A Serbian Film - Calling DL Horror Fans

id read about it first and see if you can tolerate the things they show.

this film doesn't have a lot in common with most "horror" which is a wildly broad category.

A huge percentage of horror is supernatural. This blends survival thriller with some of the most grotesque crimes against humanity.

This film is closer to watching footage of Nazi concentration camps than watching a Freddy Kruger movie.

[quote] This film is closer to watching footage of Nazi concentration camps than watching a Freddy Kruger movie.

I smell Defarto. He's the OP must be rubbing one out while repeatedly hitting rewind.

Is it worth watching, R2? I heard the acting, performances, and cimetography are actually very impressive despite the material. But I'm reluctant. It feels like a "Hostile" on steroids, which I was enjoyed and frightened by.

R4

It’s on my “I just can’t” list, like “Irreversible” and “Burlesque”.

Die hard horror fan here for over 40 years now. This movie is pure trash, and not in a good way. A newborn baby get's raped to death in it, among other things. That's all you need to know.

It's a fine film that wasn't that shocking. Could see the twist a mile away.

The film is not interesting and not really horrific.

I hear it's going to be turned into a big-budget Broadway musical.

I just watched what was said to be the uncut version (I think there are multiple uncut versions, but the American version). I did not find it all that shocking. It was really no worse than Hostile or Saw. It was definitely less scary. It didn't leave me emotionally scarred and forever damaged, like all the " reviewers" said. That honor still goes to "Dear, Zachary".

It was fine for 2.99, but nothing over the top memorable, I think drugging him up took away his agency and therefore less accountable.

It's not scary.

It's "torture porn" but with a heavy-handed political message. It's full of revolting things never shown on film before, but you get the impression they're just trying to shock for shock's sake with cheap lip service to Yugoslavian politics.

I see it as a cheap stunt and gimmick. Tryory. It ends up not being shocking because it's not believable and designed just to push your buttons.

I would have though there would have been more male nudity, but there wasn't really. Agree with everyone's comments.

R5 irreversible was pretty good. I’m still traumatized from watching the unaired ep of Showtime’s Masters of Horror, called Imprint. Torture porn. Ugh. I can see why they didn’t air it. This movie reminds me of that.

Is it Hostile or Hostel?

R10 The newborn porn in Srrbian Film was absolutely vile. Hostel 1 and 2 were sick but had a sense of humor about them. Even Salo has a sense of camp about it in spots. Serbian Film is a digusting piece of witless trash that just goes for shock value alone.

The newborn porn seemed campy and it was more implied.

A Serbian Film is a satire.

R13, Even Roger Ebert gave Irreversible props at the time it came out. Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel were an actual couple when that was made. Gaspar Noe did an excellent job with reverse chronology in that movie, better than Nolan's Memento as far as I'm concerned.

Do you like De Palma? A SERBIAN FILM is stylish, smart, and is most successful as a teasing sexual affront (its political messaging is the least interesting thing about it). I didn't find it depraved. The "newborn porn," for instance, is implied; this is hardly CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, with its real animal slaughter. There's a lot of humor here, actually. This would make for a great double bill with Verhoeven's ELLE.

The newborn porn isn’t just implied, the whore gives birth and feverishly watches as the man fucks the baby and kills it. They show it (with prosthetic baby).

Spoiler,

the guy inadvertently fucks his own young son up the ass at the end, and decides to kill himself with a single bullet that also kills his son.

It's just gross and deliberately shocking/extreme for the sake of it, there is absolutely nothing clever or deep about it at all - cinematic trash.

I regret watching it, not just because it's overall vile, but because it's just really shitty and a waste of time.

I tried to watch it back when it was released but found it boring and badly acted. I think I watched maybe a 1/3 of it.

While Salo was vile, it did provide a philosophical/political commentary.

Is A Serbian Film just vile for the sake of being vile?

I didn't really find it disturbing because it seemed too silly in its determination to shock the audience. More like a South Park episode than a horror film.

how are those saw films different?

R5, Burlesque?

I LOVE Burlesque.

IRREVERSIBLE has good and interesting points.

A SERBIAN FILM does not. It's not relevant.

r20, how did he "accidentally" fuck his son?

Irreversible wasn't that bad.

R25 there's tension. It's gratuitous but there's a twisted morality to it. There are twists and turns in the story. I can see how for an outside observer they would be lumped in together but I don't see them in the same way.

R28 he's covered up and I think told to fuck whatever is in front of him or he'll be killed, I can't quite remember, so he knows he's fucking someone but doesn't know it's his son.

Is there peen?

yes, the boy is covered and so is his wife. Once he is done raping them and he realized what he did, he and his wife make a silent agreement to kill themselves.

It's in the same vein as "Martyrs". Both movies are heavy handed political commentaries/allegories and neither movie grossed me out as much as leaving me in a really dark place for a week or two, feeling really down about the state of the humanity.

