There are a lot of accusations being levelled at A Serbian Film.
Some dismiss it as torture porn. Some decry it as cynical shock cinema; entertainment directed at society’s darkest denizens.
Others reject the allegorical assertions made by director Srdjan Spasojevic, denying his claims that the film operates as a metaphor for Serbian society.
Our reaction to watching it ( prior to FrightFest’s unavoidable last-minute pull following the BBFC’s decision to order significant cuts ) was, after a period of stunned numbed silence, to applaud it as a piece of pure cinema.
It’s beyond disturbing, with several key sequences almost impossible to watch.
But at no point to you lose your faith in the filmmakers, your trust in them as artists. This isn’t a cheap mondo nasty, made by giggling idiots. This is a stylishly shot, brilliantly written film, packed full of Oscar-worthy performances.
But be warned, it won’t ever leave you. There are images in this film that will forever be tattooed on your mind’s eye; no matter how much you wish you could remove them.
In another universe, a large crowd of horror fans are about to make their way into the Empire’s biggest screen, to endure the most disturbing film most of them will ever see.
In the absence of that, we sat down with director Spasojevic this morning, to provide a forum to answer his critics, to tell us about his influences, and to discuss his next project.
On the BBFC cuts...
On people downloading it illegally...
On the torture porn genre...
On shock cinema...
On his influences...
On the horror genre...
Is A Serbian Film allegorical or personal?
On his next project...
