10 May A Serbian Film Review

A review of the most controversial movie of all time, by our staff member, Jason Heffler.

Reviewing a film like “A Serbian Film” is difficult, to say the least. The sheer fact that I have to pay close attention to its content is enough for me to give up and quit my job entirely. It’s just horrifying.

Srdjan Todorovic stars as Milos, a retired porn star. However, he didn’t leave the business mired in mediocrity. He left his mark on the industry, bowing out as one of the most legendary porn stars in the world. After calling it quits, he married a beautiful woman and had a son, living a humble life and struggling to keep him and his family financially afloat. After meeting with a former coworker, Milos is baited back into the pornography industry by a director named Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic). Vukmir will not reveal the nature of the project to Milos until he signs the contract, however, but assures him that his family will be financially secure upon completion. Milos then becomes ensnared in the deranged director’s violently disturbing plot to create a high-end “art” porn movie. Just wait until the “newborn porn” scene.

This is no porno movie, and it is most certainly not your ordinary horror flick. Although its visuals are revolting and will make your stomach churn every time you pick up a camera, it is a very well made movie. Unlike other highly controversial films of the last century, “A Serbian Film” does not need to depend on its gruesomeness to be considered a genuinely good film. With a gripping storyline and eccentrically compelling characters, viewers will find themselves shocked at how much they are enjoying the movie despite how horrified they are. In other words, the subsequent nightmares are well worth it.

“A Serbian Film” is one of those films that progressively becomes more and more astonishing as time goes by. Right when you think the worst possible thing happens to the main character, something unimaginably worse happens almost immediately after. It’s like watching a person get hit by a car, then get hit by a train five minutes later. It’s this kind of appalling suspense that makes the film so entertaining.

“A Serbian Film” tests the boundaries of the horror genre in its entirety. It will undoubtedly give you an experience you can’t fulfill with any other film in its genre. It will make you beg to watch a lighter film like “Hostel,” alone in a dark motel in Slovakia. You’ll find yourself quivering and wondering why you ever pressed ‘play’ in the first place, but you’ll be thankful you did. Possessing some of the most unbearable scenes in horror history, it simply does not get more controversial than this.

~Jason Heffler

See A Serbian Film exclusively on FlixFling starting Friday, May 13th at Midnight.