Popular reviews

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★ 6

  That bird monkey something laugh sound thing is one of the most annoying and iconic things ever.

  I mean, its not Viy or Eyes of Fire level of campy and weirdness, but it's still weird enough. The makeup of the creature was pretty good. I'm uncertain if it was a stylistic decision or simply the equipment and quality at hand, but I appreciated the tiny scratches and thin black lines on the image, combined with the handheld camerawork; these elements give the film a genuine feel, akin to watching a documentary. The performances do their best to capture and deliver on a lot of the offbeat and surreal nature of the movie.
  Unfortunately, while the premise is quite interesting and…

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  Review by Bob McCully ★★★½

  3.5 might be a tad generous for such an admittedly demanding watch but I was pretty damn charmed with this early 70's Yugoslavian made-for-TV folk-horror yarn.
  A small farming village is terrorized by a strange werewolf-like creature, meanwhile a young man is trying to wed the beautiful daughter of the village grump and he will not give his blessing. Cue the peanut gallery of drunken farmers and let this strange transmission of supernatural horror ooze at its own strange gait.

  Slow and tame, sure, but its flaws seem to be a part of the allure here as this moves with its own unique rhythm and vibe. Truly unlike anything I've seen before with a slightly goofy and simplistic storyline that's…

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★½

  Leptirica is a made for Serbian TV movie, based on one of the more famous Slavic vampire stories. It's short and simple - we focus on a small rural community whose flour mill comes under attack from an apparent vengeful spirit. Đorđe Kadijević's film starts off with an attack and we get a glimpse of the monster - big fangs and covered in hair - before settling down to a quaint little story focusing on superstition and young love. The film is very basic - mainly set outside in the fields, featuring naturalistic sounds and sticking to the basic elements of the plot. There's some good comedy from a bumbling bunch of local villagers. Mirjana Nikolić is the standout of…

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★★ 6

  What’s believed to be the first horror film to hail from Serbia (when it was still part of Yugoslavia) was actually made for television and was first broadcast on Radiotelevizija Beograd on 15 April 1973. Based on the short story story Posle devedeset godina/After Ninety Years by Milovan Glišić, the translation of Leptirica (often given as She-Butterfly but perhaps Female Butterfly is more appropriate and accurate) rather gave away the identity of the villain of the piece. Glišić‘s story was first published in 1880, seventeen years before Stoker’s Dracula popularised the vampire in the English-speaking world.

  In a small rural village in the 19th Century, a flour miller is murdered by a hideous creature that comes down from the woods,…

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  Review by Gentry ★★★

  "Look at her. Like a butterfly!”

  Flour and blood-stained folk-horror from Serbia. Sorta? It’s also a hilarious hang-out film with a gang of dudes (a priest, a man whose pants keep falling down, a drunk, a leader, etc) just trying to help their bro get married while also ridding the village of a nasty vampire.

  Boy is in love with the suicidal (kinda goth) farmer’s daughter, but her dad won’t consent to the marriage because the boy is poor. So he sends him to work in the vampire infested mill. Boy survives the night but realizes there is a vampire at large, so him and his buddies search for a buried body near a crooked ravine to stake through the…

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  Review by Daria Dykes ★★★★½ 4

  I obtained a bootleg copy of this film (under the title "Leptirica") several years back from Shocking Videos or Trash Palace or one of those other outfits that made a business from finding copies of weird, obscure titles and making copies to share with other hungry fans of such fare. I watched the first few minutes of it, and put off the rest. The quality of the copy was just too rough. So I put the film on my October list this year to push me into finally sitting through it - I made a sortof commitment now, after all.

  I dearly hope that there is a surviving copy of this film in better shape than what I have. I…

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  Review by 20oldboy03 ★★½ 11

  YouTube-Tage die Vierzehnte (14/2)

  
  Urig, nach Wiktionary:

  -so dass es ohne Verfälschung und natürlich ist; urwüchsig, ursprünglich

  -unterhaltsam und witzig, ohne zu übertreiben; urwüchsig-originell

  
  „Leptirica“ prägt das Adjektiv urig in vollem und ganzem Umfang.