Martyrs rattled me, the beating scenes were horrific.

Is Martyrs worth watching r34/r35?

it’s brutal but interesting, yes. I don’t think it’s just gratuitous violence like ‘Saw’ or Hostel.

"It's in the same vein as "Martyrs".

I would argue that Martyrs is the better movie. It's horrifying, heartbreaking and then--trippy. A Serbian Film is just radically unpleasant and uncommonly depressing. Not that Martys isn't. But I was fascinated with the latter in a way I wasnt with the former.

It wasn’t shocking. It was almost comedic. It’s so ridiculous. I love how the makers tried to make it into some political statement. Great soundtrack.

There’s another film, I think German, where this guy tortures a disabled woman, even ripping out her colostomy bag and fucking the hole.

[quote]even ripping out her colostomy bag

The Germans are indefatigable in their preoccupation with Scheiße

Martyrs was disgusting misogynistic torture porn trash

Fell asleep watching it. Torture porn bores the shit out of me. Watch "Mame" if you want to be shocked - that one makes A Serbian Film look like a Saturday-morning cartoon.

Marry me r43!

"Martyrs was disgusting misogynistic torture porn trash"

Clearly you didnt see A Serbian Film.

I'd say Bloodsucking Freaks (which I know about thanks to DL!) is pure disgusting misogynistic torture porn trash

I really liked Martyrs - the ending is so deliciously bleak

They certainly could have used a more attractive newborn for the anal rape scene.

Other than that, what's the issue?

I have to admit I did get turned on by The Bald Man in his tighty whiteys, but not after what he did with the prosthetic baby.

Martyrs is infinitely better and infinitely more disturbing.

[quote] how did he "accidentally" fuck his son?

It happens.

R11 R19 R34. R39. I'm never going to watch this movie but I am curious about the political message you all are mentioning. What's the message in the movie?

It’s torture porn and I didn’t get any political message from it. The French film Martyrs is also torture porn but that left me thinking for days after.

One of the tormentors screams the political message at the end. "This is Serbia!"

Implying that the violence you've seen is equal to the Bosnian genocide, ethnic cleansing, dictator and mafia rule, etc.

I watched the newborn sex scene and the father-son sex scene again today. The baby sex scene was just stupid looking. There was nothing frightening about it. The father fucking his son scene was very boring, especially compared to father/son gay porn sites. Again, not frightening. Hostel, on the other hand, was horrific and disturbing,

R28 He is heavily drugged during that sequence.

I like the baby squishing scene from Human Centipede 2 better.

I don’t agree that a “huge percentage” of horror films are supernatural. That might be viewer preference bias on the part of the poster. In fact I’d suggest supernatural horror is a genre within the genre.

All horror has to do is elicit a feeling of dread in the viewer, which feeling is deep and primal but we don’t often feel frequently any more due to the advances of civilized life. You don’t need a monster or a ghost for that.

Just a few of the endless list of horror movies that are not supernatural:

Scream

Texas Chainsaw

You’re Next

Jacob’s Ladder

Don’t Breathe

Green Room

I think I went into it with too many expectations based on the reviews and hype. While I didn't feel much during the viewing, I've been thinking about the message and story telling of A Serbian Film. I think it's more clever than I am giving it credit for.

I will check out Irreversible and Martyr based on what others are saying.

spoiler

thought it was kind of meta that it was revealed that the whole filming and the drama that accompanied it was being filmed. The director must have known perhaps he’d die, yet he was on a quest to make the greatest art film in history. The cameras rolled again after the climactic suicides, picking up where it all left off. This time implying that a new, young, porn stud would take over and start fucking the dead bodies. “start with the boy” the Bald Man barks, implying he’s to fuck the dead boy and then the father and mother. He meekly unzips his jeans to proceed

I like horror films, but when I read a brief synopsis of A Serbian Film, it was a big NOPE from me.

R59 Martyrs explores the sheer inhumanity people use to find out if there is a life after this one. The ending is very provocative and it will stay with you for days. You will ask te same questions...is there nothing after death , an endless black void, eternal light and life. The French version is the one to watch.

Irreversible is a cautionary tale about revenge. It is inspired by both 2001 and Memento. There is a relentless rape scene that lasts for almost 10 minutes. That also has an ending that will stay with you for days.

A Serbian Film is violent and crazy, but I don't think it's a shocking or disturbing as everyone says it is, and that "baby" looks completely fake.

I found the rape scene in "Irreversible" more realistic and disturbing.

"I found the rape scene in "Irreversible" more realistic and disturbing."

And don't forget the fire extinguisher in the gay sex club!

It's a hell of a lot better than AN ISLE OF WIGHT FILM.

I was kinda bored when I finally saw this “shocking” film...I’ll say that the faces of death series stayed in my mind a lot longer

I hate supernatural and am really enjoying these foreign gore films. I think why I find them so scary and get into them is that they seem like they could easily happen. Especially in a Hostile style scenario. The reviews hype them up, so they almost give me this sort of anxiety before hand which is part of the fun.

