Variola vera

This film will scare you. It's an unpretentious, yet very well made horror that builds a genuinely creepy mood and introduces us to likeable characters we really care about. I have seen it several times and I have found it enjoyable every single one of those times. The interesting thing is that the film is based on real events, but that is also a potential problem, because the filmmakers cared more about putting together an effective screenplay than remaining true to actual events. This is no docudrama, but a film that takes great liberties. However, they are justified, because the screenplay they ended up with was pretty much flawless. You won't forget this film.

This is really scary and shocking movie that deals with true events of smallpox epidemic that hits former Yugoslavia in 1972 (I was one year old and my parents still remember all this). Movie works excelent in building tense atmosphere from the first second - when you hear amazingly creepy score and see first scenes where a pilgrim buy a little "doomed" flute from a man infected with smallpox, to the moment when he get sick and spread desease that finally stuck in General hospital in Belgrade where main plot of the movie occurs. We see, death, fear, anarchy, people get crazy, army build quarantine ... the creepiest moments of the movie are showing infection (makeup are stunning) and suffering of patients and definitelly occurence of main infectologyst dressed in scary white suit which, in conjunction with amazingly simple and effective score give unbearable tension and unpleasant feelings (only remark I have is that he reveal himself at the end of the movie - and I think it would be better that we don't know any fact about him). It is only sad that we don't see any events that occurred outside hospital (many people was infected and died in the city and everywhere where infected pilgrim passed) and that main plot is stucked in hospital.

Anyway, one of the best and creepiest movies I ever seen with several moments that will stuck in your memory for a long time.

Now this is the real horror!

The story,camera,acting are classics and sometimes really poor, but the atmosphere in the movie is priceless and unforgettable. Even the score is fantastic,It's rear but it's there. Rade Serbedzija is great and only one who seams to have fun. And the begging of the movie is just simply excellent. Variola Vera is an absolutely merciless horror drama, a movie so real and scary that,it keeps you nervous and jumpy rather than pleasurably excited, and it's a classic.

The one and only authentic Serbian horror movie!

I love it !

"Variola Vera" is probably one of the best drama performances in Serbian cinematography. The reason for that lies in the trueness of the background story. A smallpox epidemic did hit Yugoslavia in 1972., thus being the last appearance of this deadly disease on European soil.

Although "Variola Vera" is an adaptation with fictional characters, the atmosphere throughout the entire movie is as real as it gets. It does make you feel the fear of an invisible enemy, a deadly disease in a quarantined environment, with no knowing what tomorrow brings. That's what makes a good drama. I was scared the first time I've seen it, and I still do.

Brilliant acting by the best Serbian and Yugoslavian cast, realistic environment, a storyline with a clean development and the solid directing work by Goran Markovic make "Variola Vera" a timeless classic and a must see for everyone who likes real time horror.

What could be better, and that's a fact with 90% Yugoslav movies from the era, is the photography, lab work and sound. Still, even with such flaws "Variola Vera" will make a deep impression. Enjoy.

One of the most scary movies I've seen, atmosphere, acting, truly disturbing.