbian Film” is rated NC-17 (No one 17 or under admitted). The best part of this movie may be that members of the M.P.A.A. ratings board had to sit through it.

A SERBIAN FILM

Opens on Friday in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.

Produced and directed by Srdjan Spasojevic; written by Aleksandar Radivojevic and Mr. Spasojevic; director of photography, Nemanja Jovanov; edited by Darko Simic; music by Sky Wikluh; production design by Nemanja Petrovic; costumes by Jasmina Sanader; released by Invincible Pictures. In Serbian, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes.

WITH: Srdjan Todorovic (Milos), Sergej Trifunovic (Vukmir), Jelena Gavrilovic (Marija), Katarina Zutic (Lejla), Slobodan Bestic (Marko) and Ana Sakic (Jecina Majka).

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Home » Movies » Movie Reviews

A Serbian Film (2010) Review

As you are about to read this review, we have one warning and don’t worry, we’ll explain, but please, never watch A Serbian Film .

That sounds like some kind of challenge, doesn’t it? I’d much rather you didn’t take it as one. It is not a dare; it’s a heartfelt request. I mean this genuinely. It would be irresponsible of me as a critic, and arguably as a human being, to let this go unsaid. I’m not advising you to check it out if you’re into this kind of thing. (If you’re into this kind of thing, see a doctor).

I’m not suggesting this a niche movie, or that there might be something to enjoy about it. I am saying, earnestly, that you should not watch it. Doing so will actively make your life worse. I know this because, for reasons that are mysterious even to me, I watched it all the way through. I’m fairly sure there’s something wrong with me.

Over the past twenty-six years I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. I’ll always be the first to admit that. I haven’t necessarily made the decisions I should have, and often the ones I have made have proved to be incorrect for all involved.

I’m not shy or ashamed about any of this, because it’s a fundamental part of growing up and being a human being. We live, we make mistakes, and we learn. But watching A Serbian Film is one of the worst mistakes I’ve made in a long time.

There’s nothing to be learned from it. I usually make jokes in these things, and I can’t even summon the will to do that. I just feel a bit sick. There were four separate moments between the opening and closing credits where I simply turned the thing off; four individual points where my brain kicked back in, my senses returned, and I realised what I was doing.

I think it was possibly the third of these instances when I asked, loudly to the empty room, “What the f**k am I doing with my life?”

I don’t have an answer to that question. I thought I did, but now I’m really not sure. I don’t know why I started watching A Serbian Film , I don’t know why I didn’t stop until it was over , I don’t know why I’m writing about it now, and I don’t know what I would have done with those ninety minutes if I had a different career which didn’t compel me to do these things.

The more prevalent question is why each time I realized that I was making a mistake did I still turn the thing back on?

A Serbian Film (2010) Review and Plot Summary

Perhaps it was morbid curiosity or even some misplaced sense of professional pride. I could make a case for both of those, and I probably should. What I couldn’t make a case for is A Serbian Film being worth it.

I know for a definitive fact that not a single second or frame in that hour and a half could be deemed as valuable to anything. Not to the medium, to genre fans, to the human race in general – not in any conceivable way. I cannot fathom a single justifiable reason for A Serbian Film ’s continued existence. But I watched it all. I suppose the only explanation is that there really is something wrong with me.

A Serbian Film is the first feature-length production from Serbian director Srdjan Spasojevic . While I would never elect to attack the man personally, questions must be raised about his character.

There is s**t on display here that transcends any kind of depravity I’ve ever seen in filmmaking before, and I say that as someone who sat through all three Human Centipede movies (and even kind of enjoyed the first one).

The only thing more horrifying than the fact I saw A Serbian Film is that I was able to see it in the first place; that someone actually thought of it and committed it to film. There have been war crimes tribunals based on less atrocious acts.

Speaking of which, Spasojevic would have you believe that A Serbian Film is actually a political allegory on the sad state of post-Milosevic Serbian society, and the condition of the movie industry within that nation.

Even the title is, supposedly, “A metaphor for our national cinema – boring, predictable and altogether unintentionally hilarious”. I don’t believe this is true. That this man believes hilarity exists within or indeed anywhere near A Serbian Film is particularly telling. I think Srdjan Spasojevic is confused. I don’t think he knows why his film exists any more than I do.

There is undoubtedly room in this medium for tackling morally and ethically questionable topics in the pursuit of artistic commentary, but you can’t just say that’s what you’re doing. If you can’t identify what the work is a criticism of, it isn’t a criticism of anything.

Beating a dead horse in the fervent hope that its twitching carcass will offer some semblance of life isn’t commenting; it’s just battering a dead animal. A Serbian Film is a foul, stinking corpse of a movie, and Spasojevic is kicking the s**t out of it.

But for what? There’s no point to any of it, no message or moral. He isn’t even kicking with any finesse. It’s just thoughtless, artless stamping for no purpose other than being able to turn to the stunned onlookers, arms outstretched, drenched in offal.

Final Thoughts on A Serbian Film

I don’t want to go into too much detail about any of the events which transpire within because I feel that doing so would directly lower my worth as a human being. But, a brief plot synopsis is a necessary evil, so here it is: Miloš is a middle-aged sort-of-retired porn star with a perplexingly good-looking wife and a young son who he’s struggling to provide for.

In the interest of catching a clean break and living happily ever after, he accepts one last job in the form of (and I have never used a term as loosely in my life) an “art film”. The guy behind this project is a self-styled auteur named Vukmir (who is definitely not an approximation of any other Serbian directors, honestly), and his art project is, in fact, a child exploitation movie.

Of course, Miloš declares he wants absolutely no part in this, and subsequently finds himself waking up three days later to footage of his various escapades within the previous fifty-two hours. What follows from there is Miloš’ variation of redemption and atonement for the actions committed by and against him during that missing time.

Conceptually, I can appreciate the idea of a porn star being an appropriate vehicle for telling a story about sexuality. People often forget that adult actors and actresses actually have lives away from their careers with the same familial responsibilities as the rest of us, and exploring how having sex with strangers for a living really impacts the stability of relationships and the intricacies of parenthood is something I could totally get on board with.

A Serbian Film doesn’t do any of that. In fact, that Miloš is even a porn star at all is largely irrelevant. The various sexual horrors he is subjected to and personally carries out are not at all a commentary on his chosen career, but rather the result of him consuming some sex-based narcotic which is purportedly designed to make him aggressively aroused and suggestible.

Not because he’s an actor in adult films and sex is a fundamental part of his lifestyle, but because he’s a man with a dick he can put in places that he shouldn’t.

There is one scene in particular towards the end of A Serbian Film , which I’m pretty sure was banned from the American release, and I can honestly say that I felt as low and disgusted watching it as I’ve ever felt in my life.

It is a scene that exists for no reason other than it was literally the worst, most horrifying thing that could have happened at the time. This scene is a precise summary of why I cannot respect or endorse A Serbian Film in any way.

Its sole purpose is to push the boundaries of what is creatively and socially acceptable and use its startlingly sickening subject matter to lure people into spending their money and time on an absolutely worthless, toxic piece of garbage. I cannot stress enough that it shouldn’t exist.

There is a grim, polluted niche in filmmaking that celebrates controversy and humanity’s potential for evil in a way that has no purpose or intention other than making money off of our own stupidity.

A Serbian Film epitomizes that. I am sickened and depressed by its existence and by the culture that supports it and provides an environment to house it. I cannot un-watch it, but I can advise people not to make the same mistake I did.

If I never give a single piece of advice again in my life, I want my final departing message to be this: you must never, ever watch A Serbian Film.

Article by Jonathon Wilson

Jonathon is one of the co-founders of Ready Steady Cut and has been an instrumental part of the team since its inception in 2017. Jonathon has remained involved in all aspects of the site’s operation, mainly dedicated to its content output, remaining one of its primary Entertainment writers while also functioning as our dedicated Commissioning Editor, publishing over 6,500 articles.

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Philosophy in Film

A Philosophical Approach to Cinema

A Serbian Film (2010), The Most Disturbing Movie Ever Made

Many horror films take acts of intimacy and make them horrific; A Serbian Film (2010) does the same, but cranks up the violence and intensity to a nauseating degree, making it a frontrunner for the most disturbing movie ever made.

My Introduction to Horror Films

As a child, I was terrified of horror movies. That sounds like an extremely obvious and stupid statement to make, but I felt particularly affected by them. I recall staying up all night after watching The Fly (1958) , mostly due to my fear of spiders (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the film). Watching it now, I would probably laugh; but at eight years old, I was not laughing. I had a similar reaction to the original Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1931) . Thinking about a crazed Renfield laughter still sends chills down my spine.

