Mudbrick

I do believe that "Mudbrick" might very well be the very first Serbian movie that I have watched.

When I stumbled upon the 2023 movie "Mudbrick" here in 2025 and seeing that it was a horror movie, then of course I opted to give the movie a fair chance, as I enjoy all things horror. Sure, I had never heard bout the movie prior to watching it, so I had no expectations. And in a sense, I suppose, writer and director Nikola Petrovic had every chance to entertain and impress me.

However, I have to say that I found the narrative and the script to be really boring, and I ended up tossing the towel in the ring and giving up on "Mudbrick" 56 minutes into the 87 minutes runtime. I was just simply bored senseless at that point. The script that writer and director Nikola Petrovic put together here utterly and completely failed to entertain me, much less capture my interest.

The only familiar face on the screen, for me at least, was actor Andrew Howard.

As for "Mudbrick" being a horror movie, well, don't get your hopes up. This was, at best, a slow paced dark drama.

If you enjoy horror movies, as I do, I would not recommend you to waste 87 minutes on watching this movie.

My rating of writer and director Nikola Petrovic's 2023 movie "Mudbrick" lands on a generous one out of ten stars.

I really love movies i've seen this compared too such as wicked man or midsommar, but those made sense. They had pace, slow pace but methodical. This seems like there are hints at a message the whole movie, without any practical meaning. I understand you can be vague with folk lore, especially with modern morality involved, but the audience still needs to understand what's going on. Enjoyed some of the ideas, but just never came together in my opinion. Acting was not the problem, but some parts of the script was rather clunky. I wish i had better things to say about this movie because i like supporting movies like this, but it honestly fell flat on so many levels. Cheap visuals, cheaper blood stains. Decent acting, sub par dialogue. Incohesive story tale, incohesive script.

Mudbrick is a 2024 indie horror film, directed by Nikola Petrovic, about Paul, a man who inherits a crumbling old house in his family's Eastern European village. When he returns to check it out, he starts to uncover disturbing secrets tied to an ancient pagan cult and his own family history. As things unravel, Paul has to face the eerie past lurking in the walls of the house and his own family.

What a trip this movie was! I checked it out after seeing it recommended by Hyped on Horror, and I'm so glad I did. I also took their advice and looked up some of the history and lore beforehand, which I highly recommend-it makes the story way easier to follow. The cinematography really stood out for me. It's super simple and natural but somehow adds so much to the overall vibe as the movie goes on. Philip Brodie and Andrew Howard absolutely killed it, and their screen chemistry was on point. It's definitely a slow burn, but not in a painful way-it keeps you hooked all the way through and wraps up with a really satisfying ending.

This film is so cryptic that it doesn't even tell you what country it's taking place in. It doesn't tell you anything, really. There's also a lot of whispering and mumbling so you won't understand what little is being said either. Something about pagan worship amidst traditionally Christian people, which makes as little sense as the conflict regarding ownership over a worthless house. There are no scares in this film, there is no suspense to speak of, and there is no payoff for enduring the minimalist and confusing plot. The characters are poorly developed and annoying, making any emotional involvement impossible. Random surreal waste of time.

And adding lots to it. I had the pleasure to see this film in a local theatre, with the director and some cast attending. Unfortunately, not many people sat there in the audience. I did end up liking it, the direction was pretty good, good cinematography, music and some of the cast, especially portrayal of the two brothers, were also good. This film is directed as a horror movie, and I enjoy a film, where every scene lets you know what genre you are watching. The first act is accompanied by such an eery score, that you feel uneasy watching it. It features some gory scenes I have never witnessed before. The folklore elements were unfamiliar to me, but I think the director created his own, in a way that works for the story. The plot twists did not disappoint. What I did not like was the editing, some scenes needed to be long, especially in the beginning, when we see the characters for the first time. Jump cuts sometimes confuse, when you have not spent long enough time with the characters. I hope this will be fixed in directors future projects I am looking forward to.