Sveto mesto

Three seminary students are walking home from a fair when one of them, Toma, is almost hit by a carriage containing a beautiful woman no one else sees. As evening draws near, the trio come upon an isolated farmhouse and ask the old woman who lives there if they can spend the night lest they be set upon by wolves. She agrees and later on, in the middle of the night, she comes to Toma and starts taking off her clothes. When Toma rebuffs her, the old hag attacks him and rides him through the fields like a stallion but by reciting the Lord's Prayer, he's able to throw her (the way a horse would) and beat her to death - whereupon she changes into the beautiful lady in the carriage. Toma doesn't tell his friends what happened and the next day, the head of the monastery orders him to go to their benefactor's feudal estate and read prayers over the man's dead daughter for three consecutive nights. When he gets there and looks in the coffin, it's the young woman (?) he'd killed the night before...

This one's got it all- misty moonlight, howling wolves, hanging cobwebs, church crypts, cackling crones, a beautiful witch who rides men in more ways than one, a black cat in attack mode, a young man's hair turning white overnight, an erotic painting, superstitious villagers telling scary little stories in sepia-like flashbacks -and don't ask how the village idiot got that way (oh, OK, he was boinked senseless). Surprisingly, none of it's cheap, cheesy, or over-the-top and there's also nudity, lesbianism, and incest but even so, it's a terrific blend of sex & horror with a real sense of dread by the time the third night approaches. It's a good, "grimm" Eastern European fairytale for grown-ups -catch it if you can! The director's LEPTIRICA (1973) is also very good.

It took Mr. Kadijevic almost 20 years to bring to screen another masterwork. A great Gogol's story and a lot of style and skill. A scary stuff they (he) used to make and ,even then, so rarely. I shall see it again.

Almost two decades after the cult "Leptirica", Djordje Kadijevic brings us another, now also a cult horror film, based on the short story "Viy" by Nikolai Gogol. In relation to the source material, "A Holy Place" follows the basic flow of the story, but while, perhaps due to the budget being too low for special effects, it omits the multitude of supernatural beings that the story abounds in, on the other hand, it expands its erotic elements and deepens the characters by inserting, in the original non-existent, flashbacks from their past. As a result, we got an excellent script, which is the strongest asset of this production. Everything else is at a much lower level.

The production gives the impression of a film at least a decade older than it actually is, and could perhaps fit somewhere in the seventies. The general atmosphere and visual experience for most of the film leave the impression of comedy rather than horror. Maybe it should have been. Comedy is something that fits both Serbian mentality and our authors, and if you look back at the best achievements of Serbian cinematography, I think you will agree that most of them are comedies, followed by dramas. Horror is not our forte. This impression is additionally contributed by Dragan Jovanovic in the leading role. Let's face it, he's a great stage actor and comedian, and I love him a lot, but for this movie, he's totally wrong and completely kills any chance of establishing a creepy atmosphere.

The rest of the cast is quite good, the music neither stinks nor smells, I can't decide whether are the motifs directly taken from "Leptirica" plus or minus,... All in all, a solid film worth seeing, but don't let the status of best Serbian horror get your hopes up too much, because it didn't deserve it by being a masterpiece, but by its lackluster competition ("Variola vera", "Serbian film" and "TT Syndrome" prevent me from using the term non-existent).

7,5/10 (this 0.5 just to raise it above "Leptirica")

I've not seen much of the Yugoslav cinema and I'm not such deep in to that. But this movie encourages me to try more, certainly in the horror genre. It belongs to the more defined and Gothic genre of horror which unfortunately isn't that much justified in the Hollywood.

Its always a good experience to watch the visual performance of some piece of literature, and its better when the general atmosphere of the movie retains the depth or at least the mood defined by the author.Though this isn't the literary adaptation, it definitely has some real creepy scary moments. There is definitely a dark side to erotics and its done good here. The character Katrina seems fitting in the Gothic erotic. A good pick for the fans of Gothic horror.

There are not that many horror movies from Balkan(ex yu)so this one is little gem... From the creator of the movie ..she butterfly'' comes this horror... It's based of Gogol's short story ,,viy'' but just with the set on different place... The movie has a dark tone and soundtrack that could been a better, but hey imagery may draw you back from watching this... This is example of a horror that is done without blood and its scary it mixes a folklore witch,demon and dark stories in one move its just great... Every thing that you have to expect here is Dark and it combines everything fine! It works and it is interesting to watch! Great tone,fitting imagery and OK soundtrack makes this film good!!! High recommendation!