Fast forward to my pre-teen years. I had convinced my parents, who were very strict about my film-viewing habits, to let me watch Psycho (1960) . My mom felt particularly reticent, as she had seen the film at 12 years old and found it almost too scary to watch. However, I had developed a kind of obsession with horror films. They left me feeling paranoid and edgy, but I couldn’t seem to get enough of them. So, I watched Psycho with my parents and, for the better part of a month, couldn’t walk upstairs or take showers without feeling like someone was going to rush in and stab me.

My experience with Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal work officially turned me off to horror for a while. The film was too good; it was actually too scary. That was the problem. I couldn’t handle horror films because I felt scared for weeks, months, or even years after watching them. The sounds and images stuck with me. Thus, I swore off horror films for the next few years. However, around the same time, a strange trend was occurring in both American and foreign horror.

The Advent of Torture Porn in Cinema

Though it arguably started in the late 1990s, 2004’s Saw officially brought “torture porn” into the mainstream. Like many teenage boys who grew up in the fledgling years of the Internet, I had a morbid curiosity for all things macabre. For better or worse, this introduced me to the more unseemly side of horror filmmaking. At one point, it became my life’s mission to find the most horrific, disturbing, nastiest film in existence. The Saw and Hostel series introduced me to a new extremity of horror, but I knew there was a whole seedy underbelly waiting to be discovered.

In the following years, I watched several horror films that all competed for the title of the most disturbing movie ever made. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), Audition (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001), Irréversible (2002), and August Underground’s Mordum (2003) were certainly all in the running. However, it would take nearly a decade before the most disturbing horror film ever made would come into existence. Enter A Serbian Film (2010).

the most disturbing horror movie ever made

Upon first viewing Srđan Spasojević’s A Serbian Film , I had a strange mix of emotions. First and foremost, I felt disgusted. There’s really no other way to feel after watching the film. It is intended to disgust, disturb, shock, and frighten viewers as much as possible. It does all of these things with expert precision.

Once the disgust wore off, I felt nothing but pure confusion. Around the time that I saw the film, I had recently earned my film degree and begun working in the film industry. As a result, I was left with one burning question: how on Earth could this film ever get made? It had all the trappings of a high-quality, well-funded horror film. Both the filmmakers and the actors were top-notch; the cinematography was excellent and the story, while occasionally a little over-the-top, flowed well and made sense.

So, who the hell funded it? Who read the script and thought it sounded like a good idea? Once you see the film, it’s truly mind-boggling to consider the hoops director Srđan Spasojević must have jumped through to get this film made. But if he did have to make any concessions to get funding, none of them occurred in the editing room. When it comes to decency and respect for what is acceptable to see in a movie, all bets are off with A Serbian Film .

A Serbian Film Plot Overview

The film follows Miloš, a retired porn star who lives with his wife, Marija, and young son, Petar. Miloš has no desire to return to his former work, but the family’s finances force him to reconsider. When a friend recommends an “art film” director looking for someone with Miloš’s skillset, Miloš reservedly agrees to meet.

The filming begins at an abandoned orphanage, where Miloš is fed instructions from the director, Vukmir, through an earpiece. Miloš is obligated to perform sexual acts in the presence of a young girl. After they finish the scene, Miloš is determined to quit the job and move on. Nonetheless, he meets with Vukmir who proceeds to demonstrate his “artistic style.” Vukmir shows the horrified Miloš a video that Vukmir dubs “newborn porn” (I won’t go into any more details on that).

Horrified, Miloš drives away, only to encounter Vukmir’s female doctor. She seduces and drugs Miloš. We next find Miloš in a bloody bed, with no memory of the events that transpired. He returns to the abandoned film set, where he finds various tapes that show what he has done. having been injected with a drug that made him sexually aggressive, Miloš acted out a series of horrific scenes at Vikmur’s instruction. However, Miloš soon realizes that the film is far from over and that the worst is yet to come.

My Analysis

A Serbian Film (2010), the most disturbing movie ever made

For the sake of propriety, I will not go into any more details about the film. It is something that has to be seen to be believed. I don’t like giving out spoilers, nor do I enjoy writing things that are physically repulsive. That said, the worst thing about A Serbian Film is that it is not a bad film. On the contrary, it is well-made, well-acted, and engaging. It has the budget to support the story without needing to rely on cheap tricks or poor CGI. Additionally, it more than accomplishes what it clearly sets out to do: disgust its audience.

You might think that films like this only serve to titillate perverts, but in this case, I completely disagree. While sex plays a vital role in the film, there is nothing arousing about it. On the contrary, sex is the object of horror . It is the thing that makes you feel queasy.

Nonetheless, reactionary critics have largely panned the film. Multiple countries banned it outright, while many derided the film as a celebration of violence against women in children. To me, the opposite is true. I did not enjoy A Serbian Film in the traditional way that one “enjoys” a movie. I recognized its good qualities and I watched in disgusted amazement, but I never once found myself in a state of enjoyment. Like most “torture porns,” A Serbian Film isn’t so much scary as it is disgusting. Every frame is repulsive. Thus, while it is certainly desensitizing, the film also works to make violence against women and children as terrifying and disgusting as possible.

Director Srđan Spasojević naturally defended his film, saying that it is a parody of the state of filmmaking in Serbia and even a denunciation of fascism and political correctness. I would need to study Serbian cinema and history to see if these arguments hold any weight. However, I would also need to rewatch the film, which I have no plans of doing in the near future.

In closing, I’d like to reiterate that Srđan Spasojević’s A Serbian Film (2010) may be the most disturbing film ever made, but this doesn’t make it a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. It is a well-made film that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. You may find yourself questioning the intentions of the filmmaker or the depravity of the human mind, but if you have a strong stomach, it’s still worth a watch. Moreover, if you’re a horror film buff that likes gorier fare, getting all the way through the film is a badge of honor. But I should warn you: there are some things you just can’t unsee.

A Serbian Film (2010) Movie Rating: ★★★★ out of 5

If you have the stomach to watch A Serbian Film (2010), it is currently available to purchase via Amazon . To read more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film Homepage !

Matthew Jones

Matthew Jones is a freelance writer who has written for dozens of local and international businesses, in addition to his publications on film and philosophy. To see more of his writing, check out his Medium page or personal website . If you like Philosophy in Film, be sure to contribute on Patreon !

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A serbian film, srpski film.

Directed by Srđan Spasojević

Not all films have a happy ending

Milos, a retired porn star, leads a normal family life trying to make ends meet. Presented with the opportunity of a lifetime to financially support his family for the rest of their lives, Milos must participate in one last mysterious film. From then on, Milos is drawn into a maelstrom of unbelievable cruelty and mayhem.

Srđan 'Žika' Todorović Sergej Trifunović Jelena Gavrilović Slobodan Beštić Katarina Žutić Anđela Nenadović Ana Sakić Lidija Pletl Lena Bogdanović Luka Mijatović Nenad Heraković Čarni Đerić Miodrag Krčmarik Tanja Divnić Marina Savić Nataša Miljuš Marijeta Goc Biljana Žurnić Jelena Mihić Dragana Jovanović Irena Korać Aleksandar Banjac Sanja Spasojević Goran Macura Mila Milošević

Director Director

Srđan Spasojević

Producer Producer

Writers writers.

Aleksandar Radivojević Srđan Spasojević

Editor Editor

Darko Simić

Cinematography Cinematography

Nemanja Jovanović

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Dragoljub Vojnov Nikola Pantelić

Lighting Lighting

Dragan Tenjović

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Miloš Kodemo Pablo Ferro Živanović Bojan Brbora

Production Design Production Design

Nemanja Petrović

Composer Composer

Sound sound.

Aleksandar Protić Aleksandar Perišić Nikola Živković Miloš Drobnjaković

Costume Design Costume Design

Jasmina Sanader

Makeup Makeup

Miroslav Lakobrija Dubravka Bušatlija

Contra Film

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Serbian Swedish

Releases by Date

15 mar 2010, 10 sep 2010, 14 oct 2010, theatrical limited, 10 dec 2010, 16 jun 2010, 01 oct 2010, 13 may 2011, 18 oct 2011, 19 jan 2012, 03 jan 2011, 14 mar 2012, 05 nov 2013, releases by country.

