Review by Mike Pickle, MoreHorror.com

This week's request is a controversial film to say the least. So controversial, in fact, that MoreHorror recently reported that a festival director in Spain was brought up on criminal charges just for showing it. This gory (and just plain wrong) Serbian import has already been reviewed by fellow MoreHorror reviewer Jason Lees, but I felt I should still honor the request. Also, since this is already having a tremendous impact on the Horror genre before even being released in the states, we at MoreHorror thought it might be interesting to see how the movie affected both of us differently. Here's my take on it.

There has been a good amount of buzz surrounding "A Serbian Film" in the realm of Horror. Some of which is from film critics who view the film at festivals and urge their readers not to watch it. As many horror fans will agree; this only makes us want to see it more. Many of us have been desensitized by graphic horror films like Cannibal Holocaust, I Spit On Your Grave, The Human Centipede and Lars Von Trier's Antichrist and we allow ourselves to believe that we can no longer be shocked. Ladies and gentlemen, the bar has officially been raised. Raised to a level of disgust that (I hope) will never be surpassed. It's just a film right? How bad could it be? This bad! That's how bad it could be.

There are some things that just should not be introduced into the human psyche. Many such things are prominently on display in this magnificently constructed nightmare of epic proportions. Yes, it's a mighty fine film with beautiful cinematography, expert pacing, darkly insightful writing, surprisingly skilled but natural acting and a hauntingly modern musical score. It's a film that deserves to be seen for it's quality, but at what cost? You know those films where people say that your imagination conjures things much worse than anything that could be displayed on screen? "A Serbian Film" is not one of those films. If you see this film and discover that things like this are in your imagination then please send me your name and the city you live in so I can pack up my family and move to the other side of the globe.

At the heart of "A Serbian Film" is retired porn star Milos played by the hugely talented Srdjan Todorovic. He and his stunningly beautiful wife Marija (Jelena Gavrilovic) and their adorable little boy are a loving family who are struggling to make ends meet. Milos is approached by a former porn colleague who urges him to come out of retirement and participate in a new "artistic" porn project that promises to pay him enough to take care of him and his family for the rest of their lives. He meets with the creepy and enigmatic Producer / Director Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic) who offers him such a large sum of money that he would be a fool to refuse. The only catch is that Milos is not allowed to see the script. Vukmir insists that he wants his reactions to be genuine so he's not allowed to know what the film is about. Red flag #1.

The shoots quickly go from strange to holy shit! He is led into a room where a filthy, bruised and beaten woman crawls across the floor and unzips his pants. Things go from bad to worse when a little girl dressed like Alice in Wonderland steps out of the shadows. Milos immediately freaks out and tries to get out of dodge, but one of the burly camera men grabs him in a choke hold. The little girl watches as the woman, we can only assume is her mother, performs particularly painful oral sex on him. A walk in the park compared to what lies ahead for Milos and his family. Milos meets with the Director Vukmir and tells him he wants off the project. Vukmir quickly drops his enigmatic musings and launches into a spirited rant that ends with him showing Milos footage that I don't care to describe, but ends with Milos running out of the room and Vukmir triumphantly chanting "Newborn Porn!"

Believe it or not; the most disturbing scenes are yet to come as Vukmir ultimately proves that he is a voyeuristic sadist who is determined to make a pedophilia and necrophilia laced snuff film. The film unfolds into a nightmare in every sense of the word. To describe any more would not be fair to the film or potential viewers and it's a damn good thing for me because it would thwart my mission to erase the gory details from my memory.

Several years ago I was admittedly traumatized by a set of videos from the band Nine Inch Nails for their album Broken. The uncensored version of these videos (banned in the U.S.) featured grainy and realistic footage of sex, murder, dismemberment, torture and various depictions of sadistic violence. I used to think that what made these videos so disturbing was the fact that the footage was so grainy and distorted that you couldn't clearly see what was going on at times. "A Serbian Film" disproves that theory with just such violence and depravity in brilliant technicolor and I have to say: I wish that I could get back the innocence that I lost while watching it.

I never thought I would say this, but I should have waited until the censored version was released in the U.S. in May. It's made so well that it didn't need to go to the places that it did to be effective, but it did go there and I can't take it back. I don't see how cutting out a minute or two here or there could dilute it that much anyway, but I'm not sticking around to find out. I want to distance myself from this film as much as possible and would not want to revisit it no matter how much is cut for fear of being reminded of the dark cloud it hung over my existence. The cloud is slightly thinner the day after viewing it, but it's still there and I don't forsee it going away any time soon.

To properly illustrate the effect this film had on me; I have to be painfully honest. After watching it I was so disturbed that I lay down in bed in the fetal position trying to think happy thoughts and wept. I wanted to scrub my eyeballs to wash the filth away, but it still didn't seem like enough. I would have to scrub my soul to rid myself of the evil that this film displayed in a way that not only scars the mind, but leaves a lasting imprint in your consciousness with it's cerebral and deeply affecting filmmaking prowess. Do me a favor. Dig into the darkest recesses of your mind (this film will do it for you anyway so you might as well try it yourself). Think of the most gut-wrenchingly disturbing act of sex charged violence you could possibly imagine. More than likely; it happens in "A Serbian Film". Several times. There, now you don't have to watch it.

This film goes to places that no sane human being would ever dare to go and is so unapologetic that you wonder how Director Srdjan Spasojevic could go there. Despite the abhorrent nature of the film; it is a remarkable achievement. The violence of this film does shatter many boundaries, but it is not far-fetched. Things like this have happened and are happening in this world every day, but we choose to turn a blind eye to it. For good reason. A Serbian Film is a grim reminder of the evil that humans are capable of. It doesn't make it any easier to watch.