  -Die Schauspieler könnten direkt von der Straße aufgelesen und in einem Crashkurs einige zu ihrem über die Jahrzehnte angeeignetem Repertoire hinzugewonnen haben.

  -Die Kamera der Regieassistent geführt haben.

  -Maske und Makeup Tante Branka aufgetragen haben.

  -Die Ausstattung aus dem Gartenschuppen zusammengesucht und zusammengeschustert worden sein.

  
  Jedoch trifft diese geballte Urigkeit selbst in der flackernden, von aufblitzenden Schwarzen-Löchern durchzogenen YouTube-Ausgabe des 1973 erschienen, serbischen Werkes so was von mitten auf die Zwölf, bekommen wir verdammt charmante Darsteller, ein dazu passendes Setting, eine Maske die wahrlich und vermutlich wegen ihren geringen Mittel noch eindrucksvoller wirkt (soweit meine Meinung) und einem Sounddesigne was die Wildnis sehr prägnant einfängt nebst den „Volks-Gesängen“ die sich wahrlich sehen lassen können.

  
  Link - www.youtube.com/watch?v=vojhfYK0T5c

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  Review by Dr. Ethan Lyon ★★★

  2nd Đorđe Kadijević (after The Maiden’s Tune)

  A couple of genuinely unsettling images (especially in the bridal bed) that enlivens what is otherwise a very rambling, very low-key TV film about life in a small Serbian village that can't make any more bread. So, when the local jack-the-lad has his eyes on the landowner's daughter, the only solution is to press him into the dangerous art of gristing the mill. As a test of his manhood, of course. Much of the film is concerned with manhood, namely a bunch of strapping workmen lazing around the beautiful countryside (and wow, is it beautiful), drinking beer and unsuccessfully attempting to get rid of their supernatural menace. It's all quite laddish, charmingly incompetent really, but as a hangout movie, it's not TOO far from Dazed and Confused. Maybe. Definitely less Kiss in this. More gore, though.

  Kadijević in Order:
  1. Leptirica
  2. The Maiden’s Tune

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  Review by haley ★★½

  some nice imagery but even with this only being 63 minutes long, it drags way too much. while it does have its moments, you're going to spend most of the runtime watching these men doing absolutely nothing. one hour should not feel like an eternity when watching a film!

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  Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★ 1

  this might just be Yugoslavian Salem's Lot and that's not a bad thing - at least two haunting visuals in 63 minutes which is more than most films twice its length get

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  Review by SpaghettiNoir ★★★

  Drunk Villager: Is it wrong to steal a young woman?
  Drunk Priest: It's not.
  Drunk Villager: When the groom is a fine, honorable young man?
  Drunk Priest: That would be fine.

  This hour-long piece of Serbian folklore finds a young suitor tackling the local vampire legend in order to impress his love's father. A bit of a slog in the middle section, where it's basically a bunch of drunk villagers hanging out around the vampire's grave. The payoff is worth it though and includes a most uncomfortable-looking piggyback ride.

  
  HoopTober 9: 8/31
  Countries - Yugoslavia

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  Review by Scott R ★★★½ 4

  🎃 Hooptober ❌: Ten Times the Terror!! (7/31)
  Criteria: Country 2/6 (Yugoslavia) 

  Leptirica (literally “The She-Butterfly”) is a very unique little made for TV vampire film from Yugoslavia. Adapted for the screen by Serbian writer-director Đorđe Kadijević, this tale was originally written by Milovan Glišić, a prolific Serbian writer who wrote quite a few horror stories in his day. What’s even more cool is that Glišić‘s story predates Bram Stroker’s Dracula novel by 17 years. I love that this exists!

  After watching the maddeningly insane Beyond the Door III this year, I was hoping this other Yugoslav horror picture would also be a gorey trippy crazy time. Not so. I made a joke in that review that shit was getting me in touch with…