Premiere 18 L'Étrange Festival
Theatrical 18
Physical D DVD Premiere

Netherlands

Theatrical 16
Physical 16 DVD, Blu ray

Serbia and Montenegro

Premiere 18 Sitges Film Festival
Theatrical limited 18
Physical 18 DVD / Blu-ray
Premiere NC-17 South by Southwest Film Festival
Theatrical NC-17

103 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Silent J ★ 29

I watched this on the recommendation of a friend who said this was one of his favorite films.

I should probably get new friends.

Review by DirkH ★ 75

OH MY GOD, LOOK AT HOW CONTROVERSIAL I AM!!!!!!

.......self indulgent garbage......

Review by ‮🐌‬ ½ 60

men make movies that are basically straight up torture porn with rape & literal pedophilia & excuse it as “shock value” um no you just exposed your pedophilic rape fantasies & it was disgusting. JAIL!

Review by Eli Hayes ★★★½ 32

This film really only has one problem, but unfortunately for Srdjan Spasojevic, it's a huge problem. Underneath all of the violence and depravity and insanity, there is a film with an important message to send about not only the porn industry, but the entertainment industry in general, how far some individuals are willing to go for cash in this money-driven world that we have created, and general (in)human wickedness/perversion. Nonetheless, that's not what this film is going to be remembered for, and that's its biggest flaw. It dives so deeply into its own transgressive, grotesque underworld that most people aren't going to be able to view this film for its message... only for its violence. And that's not good. That's…

Review by amaya ★ 26

stop it. get some help

Review by Jordan James Brooks ½ 9

I feel like I need to be arrested for watching this.

Review by 🎃🔥Mr. Like🔥🎃 ½ 6

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Rotten Tomatoes: 47% IMDb: 5.1

Release Date : 15 March 2010 Distributor : Contra Film Budget : Unknown Worldwide Gross : Unknown Total Film Awards : 1

Vukmir : "Right hand is the sex center in any man, It's a direct line between your brain and cock. Ever since your childhood. Your hand is special for it has jerked such a special cock. Milos, it's an honor to shake a hand to such an artist of fuck. Pornography is art, but people can't see that!"

SYNOPSIS: An aging porn star agrees to participate in an "art film" in order to make a clean break from the business, only to discover that he has been drafted into making a pedophilia and necrophilia themed snuff film.

Review by Willfarquaad ½ 7

Gave this 1/2 star because letterboxd dont scale 0's

Review by Vanessa ★ 4

How I possibly thought jumping from a Wes Anderson marathon to this would be a good idea is beyond me.

Review by ayad 2

movies were a mistake

Review by PopcornIdeology ½ 27

Me: “What do you want to watch?”

Dad: “I don’t know. How about that weird porn movie you told me about awhile ago?”

*silence* Me: “Oh Boogie Nights?” Dad: “No.” Me: “Red Rocket? I think the main character is a pornstar.” Dad: “No, I think it’s called A Serbian Movie.” *silence*

* more silence*

Me: “Uh, okay.”

DAVID SPADE 1

Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ ★★★★½ 116

Banned in Spain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Norway, and temporarily in Brazil until 2012, holding the record of requiring 19 minutes of cut footage in order for the film to have an MPAA rating of NC-17 in the United States, having been investigated by the Serbian state to ensure that crimes against protection of minors and sexual morals were not actually performed for the film, having one of the greatest standard deviations I have statistically witnessed in a distribution of ratings over 10 for a single film, Srpski Film is a mouthful. According to a friendship of mine, the movie should be used as a psychological experiment in order to partially determine the sanity of a person,…

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A Serbian Film review

Heavily and somewhat unfairly censored serbian horror finally makes it to some british screens....

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Long in tooth and trouser departments, porn legend Milos (srdan todorovic) is lured out of retirement when a mysterious businessman gives his ego a stroke and splashes the cash. Only Milos doesn’t know what he’s signing up for. Told he’s about to front an “artistic statement”, he’s collected by granite-faced goons in black glasses and blacked-out limos and driven to set in deafening silence… Chances are you already know more about Milos’ fate than he does. A Serbian Film is, after all, this year’s red-flag title, pulled from horror festival FrightFest when the BBFC requested three mins, 48 secs of cuts (compared to the 17 seconds snipped from the gruelling, tonally suspect I Spit On Your Grave remake). Of course, Srdan Spasojevic’s adult thriller was always going to set the classifiers’ alarm bells clanging, offering as it does conflated sex and violence, children in a sexual environment, and – now fully excised – the instantly infamous “newborn porn” sequence. None of which is half as distressing as it sounds; scenes are carefully blocked to avoid graphic gore, villains are pantomimic and the tone is closer to Hammer, Dr. Phibes and Hostel 2 than Last House On The Left, Irreversible or, an obvious influence, Pasolini’s Salò. More camp than corrosive, A Serbian Film is hard to take seriously. Factor in the propulsive plotting and too-sleek direction and it’s clear a better title would have been A Serbian Movie. Not that there isn’t serious intent. Spasojevic is here fashioning an allegory for Serbia’s war-torn plight, with the violence and violation representing, albeit opaquely, the lies, corruption and brutality foisted upon a people. But the aesthetic is glossy, the content hysterical, and events hurtle towards a cataclysmic finale that would devastate were it not so predictable, overwrought and crushingly symbolic. Big ideas, big opportunity lost, big overreaction by the BBFC. Shame.

Jamie Graham is the Editor-at-Large of Total Film magazine. You'll likely find them around these parts reviewing the biggest films on the planet and speaking to some of the biggest stars in the business – that's just what Jamie does. Jamie has also written for outlets like SFX and the Sunday Times Culture, and appeared on podcasts exploring the wondrous worlds of occult and horror.

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A SERBIAN FILM

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Post published: August 5, 2019
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A SERBIAN FILM (SRPSKI FILM) (director/writer: Srdjan Spasojevic; screenwriter: Aleksandar Radivojevic ; cinematographer: Nemanja Jovanov ; editor: Darko Simic; music: Sky Wikluh; cast: Srdjan Todorovic (Milos), Sergej Trifunovic (Vukmir), Jelena Gavrilovic (Marija), Katarina Zutic (Lejla), Slobodan Bestic (Marko), Ana Sakic (Jecina Majka) ; Runtime: 104; MPAA Rating: NC-17; producer: Srdjan Spasojevic ; Invincible Pictures ; 2010)-Serbia- in Serbian with English subtitles) “ To compliment it as being well-crafted , which it is, doesn’t mean much when it’s unwatchable .”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Srdjan Spasojevic (“The ABCs of Death”) is the writer-director of this extremely violent shocker-horror pic. Aleksandar Radivojevic is the co-writer. The exploitation pic has no socially redeeming values, even if it half-heartedly, in an ironical manner, attempts to be a voice against the cruelties of the Balkan War in the 1990s. Its perverse sex and violence left me feeling cold. The revolting delights it offers cross into areas that are far worse than just bad taste, like matters of criminality.

The former porn star Milos ( Srdjan Todorovic ), known as the “Nikola Tesla of world pornography,” is out of work and is having trouble supporting his wife and kids. He gratefully accepts a lucrative offer to be in a new artistic experimental film by sleazy Balkan director/producer Vukmir ( Sergej Trifunovic ). The condition is that he can’t look at the script. It seems Milos got roped into making a snuff film. Rape, incest, murder and S&M are some of the anti-social acts filling out the narrative.

The unpleasant film gets over as a pseudo-snuff film that tries to take it as close to a real snuff film as possible. Its trash. I saw nothing in this mean-spirited film that I cared for. To compliment it as being well-crafted, which it is, doesn’t mean much when it’s unwatchable.

REVIEWED ON 11/4/2015 GRADE: C

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A Serbian Film Blu-ray Review

April 14, 2021

Most Disturbing Content Possible?

A Serbian Film stands by itself on the list of most controversial and shocking movies ever made. Vulgar, offensive, depraved, disturbing, an assault on the senses – all these labels and more have been applied to the explicit thriller by director Srdjan Spasojevic. Blurring the line between art and exploitation, the sick movie is unforgettable and psychologically traumatic for many. Banned or heavily censored in some parts of the world, A Serbian Film is more frightening than any horror movie possible.

Possibly exorcising the collective trauma the director’s own country experienced during the 1990s over war, A Serbian Film is beyond brutal. The visceral and graphic rape scenes are harrowing glimpses into a cinematic hell that plunge you into a world of hopeless despair. If you don’t feel dirty after watching A Serbian Film in its fully uncut form, get help.

