Here are some exclusive behind the scenes photos from the making of the notorious shocker you may have heard of, called A SERBIAN FILM.
As can be seen, the making of the film was not as grim as the final product appears to be. From my visits to the set I can vouch that the atmosphere was rather usual: the crew people were in their usual professional, but also fun-loving & cheerful attitude.
The photos below show the EFX crew, led by Miroslav Lakobrija; the sculpture and the puppet of the baby from the infamous "baby scene" (aka "newborn porn"); the director Srdjan Spasojevic with a decapitated head and various details from the film's probably most gruesome splatter set-piece – and so on.
If you like the pics, but still haven't seen the film – what are you waiting for?!
--- click on each pic to see it larger ---
A Serbian Film really does cross boundaries that shouldn't be crossed. The film maker tried to defend his crap by saying it is an allegorical retelling of how difficult life is in Serbia but women's rights groups etc. called bullshit on him. I tend to agree...the movie is garbage.
ОдговориИзбришиAnd who, exactly, decides which boundaries shouldn't be crossed IN ARTISTIC EXPRESSION? Church? Ministry of Culture? Selected elite (which?)? Bloggers?
ОдговориИзбришиDude...the show featured a baby getting raped to death. How is that artistic? It's a good question though and worth a debate.
ОдговориИзбришиI for one can't wait to see this film.
ОдговориИзбришиIf you can't push boundaries in horror then where can you ?
When I watch one I want to be shocked, grossed and scared - although I've seen a few that have managed the first too I don't remember the last time a film truly scared me.
Any recommendations ?
Michael: we are not fiscussing if something IS art, or ISN'T. Who can be the judge? What IS art? For many people Andy Warhol's stuff is not art. Many would consider abstract paintings as just a bunch of colors randomly splashed on canvas, etc. Whether one LIKES a certain work, or a certain mode of expression is one thing. It's a very different thing - what do you wanna do about it? Burn it? Censor it? Ignore it? My stance is clear on that: freedom of expression is UNQUESTIONABLE right - as long as it doesn't break some established laws. You have the right to call this film 'crap'. Its makers have the right to make any statemnet they want. Some people will agree with your statement. Others will agree with theirs. But no one should tell you what you CAN think, say or express. So, I can't agree with your 'boundaries pushing' argument. Like Cowgirl said, horror is all about pushing boundaries. All art is.
ОдговориИзбришиAs for truly scary films... Ehh. The last time I felt a chill during a horror film was at a few points in early stages of INSIDIOUS. Sadly, they turned into a very silly, unscary, even stupid affair later on. Before that? Hell, I cant' recall :(
ОдговориИзбришиI've not seen Insidious - the TV add alone is enough to put me off, looks like contrived hollywood horror to me.
ОдговориИзбришиNothing beats the Japanese - they come the closest to scaring me, because they are so clever at building atmosphere rather then just going for the shock factor.
I did like the human centipede though - just because it was so 'wrong' lol. Bits of that made me laugh - the bits where my friends were feeling sick....oh dear.
It IS contrived & ultimately silly, but that's modern horror for you. Even the Japanese are slacking: I haven't seen a really good Japanese horror in ages.
ОдговориИзбришиThe way I see it the director may try to justify it by trying to perhaps post-rationalise a deeper meaning to it. This is shock for the sake of shocking. At least with Salo we had the juxtaposition of de Sade's injustices and hypocrisy of his society he so elloquently allegorised in 120 Days of Sodom, with Passolini's reimagining of the Republic of Salo run by fascists. The symbolism and context is obvious. In A Serbian Film however there is nothing to suggest this is about the Serbian government. And I don't think people will watch it more than once (if they can bear through the whole of it) in hopes of finding a meaning.
ОдговориИзбришиI was recently shaken to the bones by the French film Martyrs. Now THERE we can speak of symbolism and meaning. Even though I consider myself having a strong stomach for viewing disgusting stuff, Martyr shook me to the point of angst ridden panic attacks. It basically means you've succeded with your film if you can get your audience to have such strong emotions while doing such a controversial film which has a premise that will actually keep you from turning off the film because you NEED to know how it ends. A Serbian Film fails at invoking such a complex reaction in the viewer towards itself.
However maybe it did reach its goal. I do start to hate the Serbian government more, albeit for giving the director the inspiration and state of mind to make such A Serbian Film.
I saw the unrated version, and, this truly is the sickest movie I have ever seen!
ОдговориИзбришиI live nowhere near Serbia and really dont know the exact political state of the country. I know, through the director's interview, that there is no Censor Board in place and movies like these will surely create them.
As sick as some of the scenes are: like the infant rape, incest etc. surely they do reflect symbolism (well in a way they do, no one can honestly disagree) of "society's pressure" and 90% of the USA/UK/CAN/AUS viewers can ever relate to that.
Comparing it directly to movies like Martyrs, Ichi the Killer, Anti Christ will never be a fair comparison mainly because those movies also reflects some of the best acting you can ever see.
However, if you do take up the symbolism thingy from such movies you will realize that those directors simply expressed their respective "symbolism" in a different, less 'sick-fest' way and the respective stories, acting, screenplays, camera works, locations etc of those movies resulted in an overall better quality movie which made you see beyond the gore within those films.
In "A Serbian Film", the symbolism itself got overshaded by the pure brutality/sickness of the things you see. From the beginning to the end, this movie is about someone doing the unthinkable because of extreme pressure from his/her society. Pressure that builds up brick by brick.
From the beginning, (when the guy agreed to cast himself as the porn/snuff movie actor) to the end, (when he pulls the trigger on his entire family) it shows that. This movie would have better acceptance if the movie itself did not pause with the occassional "regular story" after every gore scene. That way, audience would have moved on in their mind and not ponder upon what they just say minutes back ... and realizing that there is still 60 minutes to go!! Lol.
With everything being said, it is still almost impossible for an average or even hardcore gore-holic to see the depth of the symbolism within the movie while witnessing everything that is going on throughout.
Since people digs direct comparison, I shall offer some (see the symbolism here too? lol) :
On the level of gore, if Martyrs cracks up a 10/10 score then it will get 9 best. The effects of Martyrs were just jaw dropping, heart wrenching. However, the way the movie is presented + storyline + the acting - if Martyr gets a 10/10 score then it will only score 5/10.
reality is far far worse and if you don't think it is then your a stupidly naive. I watched a documentary a couple of years ago which told the very true story of baby rape in Africa as some African men beleive it will cure them of HIV. Cases are reportadly in the thousands. In a country that has recently seen war or to feed the fantasy of a few or perhaps thats just the way of doing things in that community.. these things happen in the real world, we just don't like to admit it. Therefore we censor it and say its sick from our armchair and say it should be not be allowed on film. This is hypocracy. The film is actually not bad but hard to watch sometimes in the same way as irreversible is. Martyrs and the inside are slightly different in my view as they are more 'films' rather than trying to capture something of an obscure reality.
ОдговориИзбришиThis film was screwed up but I appreciate it's balls.
ОдговориИзбришиThe effects were great though. Good post.
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