Leptirica

I saw this serbian film twice in my early childhood. Remember it still in the mist and it is one of the few horror movies that spooked the hell out of me. Highly recommended vintage treasure, straight 10/10, one of the TOP5 horror movies of all times. Brilliant camera, weird rural atmosphere, a true representative of Balkans' scary legends on the big screen.

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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I have watched this movie after finding out about it online. I didn't expect to watch overwhelming special effects or perfect film making. Keep in mind this was filmed in the '70s in Yugoslavia, and for TV. To make things worse, the recording I watched wasn't of extremely high quality (maybe a rip from a very old home recorded VHS).

The movie is seriously scary, but with some comedic relief which might be considered annoying if you don't expect to see them. Plot turns and surprises are well thought of in most instances. There is no attempt to "explain" the plot to the audience , as commonly happens with more modern western movies. I find this to be a nice thing, but some may find it a problem. The vampire the movie tells about is not a typical vampire from western movies, but maybe the retelling or older and more original Slavic legends.

The actress playing the protagonist's love interest was a treat. Beautiful and convincing, hard to believe she did not appear in famous movies. Effects rudimentary, but kind of convincing. Scares real. True that the vampire appears in three scenes: that's enough however. Those appearances are sudden, and only in one case can be expected.

Definitely advise for horror fans (with the caveat you are not watching Hollywood).

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.

Yes! There were quite a few 'not so smart' people at TV Serbia back in 80's because they showed this film at 19:00 or even worse around 10:00 so all the children (i.e. Me) could see it and think its drama for kids...What a misconception!!!

This is vampire-horror masterpiece! Unfortunetally its TV movie made with TV camera so you never have impression of a real movie...But that kind of work has many achievements because you simply don't expect that kind of HORROR in that form of film-making!

Makeup is brilliant!!! Acting is beutyfull - all professional, academic actors - which is not the case with 99.99% of horror movies! Story it pretty simple but it all revolves in 19th century Serbia so it has sweetest plot I'we ever seen in a Horror!

I recommend it with greatest pleasure!