If you don’t feel dirty after watching A Serbian Film in its fully uncut form, get help

Candidly, the movie’s most infamous scenes are without a doubt revolting and immorally disgusting on multiple levels. There’s a scene with a newborn child that will turn your stomach. Even the most desensitized adults will have jarring reactions, which makes it more powerful than the usual gorefests and slashers that comprise most exploitation. If this sounds like it will be too much for you, watch anything else and don’t feel guilty for avoiding A Serbian Film .

Milos is a retired porn star in Serbia, living a mostly happy family life with Maria and his young son Petar. Known as a legendary porn performer, financial problems force Milos to consider a wildly lucrative offer to get back into the business by the mysterious Vukmir. Promised a payday that would solve his family’s monetary problems for good, Milos accepts. The man has no idea what he is getting into with Vukmir.

Milos is soon entrapped in a hellish ordeal of cruelty that goes far beyond the boundaries of ordinary pornography. Nothing is sacred in A Serbian Film. It transgresses conventional prohibitions on violence and sex norms that most of us take for granted in cinema. The movie’s denouement is sickening, proceeding naturally from everything leading up to its forceful climax. Made like a twisted fever dream, viewers that make it all the way through are left emotionally spent and wondering.

Unearthed Films has brought the fully uncut director’s version to Blu-ray for the first time. Back when the movie was first released in 2010, a slightly cut version that made a couple of the most notorious scenes more implicit than explicit was put out on home video. This edition restores everything Srdjan Spasojevic first intended for his film.

Some believe the cut version may be more disturbing, since it leaves the absolute worst imagery up to the human imagination. Don’t watch A Serbian Film expecting the merely gross but rather predictable gore of a Hostel . A Serbian Film pulls off far more disturbing tricks. It’s a psychologically grueling experience that terrifies with its realism.

Filmed with the RED ONE digital camera back in 2010, A Serbian Film always had the raw definition and detail of immaculate video. Everything, and I mean everything, is up on the screen in exacting detail and clarity. A Serbian Film is slickly shot with top-notch depth, only adding to the unnerving Mise en scène.

The earlier Blu-ray from Invincible Pictures, besides having a few cuts despite its unrated claims, arrived with a crude and unsatisfactory color grading firmly of its time. Digital colorists have immensely refined their craft over the past ten years. The color palette was always drab and overly yellow, but Unearthed Films brings the movie a completely new digital grading that looks ten times better than the original BD.

The fully uncensored and unrated cut runs 103 minutes with a superior AVC encode on a BD-50. The digital transfer holds up well and looks even better with the new grading pulling out more vitality. Unearthed Films’ new transfer is now the definitive presentation for A Serbian Film .

Made in the Serbian language with no foreign dialogue, A Serbian Film isn’t a sonic showcase. The sparse, limited sound design from the original 2.0 PCM stereo mix carries over to the 5.1 DTS-HD MA surround track. The movie is cleanly recorded with clear, distinct dialogue. Only a smattering of ambient presence leaks out in the surround mix. The new surround mix isn’t dynamite but does expand the front soundstage with a little more depth.

Optional English subtitles play in a yellow font. The subtitles play outside the widescreen scope presentation.

Unearthed Films puts out the definitive edition for A Serbian Film , fully restored and uncensored with a masterful new color grading, plentiful new extras, and optional subtitles. Almost all other Blu-ray releases for the movie have been cut, including over four minutes for the British edition. While the back cover mistakenly lists the disc as Region A, it is in fact good for all regions. A slipcover is included.

Audio commentary with Srdjan Spasojevic and Stephen Biro – The man behind Unearthed Films sits down with the director.

Audio commentary with Joe Lynch and Adam Green of The Movie Crypt

A Serbian Film Exhibition featurette (03:18 in HD)

Behind the Scenes of NBP featurette (06:16 in SD) – Footage that covers the infamous newborn baby scene.

2010 Brussels Film Fest Q&A (46:58 in SD)

Photo Gallery (02:08 in HD)

A Serbian Documentary Preview (03:45 in HD)

2018 Q&A with Srđan Spasojević & Jelena Gavrilović (28:04 in HD) – Film festival highlights.

A Serbian Film Trailer (02:05 in HD)

Full disclosure : This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.

A Serbian Film

Graphic with some of the most disturbing material ever committed to screen, the notorious movie is a grueling test for audiences.

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The 15 unaltered images below represent the Blu-ray. For an additional 32 Serbian Film screenshots , early access to all screens (plus the 120,000+ already in our library), 120 exclusive 4K UHD reviews, and more, subscribe on Patreon .

Christopher Zabel

Christopher Zabel has moderated the AVSForum's Picture Quality Tiers for the last decade. A videophile with a real passion for genre films and quality filmmaking, personal favorites include everything from Fight Club to 2001: A Space Odyssey. A firm believer in physical media, his ever-growing film collection has begun threatening the space-time continuum with its enormous mass.

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Review: A Serbian Film (2010)

A serbian film (2010).

Directed by: Srdjan Spasojevic

Premise: A porn performer (Srdan Todorovic) is lured out of retirement by a charismatic filmmaker (Sergej Trifunovic) promising an artistic adult film production. As shooting gets underway circumstances take a violent turn.

What Works: A Serbian Film was the apotheosis of the so-called torture porn trend of the 2000s. The filmmakers take that term literally and apply it in a way that picks up on trends in both mainstream and marginal media from that period and then exaggerates it, taking the concept to its logical conclusion. A Serbian Film plays as a companion piece to earlier examples of extreme cinema, namely Cannibal Holocaust and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom . Like those films, the violence is not an end it itself and the filmmakers critique entertainment but also the culture that produces it and what the former reveals about the latter. A Serbian Film is a rather on-the-nose portrait of what’s been called “porn culture” which is to say the mainstreaming of pornography and how the values and images of that genre bleed into everyday life. Vukmir, the eccentric filmmaker heading the project, has pretentions to artistry and the film-within-the-film literalizes part of the allure of extreme cinema. Art is about the search for truth and some expressions of body horror look for the ultimate reality of our biological existence. A Serbian Film is about the horror of being a tool of that search in a way that turns us into an object. At one point in the production, Milos is coerced into participating in horrific acts and loses his volition. Throughout A Serbian Film , Milos witnesses himself on video and the movie dramatizes the alienation and dissonance that may happen in a cinematic culture.

What Doesn’t: According to filmmaker Srdjan Spasojevic, A Serbian Film is a commentary on life and politics and art in Serbia in the aftermath of the wars and political violence in that region during the 1990s and early 2000s. If that’s the case, it’s not very evident to an outside viewer. It may be that this interpretation requires an understanding of Serbian history and culture. The premise of A Serbian Film gets wobbly in the film’s last third. The story loses its sense of direction for awhile and spins its narrative wheels. Certain details from this part of the movie don’t make sense. Milos realizes what’s happened to him by viewing a video recording but it’s inconceivable that some of these scenes would be shot by the in-film moviemakers. There’s also a matter of style and execution. Unlike Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom which keeps a dispassionate distance from the action, A Serbian Film uses contemporary filmmaking techniques designed to stimulate the viewer such as quick edits and unusual angles. These techniques compromise a film that is ostensibly critiquing pornography and exploitative cinema.

Disc extras: The Unearthed Films release of A Serbian Film incudes featurettes, interviews, commentary tracks, an image gallery, and trailers.

Bottom Line: A Serbian Film is an extreme work of cinema that cannot be recommended for general viewers. It’s a compromised film that’s a bit scattershot in its aim but as excessive and unpleasant as it may be there is also an intelligence behind A Serbian Film that makes this an interesting film of its era and the definitive title in the torture cycle of the early 2000s.

Episode: #967 (October 1, 2023)

Why A Serbian Film Is Misunderstood, And More Relevant Than Ever

Some films are so disgusting, repellent, violent, prurient, or tasteless that audiences find themselves unable to easily define them.

Films like Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom," Lars Von Trier's " Antichrist, " Gaspar Noë's "Irreversible," Ruggerio Deodato's "Cannibal Holocaust," Takashi Miike's "Ichi the Killer," Tom Six's "The Human Centipede" trilogy, or even John Waters' "Pink Flamingos" are all brazenly confrontational films, each seemingly intended not to draw the audience in, but send the audience out. To keep viewers repelled and disgusted. One might argue that such "extreme" cinema seeks not merely to elicit a visceral response from an audience — as, say, a mid-2000s torture porn film may do — but to move them to a level of disgust so intense that they cannot help but push their mind into the realm of politics and philosophy.