I like these elements in some fiction as well. "The Sluts" by Dennis Cooper is really good, shocking read of a mind fuck.

Faces of Death is real. I don't think I can handle real. Watching real like blood and gore freaks me out.

I'm excited for the french version of Martyrs. That's my next one that I am going to watch and then Irreversable. I've been watching the trailers.

Speaking of Faces of Death (which I've never seen and don't plan to), this is from Wiki. I haven't verified their source yet, though:

[quote]In June 1985, mathematics teacher Bart Schwarz showed the film to his class at Escondido High School in Escondido, California. Two of his students, Diane Feese and Sherry Forget, claimed they were so traumatised by the film that they both "developed an unnatural fear of dying and suffered emotional distress." The families of the two girls sued the school district and received a combined $100,000 settlement ($57,500 for Feese and $42,500 for Forget). Schwarz was suspended from the school for 15 days without pay, but was not fired.

What kind of sick fuck shows that film to a high school class? (A math class, no less -- isn't math traumatizing enough?) If this happened in 2021, he would have been fired by final announcements.

More about sadistic math teacher:

he year is 1985 and two California schoolgirls called Diane Feese and Sherry Forget are watching uncomfortably as their teacher wheels out a TV on a stand. Lessons are meant to be over for the day but, rather than let his students go home, Mr Schwartz is insisting the teenagers watch a movie. He pops a tape into the VCR.

What follows is a parade of grotesque images. Dead bodies are sliced open in an autopsy, people at an occult orgy smear themselves in human blood, a man is electrocuted, sheep writhe on meathooks and there is an awful scene at a restaurant involving a monkey.

“The people at the table,” says Forget today, “beat this monkey over the head with a hammer until it died. Then they cut the top of its head off and ate its brains.” As an animal-lover, she found the film deeply disturbing and asked to leave. Mr Schwartz said no and when Feese also tried to go, he forced her to sit down, grabbing her chair and spinning it aggressively towards the screen.

Here is original article:

Ex Drummer is in tune with this movie

It's by no means horror, but I think The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes is far and away the most interesting film of this genre. Well, it's more an art film and not of this genre at all. Stylistically, it's very Brakhage. Silent, jump cuts. No real editorializing.

I think it's the most candid look at death ever captured on film.

Much more thought-provoking than, say, Faces of Death.

I rented "A Serbian Film" on fandango and there was no baby rape scene.e at the end. Should I be disappointed? Ask for a refund?

Side note: Ex Drummer has a KILLER soundtrack. You can find the playlist on Spotify.

F73, interesting. Maybe the version on Fandango is an edit down cut of the film. I noticed the scene is impossible to find on Youtube. But a pic of the actual baby prop they used in the film is here.

How bad IS Faces of Death?

Has anyone seen all of them?

Yes - I think even though it said uncensored, in the US, the fake baby scene on Fandango is edited. You see the a woman give birth and then it's given over to the bald guard, and then it pans to the porn star and the filmmaker talking. It's implied but not overtly shown.

Has Antichrist been mentioned ?

I haven't seen "Faces of Death," but from everything I've heard and read about it it's a mixture of real and simulated stuff. "Cannibal Holocaust," which was originally marketed as being real but was actually fiction, is considered a gore classic.

My tolerance for films featuring extreme psychological and physical suffering is pretty low, but from what I've read "A Serbian Film" rates pretty high among those who can appreciate it, along with the original Dutch film "The Vanishing," original French language "Martyrs," the Japanese film "Audition," both the German and English versions of "Funny Games," "Berberian Sound Studio," "Wolf Creek," and "Eden Lake."

Since I couldn't find the French Martyrs (2008) version, I took someone else's recommendation and saw Irreversible. I did not enjoy it. I can see appreciate it, but I'm clearly just not sophisticated enough for it. Just the visual filming of the first 35 minutes had my head spinning.

Is a baby still goopy from being born considered "pre-lubed"?

Yes, R81

I got to see the french version of Martyrs last night. It rented it on Apple TV. This was by far to me was much more graphic and hardcore than A Serbian Film. It was a movie I had to endure and I really just wanted it to be over. It's definitely stayed with me and that was my threshold.

Per the DL recommendations, I watched Martyrs, Irreversible, and A Serbian Film. I am DONE! I need a cleanse. I'm feeling good about life, so I don't know why i went down this rabbit hole this week.

When does Legally Blonde 3 come out?

They didn’t even show real dick in the film.

R76 I saw them all when I was just a young gay pre-teen. I remember renting them from the local video store (not Blockbuster) and I’m pretty sure my clueless parents had to rent them for me because of the rating (R, X ?). They were pretty gross and back then I had the stomach for it, not sure I would revisit them in my 40s

Does anyone remember the rumor that real body parts were used in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre?