Leptirica

"Leptirica" is a Yugoslavian female vampire horror film from the early 70s shot in the Serbian countryside and based on a novel.The incredibly eerie beginning takes place in a mill.The old miller listens strange bird voices and while he's sleeping the millstone suddenly stops working and a strange creature with black hands,long nails,angry eyes and long teeth bites his neck and drinks his blood.Soon the area of a small Yugoslavian village and the dark woods are plagued with the attacks of a truly hideous vampire creature...This is my first Yugoslavian horror film and I'm highly impressed.It features some of the creepiest vampire attack scenes ever captured on screen.It's also based on Serbian folklore,unfortunately my DVD-R don't have English subtitles,so 90% of the plot went beyond me.Still if you want to see truly scary horror film try to find "Leptirica".9 out of 10.

Wonderful, I've seen this movie ONCE when I was a kid and since then it's burned in my mind as of the most scary films I've ever seen. And I've seen A LOT of horror. Hm, I think I will try to find this film again, I'm pretty curious about how I would feel now while watching it. It certainly did contribute to my love for the horror-genre, and vampire figures in films, in general. This particular vampire , leptirica, is very old in Slavic folklore. The female vampire shapeshifter, upir, can even be considered as a metaphor for many things. Feminine mystery or sexuality is one of them.Interesting !

I saw this as a child and I remember that I was so scared that I couldn´t sleep for days. So, like twenty years later, here I am, watching it for the second time. The feeling, of course is not the same, ´cause through the years I became very big fan and some kind of an expert for horror cinema. But still... This is probably the first real horror made in Yugoslavia and it´s still the best. Dark atmosphere accomplished here is very unique and it really gives you the creeps. When I think of the comparison, the only movie that comes to my mind is BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (same atmosphere, dark woods, witches, etc.) and trust me when I say that Myrick & Sanchez flick is not at all superior. The only thing that annoyed me are the "comic elements". I really felt that they are not necessary (it is similar problem with all Yugoslavian suspense movies, such as: Variola Vera, The Strangler vs Strangler, Deja-Vu and more recently T.T.Syndhrome). But the last half an hour of the movie is so brilliant that we can forgive the director Kadijevic for that mistake.

Leptirica aka She Butterfly is an interesting little made for TV folk horror film, from the former Yugoslavia (now Serbia), based on the story After Ninety Years (1880) written by Milovan Glisic (who was konwn as the "Serbian Gogol", for it's six degrees of seperation to Mad Love).

The Balkans are home to polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, who documented the world's first written account on vampires- about the legend of Jure Grando from Istria (now Slovenia)- in his encyclopedia: The Glory Of The Duchy Of Carniola.

His book was published 17 years before Stoker wrote Dracula; basing the story on folk tales he heard from the mountain dwelling villagers living along the Drina River Valley.

And so we have the tale of the Leptirica...the She-Butterly...a vampiric apparition of a beautiful young maiden, who shapeshifts into a werewolf, whenever she needs to feed.

She's already gone through 4 millers in the past year...and the villagers are starting to get suspicious.

The elders hold a town hall meeting and decide that they must take action.

Meanwhile, a poor, jobless young man has been wooing her in her maiden form. But her dad keeps intervening to stifle their love.

So he joins the older men, who suggest he take up the job of the miller, considering the position has recently been vacated by the death of the previous miller.

He agrees, hoping it will win things over with her dad, but it doesn't take long before he, himself, is attacked.

Luckily he survives...but it's the last straw.

The villagers fear a vampire is at work here. So they go to the town's old witch, hoping she'll have some advice.

She points the finger at an old grave. So the men set off to dig it up, so that they can stake the corpse and (hopefully) end the curse.

But they must use Parzivalian tactics find it.

However, when they do...a small butterfly is released...and they are unable to catch it.

It escapes.

But, now endowed with a newfound confidence (after having survived the attack)- alongside a little encouragement from his friends- the young man sets off to elope with his beloved (regardless of her father's wishes).

Everything seems to be going fine until he goes to consummate the marriage; at which point he discovers a gaping hole in her stomach...right about where they had staked that unburied coffin they were directed to uncover.

He tries to remove the stake, in hope it might save her soul, and return her to her former self.

But it's too late...she has now taken on her monstrous form permanently...ultimately leading to the film's conclusion.

I really liked pretty much everything about this film...but there is one thing I just didn't get.

What did her father do with the Butterfly when he caught it? (I guess I'll have to read the story...)

Otherwise it's a really enjoyable film.

I particularly enjoyed how they messed with the mad drunken priest.

If you are into folk horror, this will definitely be up your alley.

7 out of 10.

This Serbian, made for TV movie, tells the folkloric tale of a 19th century rural village, seeped in superstitious paranoia. There are tales of Sava Savanovic who died at least a century ago; his myth embroiled with vampiric tendencies. In the opening scene the village miller, Vule (Toma Kuruzovic), sleeps in the isolated mill. through a montage of close-ups we see staring eyes, surrounded by dirty skin; an ash- blackened hand, adorned with long, sharp finger nails, dip in the flour; sharp teeth are exposed, not in the traditional fang image of western vampire lore, but a full front row of stalactite-like gnasher's. Vule has his throat ripped out. With the discovery of the body, we are informed that this is the fourth miller to die within a year, and the speculation of a vampire murderer is brought forward.

Strahinja (Petar Bozovic) is a very poor local, who is in love with the very beautiful Radojka (Mirjana Nikolic), daughter of the ill-tempered farmer, Zivan (Slobodan Perovic). Strahinja has asked permission of the farmer for her hand in marriage, which he bitterly denies. After this severe knock-back, Straninja decides his only option is to leave the village for good. On his way out, he is stopped by the locals, who convince him to take the miller job. He stays the night there, and is visited by the vampire, only he is not killed. The villagers gather to try to hunt down the monster.

Vampire films are so incredibly prevalent at this moment in time, but most do not hold any form of atmosphere. Leptirica has it in spades. The rural setting offers an eerie sense of doom, with sound created with the sounds of screeching owls. The eccentricities of the villagers reminded me of some of the comedy characters in a Kurosawa film. The sense of isolation in the remote village is palpable also, lending the film an aura of horror. As the film was made for TV, it only runs for a little over an hour, and I felt that it would have benefited from a slightly longer running time. But this aside, I was surprised with the entire narrative, and its simplicity makes it an enjoyable experience. The films title translates into English as Butterfly, which has its meaning exposed in the last moments. Whilst it is clear who the vampire is early on in the film, it does not diminish the climax, which is gaudy, but strangely haunting.

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