To state a broad point: "Extreme" horror, as the name implies, might not be as much an exercise in entertainment as it is an intellectual experiment in certain philosophical and political extremes. A wise filmmaker — if they're doing their job correctly — will certainly be making salient, vital points beyond their need to repel. Indeed, the extremity of the imagery may be so intense that certain questions will remain plain on the surface: What sort of political environment would produce such darkness? What sort of censorship will this encounter? What is being said by something so pointedly difficult?

And few films are more pointedly difficult than Srđan Spasojević's 2010 film "A Serbian Film."

The dark plot

"A Serbian Film" is, as known by those who have been brave enough to seek it out, a dark and violent film about the Serbian porn industry, but it brushes up against that most insidious of urban legends: the snuff film. It features multiple difficult scenes of extreme sexual abuse, and includes several horrifying acts inflicted on ... well, it may be better not to describe some of what happens in "A Serbian Film." Needless to say, it was censored in eight or nine countries. To this day, it remains banned in Australia . It became "one of those films" that was passed around in the cult underground, its title whispered surreptitiously into the ears of daring explorers of the deepest cinematic chasms.

"A Serbian Film" follows the misadventures of a once-big-but-now-struggling porn star named Miloš (Srđan Todorović) who, to support his wife and young son, agrees to be part of an X-rated "art" film orchestrated by a villainous benefactor named Vukmir (Sergej Trifunović). At first, it seems like Miloš is merely asked to act in "rough" sex scenes, but he soon finds that Vukmir wants also to involve underage actors. Although Miloš films a few scenes (without minors), he attempts to bow out for ethical reasons. Because this art porn project is surrounded by life-threatening mob-like secrecy, however, Miloš is forced to stay involved and he will eventually be drugged with a libido-supercharging drug that also erases his memory.

The second half of "A Serbian Film" involves Miloš piecing together what Vukmir made him do while he was under the influence. Yes, Miloš was forced to engage in some of the most hideous sexual crimes imaginable.

Slobodan Milošević

" A Serbian Film " is far more than its extremity. Indeed, if one knows Serbian history, "A Serbian Film" may read like an essay about fascism, the way artists are exploited in a post-fascist world (when the evil of capitalism may rise in its place and become just as insidious), and how certain political climates can brainwash the populace into doing horrible things during times of war. "A Serbian Film" is most explicitly about the climate created by Slobodan Milošević, who was president of Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997. It's worth remembering that Milošević died at the Hague in 2006, having been imprisoned for war crimes.

To recall briefly: In 1989, Yugoslavia underwent an extended fracturing, the result of a violent civil war between Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, all countries which claimed independence from Yugoslavia's rule. By 1992, the countries had all split apart, and Milošević came into power in Serbia. Milošević was, depending on which news reports one recalls from 1992, seen as both heroic and fascistic. By some accounts, like this one in Balkanologie , Milošević heroically dismantled the Serbian one-party system, allowing — at least on paper — a more varied political voice in the country. He also, however, continued to dominate like a dictator, manipulating politics and news media in favor of his own fascistic machine.

Milošević was eventually tried for crimes against humanity for the violent military actions he took in Kosovo, Croatia, and Bosnia. He was deposed in 2000, and died in prison in 2006.

Post-Milošević Serbia

After the fall of Milošević, Serbia had been slowly getting back on its feet, although not in a efficient or even positive way. It took six years for the post-Milošević government to write up a constitution, and internal bickering has kept the populace in an uneasy place. The Serbian people were, for a decade, pulled left and right by opposing political regimes, and told by competing news outlets to feel opposite extremes.

An American reader might see a parallel in certain extreme news outlets currently in operation in 2022. The Serbian populace became very cynical about their own recovering government, despite economic and social advances. Many became desperate for work, and had to take whatever gigs they could to make ends meet. The Balkonologie essay describes, more or less, a rising modern gig economy.

It was in that environment that Spasojević made "A Serbin Film." The director was seemingly making a comment on post-Milošević desperation, using shocking images to shake the audience out of their complacency. Not only was Spasojević making a frank point about the inherent integrity of sex work, but also that poverty and social climbing proliferated everywhere, coming to replace Milošević's fascism. Spasojević seemed to argue that the new economy was even more damaging for the soul of Serbia than living under the yoke of a dictator. Serbian reconstruction was, in Spasojević's eyes, a massive and hurtful sellout.

The ethics of desperation

The ethical quandary then arises: If one if hard-up for work, and the only system available requires brazenly immoral acts, how morally responsible is the individual who participates? Miloš commits a wide variety of violent crimes and immoral acts. But Miloš was drugged, how responsible is he? If his financial desperation put him in this situation, and his morality was artificially deactivated by a drug a.k.a. a system that only rewards monstrous behavior, surely he is merely a cog in an immoral machine. Given the extent of Miloš' crimes, it's hard not to see him as a monster, and he even sees himself as a monster. He will eventually be driven to extreme despair and disgust with himself.

The stranglehold of post-Milošević poverty is, " A Serbian Film " argues, merely another form of fascism. Capitalism does not provide freedom, but only new power vacuums where monsters like Vukmir can infiltrate. Milošević may have been a monster, but the post-Milošević atmosphere of Serbia allowed for a new, unexpected exploitation of the people. Spasojević seems to feel that the oppression of capitalism will naturally force you into being a monster. And not a monster we can stomach. A monster we can barely witness. To Spasojević's eye, war crimes are just as mad as capitalist crimes.

Was it necessary to go so hard?

The question arises, of course: Was the extremity of "A Serbian Film" necessary to tell this story? While such a story could easily have been told without censorship-ready levels of sexual violence, one might are that the film would not have been as powerful. After all, it retains its notoriety. With a "gentler" approach, audiences would have been granted the comfort of distancing themselves from the violence. It's just fiction, right? By being so awful and dark and extreme, audiences are not permitted to be complacent. They are shaken and shocked into paying attention. To quote the movie "Scrooged," sometimes you need to slap someone in the face to get their attention.

Ironically, the extreme violence of "A Serbian Film" is the very the thing keeping it from being recognized as a political essay. By being so aggressively repellant, "A Serbian Film" keeps many audiences away; It hardly seems like a fun film for a Friday movie night with beer and pizza. It's nearly too disgusting to casually analyze. One must have a strong constitution going in. Indeed, its extremity seems designed to appeal less to the politically interested, and more to horror fanatics and those who find value in shock. Whatever its ideas, tonally, "A Serbian Film" feels like an exploitation movie. It won't necessarily invite serious seekers of difficult art.

There is a vital commentary at work in "A Serbian Film" and it is a worthwhile political commentary. It's also a film that will actively and viscerally revile audiences, no matter how jaded they are. It's designed to be hated, which, counterintuitively keeps it from its intended audience. Brave viewers may find something deep. Those inclined to gentler things would do well to stay away.

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A Serbian Film

A well-crafted, immensely indecent smut slasher that reps a daresay "respectable" go at the genre.

By Jordan Mintzer

Jordan Mintzer

A Cat in Paris 13 years ago
My Buddy 13 years ago
Beautiful Lies 13 years ago

Taking the torture-porn concept absolutely literally, the bluntly titled “A Serbian Film” is a well-crafted, immensely indecent smut slasher that falls short of the original “Hostel” and “Saw,” but still reps a daresay “respectable” go at the genre. Debuting helmer Srdjan Spasojevic’s twisted tale of an out-of-work adult film star who (in every way) attaches himself to a deadly new project is also a warning call to budding thesps: Read the whole contract, and don’t trust a director who claims that “life, art and blood” are their inspirations. Fanboys will be lapping up the ketchup in fright fests and ancillary.

Popular on Variety

Story kicks off as a darkish, fairly entertaining deadpan comedy where Milos (Srdjan Todorovic), described as the “Nikola Tesla of world pornography,” is short on cash and pouring himself a tad too many whiskeys. Stuck at home watching his own studded oeuvre, he’s urged by his wife (Jelena Gavrilovic) and an S&M-garbed colleague (Katrina Zutic) to get back in the sack and make some dough.

What he’s offered is to star in the next opus from ominous director Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic), who claims to have held a “lifelong fascination with the world of film” and bemoans the fact that Serbia is “no country for real art.” But once shooting begins, it’s clear that Vukmir is no Kusturica, and his specialty is real-life versions of the work of Eli Roth and Mark Burg, with an auteur’s taste for pre-adolescent girls, untold bodily violence and a special genre he dubs “newborn porn” (don’t ask).

Despite such shock content, which reaches an almost criminal threshold at the very close, the film is not as off-putting as it sounds, and its sleaze-factor is distilled through clever construction, good acting and sleek widescreen lensing.

As for the title, dialogue makes reference to war orphans and the Hague tribunal, but otherwise it seems to be a stab at irony, and clearly one that won’t please its homeland.

Production: A Contrafilm production. (International sales: Jinga Films, London.) Produced by Srdjan Spasojevic. Executive producer, Nikola Pantelic. Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic. Screenplay, Spasojevic, Aleksandar Radivojevic.
Crew: Camera (color, widescreen), Nemanja Jovanov; editor, Darko Simic; music; Sky Wikluh; production designer, Nemanja Petrovic; costume designer, Jasmina Sanader; sound (Dolby Digital), Drobhjakovic Milos; sound designer, Aleksandar Protic; re-recording mixer, Ameksander Perisic; special effects supervisor, Miroslav Lakobrija; assistant director, Miroslav Stamatov. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (market), May 15, 2010. (Also in SXSW Film Festival.) Running time: 99 MIN.
With: With: Srdjan Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic, Katrina Zutic, Slobodan Bestic. (Serbian dialogue)

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A Serbian Film (Uncut) Reviews

1 hr 44 mins
Horror, Suspense
Watchlist Where to Watch

Retired porn star Milos (Srdjan Todorovic) is pushed to his physical and emotional limits after agreeing to appear in one last film to support his family, and he experiences extreme human debasement in this harrowing horror thriller.

Cinematic taboos are a part of the film language. They can be harsh. They can be unrepentant. They ebb and flow depending on societal changes -- and sometimes become a mockery of themselves. Taboos are broken regularly, yet a select few cinematic outings go further than just, say, killing a dog when every other movie wouldn’t dare. There are movies that set out to shock and go so far as to make the viewer marinate in their murk. In every way, A Serbian Film is one of those films. If the movie had a smaller budget, no one would bother with it. The fact that the A Serbian Film was competently made speaks volumes as to why festivals took note of it, helping it to gain notoriety in the process. It is a complex tale of perversion that speaks of art, taste, and taboos in general. The film and its characters know how forbidden this material is -- and they confront it head-on. If you’ve heard of where the story takes the viewer, know that its explicitness ranges from incredibly graphic to implied in the most sober of manners -- which as it turns out, is both a blessing and a curse. To understand the above, viewers must know a bit of what they are in for with A Serbian Film. In it, a famous European sex star is given the opportunity to set his family up for life by appearing in a new porno whose secrecy is so tight that even he doesn’t know what the plot is actually about. Once involved, he’s privy to a secret world that gets its kicks from highly outlawed material. Soon, the man finds himself locked in a fever dream of aberration, where he himself will unknowingly break down the walls of decency all in the name of “art.” These are the tall-tale nightmares that are whispered of -- and, if heard, are righteously purged from most memory banks soon after they are uttered. And what is art? One would have a hard time discussing A Serbian Film at length without bringing up that question. Not only does the picture take on that unanswerable issue, but its audience members are forced to reconcile their own feelings on the matter soon after watching it. The answer eventually lies with the viewer -- those most used to exploitation fare will do the best with the material. Again, it does help that there’s a certain style to the piece -- which, if anything, actually cuts the shock value a bit since it’s impossible not to forget that you are watching a piece of fiction. Not that the film needed faux-documentary shaky cam, but when one deliberately edits a film in a nonlinear fashion and fills it with over-the-top absurdity, that lends artificiality to the proceedings. That may well be a good thing. For as horrible as it is, there’s never a moment that can be mistaken as reality. At its heart is a story -- a bleak story. One filled with heartbreak amidst unimaginable horror. It is nearly a film for no one. Many will argue it shouldn’t have been made -- that those taboo boundaries should never be crossed. Yet its gonzo violence will undoubtedly speak to small pockets of purveyors of tasteless drive-in fare entertainment. A Serbian Film exists, awaiting the next taboo-breaker to take its place. It might have a world gunning for it, but it did what it set out to do. Right or wrong, terrible or just, muddled politics or not, it exists -- we can only hope its subject matter does not.

A Serbian Film Review

10 Dec 2010

A Serbian Film

This keeps dropping in lines like, “Ahh, a perfect Serbian family” (over a scene of rape, incest and murder) and briefly likens its Mephistophelean movie director to “someone you’d meet in the Hague” (i.e. a war criminal), suggesting there is specific national meaning in what is otherwise a remorseless, well-made, horrifying descent into personal hell. Whether its political element is spurious justification for a cynical exercise in attention-getting taboo-busting is down to the individual viewer — but it ought to be viewers, not censorship bodies, who make that decision.

Any purpose the film might have beyond ultra-shock is compromised because its notion of extreme art-porn as a symptom of societal apocalypse is well-worn from the mainstream likes of 8MM or Vacancy. Its worst atrocities — which include the rape of a new-born baby (less explicit in the BBFC-censored version) — are conceptually beyond the pale, but executed with a fakey glee (and obvious special effects) which put it closer in tone to The Toxic Avenger than, say, Videodrome or Lost Highway. That said, plenty of scenes here push various envelopes, and manage to be sick-making no matter how ridiculous they are. That baby-rapist is paid back when the hero, dosed up on horse Viagra, spears him through the eye-socket with his mighty erection, for instance, and the protagonist’s corrupt cop brother (Slobodan Bestic) pays a porn actress back for brushing him off by literally choking her with his dick.

Director/co-writer Srdjan Spasojevic gives the film a distinctive widescreen look and an impressive, slightly stylised use of dim lighting and art direction (the snuff sets look more like a Philippe Starck hotel than the usual reclaimed industrial site), which adds a certain distance that means the film isn’t quite the hateful ordeal its synopsis suggests it is. Srdjan Todorovic, suffering about as much as any leading man in the movies, gives a strong performance as Milos The Filthy Stud. Though the film features more than its share of abused women (and, hideously, children), its primary victim is the male lead, who is paid back for his ridiculous potency with repeated physical, mental and emotional rape.

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The Big Picture

A Serbian Film is a disturbing and inhumane horror movie that even the toughest fans struggle to watch until the end.
The film was directed by Srdjan Spasojevic as a political metaphor and reflection of his feelings about the state of Serbia and politics.
The movie has been banned in 46 countries, labeled as exploitation trash by critics, and caused a film festival director to almost face jail time.

If you're reading this, you likely consider yourself a hardcore horror fan. Scenes of gore, torture, and brutal kills probably don't bother you. I'm sure you don't have an issue with jump scares and your stomach is likely iron-clad and can handle any blood or guts that might appear on screen. As true as all of that might be, there is still a horror film out there that is so inhumane and disturbing that even the toughest can't handle watching until the end . The one horror movie that likely comes to the top of everyone's mind is A Serbian Film . If you have seen it, yikes. If you haven't, you might be better served to keep it that way.

A Serbian Film was directed by Srdjan Spasojevic in 2010 as a way to project his feelings about political correctness under a rotten facade, he told IndieWire . The premise of the movie is about an aging porn star , Milos ( Srdjan Todorovic ), who agrees to participate in an art film because he is struggling to make ends meet for his family. Participating in it would set him up with money for life and, of course, no one ever uses common sense when there's money involved! Too good to be true... in this economy? No way! This project would allow him to break free from the porn industry entirely, so he eagerly takes the role. Unfortunately for him, the art film in question is a little too underground, surpassing an X-rating and taking it straight to hell. The snuff film featured acts of necrophilia and pedophilia and the worst part is that Milos signs a Faustian pact that doesn't allow him to decline to participate in particular scenes. Milos' desperate attempt to provide eventually ruins his family and his entire life. There's not enough therapy in the world to recover Milos from what he goes through in this movie.

A Serbian Film (2010)

An aging porn star agrees to participate in an "art film" in order to make a clean break from the business, only to discover that he has been drafted into making a pedophilia and necrophilia themed snuff film.

'A Serbian Film' Is Supposed To Be a Political Metaphor

As mentioned previously, the director said he was using this film as an allegory for how he feels about the state of Serbia and politics as a whole . In the same IndieWire interview, Spasojevic explains further. Overall, he feels like where he lives, the television stars are politicians and everyone is motivated by money, power, and fame. He continues to say he made the film from his gut with recessed feelings he had regarding the Serbia wars and political climate. It sounds like he had the most massive tummy ache in the history of all time if his gut is what created A Serbian Film . In another interview with people at Morbidly Beautiful , he has even reflected on the film and said he believes it is too "soft" now. Spasojevic also states that he feels he is speaking a movie language that Americans can understand as well. However, the response to his film doesn't reflect that anyone speaks that language. There are many ways to produce an allegory for a country's politics , and honestly, A Serbian Film is not a typical representation of that. Splatter and exploitation films didn't become popular in America until the early 2000s, so this film released in 2010 would make sense to try and slip in under the radar and join the subgenre, but even Americans have their boundaries. We want gratuitous violence and gore, but not any that involves such explicit content.

'A Serbian Film' Just Barely Made the Cut To Be Rated NC-17

The first time A Serbian Film was seen was in March 2010 in the US at the South by Southwest festival . The film left audiences shocked, disgusted, and appalled. However, there are some people who find the movie to be brilliant. Tim League , co-founder of Fantastic Fest , is someone who feels that way. He said that just as long as you're not showing it to your mother or wife, it's a wonderful film for those diving deep into the genre that tackles the "dark and disturbing" very well. "Dark and disturbing" is the understatement of a century in regard to this film. Before being released, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) reviewed the film and exercised its right to make cuts to the film before approving it. The BBFC required 49 cuts , which totaled up to three minutes and 48 seconds being removed from the film to even receive an NC-17 rating.

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The horror film was banned as part of the "video nasties" moral panic of the 1980s.

The BBFC was required to come in and review the film because it was about to be featured at the London Fright Fest. Typically, Fright Fest isn't required to have any of their films screened before playing them, but with all the rumors surfacing about the graphic nature of A Serbian Film , the Westminster Council felt it necessary. Many of the scenes that were removed were due to sexualized violence, specifically against children. Numerous cuts seemed daunting for distributors but could be done. Nevertheless, Fright Fest decided against playing the film entirely if they had to play a censored version. The event's co-director, Ian Jones , felt the film should be shown in its entirety as the director intended it. According to the BBFC, they received complaints from both sides . Some complained that the movie shouldn't have passed regardless of the cuts, and some complaints strangely were angry that there were any cuts made at all. What was left in the film begs the question of how grotesque the parts they cut could have been.

A Film Festival Director Almost Faced Jail Time for 'A Serbian Film'

A Serbian Film is one of the most banned horror films of all time, and it has been labeled a monstrosity by many movie critics. According to Fangoria, the film has been banned in 46 countries entirely , including Spain, Australia, and Malaysia. BBC's film critic, Mark Kermode , labeled it as a "nasty piece of exploitation trash " on BBC Radio Live 5. There seems to be no gray area with how people feel about this film. They either appreciate the "art" of the film and what it is meant to represent, or they feel very similar to Kermode. When A Serbian Film was shown at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain, things got pretty intense. The director of the international film festival, Angel Sala, almost faced prison time for showing A Serbian Film at his festival. In October 2010, at the adult-only fantasy and horror festival, the film was shown and Sala was almost immediately charged with exhibiting child pornography. According to the New York Times , Spasojevic couldn't be charged because of logistical issues, so prosecutors came for Sala instead. The charges were eventually dropped, but at one point, Sala could've faced up to a year in prison as well as a fine for the showing.

While some will argue that the censorship of A Serbian Film goes against creative rights and free speech, the nature of the film makes it really challenging to be okay with it for the sake of creativity. It is a disturbing and vile film that even the most hardcore horror fans struggle to sit through until the end. Because of its notoriety, it has almost reached a cult-like status and become an urban legend for testing your mental and probably even your digestive fortitude. There's even an uncut and uncensored version that you can watch, and the edited version already seems bad enough, so uncut sounds terrifying. Surprisingly, you can stream A Serbian Film , but just because you can, should you?

A Serbian Film is available to stream on Vudu in the U.S.

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Movie Features

A Serbian Film (limited)

“Hyperbole that I couldn’t even argue as I sat in stunned silence with 250 other people as the credits closed.”

DISCLAIMER: I have chosen to give this film 1 Skull. This represents the most difficult decision I have ever made regarding the rating of a film. The reason for this decision is hopefully laid out before you in this review. It is not a reflection on the physical quality of the work contained here or the execution and success of the film based on the Director’s intentions. Serbian Film is a polarizing production, one that is in many ways a work of either pure genius or absolute insanity. However as I find the film to personally have no redeeming social or political or artistic value, it is my option that a 5 skull rating just for sheer audacity is both misleading and unfair to you as a viewing audience. Take that as either a recommendation or a damnation, as you will.

Salo, Gummo, Inside , all of these films have one thing in common. I was unprepared for what I saw when I sat down to watch them. I mean, sure, I had an inkling that they were supposed to be “shocking” but no real comprehension of the horrors that would fill my screen with each passing frame. Each film had some buzz for me, I knew of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini from reading a Kathy Acker book in high school that featured the Director as a character. I knew Gummo was from the writer of Kids and I knew Inside was the second film I was to about watch in the “French New Wave of Horror Cinema”. But the buzz on each film was a low hum and certainly not apocalyptic in scope. No one told me that these films would ruin me or make me physically ill but all three did that at varying intervals in my life. Salo in the early 90’s, Gummo a few years later and Inside just a few short years ago. Still, in the annals of my cinematic experience, none of these films can hold a candle to what I witnessed at the Alamo Drafthouse during the SXSW Film Festival.

Serbian Film arrived with every conceivable warning–unlike that trilogy above. I was told time and again by a trusted source (with a stomach of iron) that this film contained scenes that would…nothing short of rape my soul. Hyperbole that I couldn’t even argue as I sat in stunned silence with 250 other people as the credits closed. It wasn’t that I was unprepared for what I had just seen. I was fully prepared. I was over prepared. I was ready to have my soul raped. I had no faith in humanity to question. I’ve seen everything. I’ve seen internet porno that would make you run to a monastery. I’ve laughed at the August Underground and Guinea Pig films. I’ve sat behind the lens on film sets and watched every manner of chunk blowing effects shot executed 50 feet from my face. I’ve seen people die in documentaries jumping off the Golden State Bridge, I’ve seen PeTA videos, I sat with you all on September 11th and cried as the towers came tumbling down. Nothing was going to faze me. I was wrong.

I can’t bring myself to utter the two-word phrase joyously shouted with mad delight by the crazed film producer at the center of this story. I can’t unsee what I saw. I can’t close my eyes and not go on the journey of Milos (Srdjan Todorovic)–a former porn star with a beautiful wife and young son who is lured back into the world of adult films by a former co-star and a visionary director who promises a great deal of money to make the ultimate art house porno film. Not knowing what the film is about, Milos agrees–against his seeming better judgment–to pursue the project for the hope that the funds will free him and his family from their drab existence in Serbia. But what kind of movie is Vukmir making, why and for whom? These are the questions Milos asks and these are the answers that you don’t want to know.

Serbian Film is not a “War Movie” however it is a battle and it’s stained with the blood of tens of thousands. The film from director Srdjan Spasojevic is ostensibly a reactionary piece. Built out of a film industry that is just suffering the pangs of birth and freedom only a decade or so after the war ravaged country reemerged from the former Yugoslavia and only 4 years after gaining its independence from Montenegro.

Born of nearly 20 years of conflict, genocide and a systematic military campaign of rape as a tactical weapon. Serbian Film follows French cinema pioneers Gaspar Noe ( Irreversible ) and Virginie Despentes ( Baise-moi ) in destroying the status quo regarding on screen violence and sexuality. It is as much a revelation as to the power of image as it is a repulsion to all be the most depraved viewer. Is it designed to make you sick. Is it designed to make you wish you were never born with the blessing of sight and the beauty of a moral compass. Is it a powerful film conceived in a place that saw the absolute worst of what humanity is capable. If you can’t imagine what is like to sit though this movie, how can you ever imagine or empathize, understand or respect what the Serbian, Albanian, Croatian and other former residents of Yugoslavia endured for almost 15-years. But does that make it a good movie?

In many ways Serbian Film is like going to war. Its purpose is to shock you and it does so with impunity. I can’t imagine the horrors that the people of Serbia endured not so long ago. I can’t relate to the character of Milos. I can’t in even my most evil and vile dreams conceive of what he experiences over the course of the movie. I don’t identify with that, and for that I am eternally grateful. However, if going on this journey is enough to make anyone understand the metaphor than perhaps the film is a success and in that success the world would never go to war again.

To describe the horrors in this film to a niche movie-going public that will either embrace the film’s extremity (or run screaming to the nearest cliff and hurl their bodies off it in protest) is futile. If what I have written here is enough to turn your feelings of wonder into a burning desire to watch this monstrosity, then perhaps I haven’t been clear enough. You don’t want to see Serbian Film . You just think you do. You’ve been far too desensitized. You’ve laughed at people that fainted in theaters, snickered at legends of grown men and women who walked out of movie premieres and puked on lobby floors. You think you’ve seen it all and after this, you’ll wish you had.

In the end, maybe Serbian Film is just another exploitation film. Just the twisted ravings of a lunatic mind, just another P.T. Barnum, button-pushing product that can famously tote that cinema labs in Hungary and Germany refused to even print the film due to content issues. Perhaps it is an allegory for what the Bosnian War mean to generations of people. Perhaps it’s a cold hard look into a desensitized world where video games morals have turned 10-year-olds into rapists and murders? Perhaps, in some ways it’s all those things. But, the one thing it is not, is entertainment.

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Review: ‘A Serbian Film’ Is Strictly For The Disturbed

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“A Serbian Film” centers on Milos, a male porn star who retired at the top of his profession. Though his home life is happy, with a young son and a beautiful, supportive wife, Milos wanders in and out of a daily routine, emasculated by his wife’s productivity and the continued work of his peers. The fact that money is drying up is only intensified by his brother: it’s through his nightstick, gun, and police uniform that he makes Milos feel like a potential cuckold.

Content-related cuts make little sense in this case, as there’s a foreboding air that contaminates the whole of “A Serbian Film,” bound to be a difficult sit for anyone with even the loosest set of morals. The violence, shown in escalating graphic detail and often gruesomely sexualized, doesn’t have the same effect as the shock and anger that Milos displays – Srdjan Todorovic is immensely believable as a man experiencing, and in some cases causing, the most inhuman forms of violation. “A Serbian Film,” polished and provocative enough to carry an undeniable weight, closes on a shot that isn’t explicit, but establishes that what we’ve seen is merely a brief episode in an ongoing cycle of violence. It’s the suggestion that there can be no end to this depravity, the sickening part being that, as conventionally as possible, it is a punch line. For those with the stomach… [B] For everyone else… [F]

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COMMENTS

A Serbian Film
A Serbian Film still rips apart our morals, and deepthroats us with them until we vomit our own regrets. For me it still holds the title as most nasty, disturbing, controversial and fucked-up ...
A Serbian Film
Rated: 2.5/5 May 12, 2011 Full Review Zoe Rose Smith Zobo With A Shotgun A Serbian Film still rips apart our morals, and deepthroats us with them until we vomit our own regrets. For me it still ...
'A Serbian Film,' Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic
"A Serbian Film" is rated NC-17 (No one 17 or under admitted). The best part of this movie may be that members of the M.P.A.A. ratings board had to sit through it.
A Serbian Film (2010) Review
Even the title is, supposedly, "A metaphor for our national cinema - boring, predictable and altogether unintentionally hilarious". I don't believe this is true. That this man believes hilarity exists within or indeed anywhere near A Serbian Film is particularly telling. I think Srdjan Spasojevic is confused.
A Serbian Film (2010), The Most Disturbing Movie Ever Made
In the following years, I watched several horror films that all competed for the title of the most disturbing movie ever made. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), Audition (1999), Ichi the Killer (2001), Irréversible (2002), and August Underground's Mordum (2003) were certainly all in the running. However, it would take nearly a decade ...
Review: A Serbian Film
Review: A Serbian Film. A Serbian Film takes its time getting to its queasy-making scenes, and even then delivers them in a fragmented, nonlinear fashion. The rare piece of transgressive art that's more grimly meditative than satirical or allegorical, A Serbian Film 's most daring aspect may be the muddle of soul-searching it demands from ...
50,000 Subscriber Special: A Serbian Film Movie Review
At long last, I review A Serbian Film!Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic.FOLLOW ME:Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/TheNewBeeFBTwitter: https://tinyurl.com/TheNewBee...
‎A Serbian Film (2010) directed by Srđan Spasojević • Reviews, film
Synopsis. Milos, a retired porn star, leads a normal family life trying to make ends meet. Presented with the opportunity of a lifetime to financially support his family for the rest of their lives, Milos must participate in one last mysterious film. From then on, Milos is drawn into a maelstrom of unbelievable cruelty and mayhem.
A Serbian Film review
A Serbian Film is, after all, this year's red-flag title, pulled from horror festival FrightFest when the BBFC requested three mins, 48 secs of cuts (compared to the 17 seconds snipped from the ...
A SERBIAN FILM
Rape, incest, murder and S&M are some of the anti-social acts filling out the narrative. The unpleasant film gets over as a pseudo-snuff film that tries to take it as close to a real snuff film as possible. Its trash. I saw nothing in this mean-spirited film that I cared for. To compliment it as being well-crafted, which it is, doesn't mean ...
A Serbian Film Blu-ray Review
Made in the Serbian language with no foreign dialogue, A Serbian Film isn't a sonic showcase. The sparse, limited sound design from the original 2.0 PCM stereo mix carries over to the 5.1 DTS-HD MA surround track. The movie is cleanly recorded with clear, distinct dialogue. Only a smattering of ambient presence leaks out in the surround mix.
A Serbian Film
A Serbian Film (Serbian: Српски филм /Srpski film) is a 2010 Serbian exploitation horror film produced and directed by Srđan Spasojević in his feature directorial debut, with Aleksandar Radivojević co-writing. It tells the experience of a financially struggling pornstar who agrees to participate in an "art film", only to discover that he has been drafted into a snuff film with ...
Review: A Serbian Film (2010)
A Serbian Film (2010) Directed by: Srdjan Spasojevic Premise: A porn performer (Srdan Todorovic) is lured out of retirement by a charismatic filmmaker (Sergej Trifunovic) promising an artistic adult film production.As shooting gets underway circumstances take a violent turn. What Works: A Serbian Film was the apotheosis of the so-called torture porn trend of the 2000s.
Why A Serbian Film Is Misunderstood, And More Relevant Than Ever
The dark plot. Unearthed Films. "A Serbian Film" is, as known by those who have been brave enough to seek it out, a dark and violent film about the Serbian porn industry, but it brushes up against ...
A Serbian Film
Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (market), May 15, 2010. (Also in SXSW Film Festival.) Running time: 99 MIN. With: With: Srdjan Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic, Katrina Zutic ...
Let's have a serious discussion about A Serbian Film (2010).
The real answer as to why A Serbian Film is more than a snuff film lies in the structure and plot. Early on, the director character asks Milo who watches a porno for the plot. The obvious answer is no one, and the same goes for snuff films. But in A Serbian Film, plot and character are everything.
A Serbian Film (Uncut)
A Serbian Film (Uncut) Reviews. 2010. 1 hr 44 mins. Horror, Suspense. NC17. Watchlist. Where to Watch. Retired porn star Milos (Srdjan Todorovic) is pushed to his physical and emotional limits ...
A Serbian Film (2010) Ending Analysis & Worst Parts
A Serbian Film is not even close to the most disturbing film I've ever seen. While well-made on a technical level, the blood and gore on display has a playful look to it like something from a Grindhouse movie.This does rob the more shocking moments of their power, which I don't think was the intention behind an otherwise purposeful directorial choice.
A Serbian Film Review
A Serbian Film Review. Happily married ex-porn star Milos (Todorovic) is lured out of retirement by auteur Vukmir Vukmir (Trifunovic). Consenting to appear in a new kind of reality porn art movie, Milos finds himself drugged, abused, duped and lured into committing sexual atrocities. This keeps dropping in lines like, "Ahh, a perfect Serbian ...
How 'A Serbian Film' Became One of the Most Banned Horror Movies Ever
A Serbian Film is one of the most banned horror films of all time, and it has been labeled a monstrosity by many movie critics. According to Fangoria, the film has been banned in 46 countries ...
A Serbian Film (2010)
We review A Serbian Film, what many say is one of the most disturbing films ever made.Buy it here http://amzn.to/1xCqzKA----------Stay ...
A Serbian Film (limited)
A group of friends experience a disturbing chain of reality-bending events when a comet passes by in the surreal sci-fi thriller. A sequel to the 2013 cult classic was recently announced. From ...
Review: 'A Serbian Film' Is Strictly For The Disturbed
Well, for the most part - "A Serbian Film" couldn't be received on our shores as an NC-17 rated film without a few significant cuts. "A Serbian Film" centers on Milos, a male porn star ...

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