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erbian folklore has always been ripe with scary creatures and tales of spooky encounters with vampires and other supernatural beings. In fact, the word “vampire” entered the English language through translations of reports made
by Austro-Hungarian officers who purportedly witnessed a vampire craze in the Serbian village of Medveggia in 1732. Those accounts, well-known to vampirologists, transcribed the Serbian word “vam- pir” as “vampyr” and very soon its variations spread. However, de- spite the country’s macabre folklore, very few horror tales entered Serbian literature or, later, film. Various cultural factors made deal-
THE SHE-BUTTERFLY (Leptirica, 1973) This made-for-TV movie was the first Serbian horror film, although not originally
advertised as such. The film’s fright factor caused one man to die of a heart attack upon its first prime-time airing on state TV, and it still enjoys cult status in all ex- Yugoslav states. Based on a revered classic of 19th-century Serbian literature, The She-Butterfly deals with Strahinya, a poor lad in rural Serbia who falls in love with the local landowner’s daughter. In order to prove himself worthy of her love, he has to spend a night in an accursed mill. It is said that a vampire is sucking the blood of unfortunate mill men, thereby bringing the village to the verge of famine. Strahinya manages to survive the night, but the vampire escapes. Luckily, the lad learns the monster’s name and, following a prolonged search, the creature’s grave is found. A group of villagers seemingly dispatch it with a stake through the unopened coffin, but the young man has yet to meet the real horror – on his wedding night!
THE PROTECTED (Sticenik, 1973) A man is haunted by a mysterious follower who claims to be his protec-
tor, and not even the baroque asylum where he runs for shelter can shield him from his doom, because the creepy man after him is not human at all. Arty, Gothic atmosphere pervades this black and white TV film, which is filled with metaphysical dread.
MAIDENLY MUSIC (Devicanska svirka, 1973) Like the previous two entries, Maidenly Music is a made-for-TV movie
directed by revered filmmaker Djordje Kadijevic. It depicts the doom which befalls a young man who comes across a castle in which a soli- tary maiden lives. A romance builds between them, but in the end he discovers the real, nightmarish source for the strange “music” that he hears within the fortress’ walls.
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ings with dread virtually unthinkable. At first it was the rampant ra- tionalism and didacticism of the 19th century and then, after World War II, the communist rule, which did not favour supernaturalism in any shape, including art. This is why few horror films were made while Serbia was still part of Yugoslavia; but those that did get made are of exceptional quality. Currently, almost none of them are avail- able on DVD with English subtitles. Virtually unknown outside of Serbia, barely covered in English-language reference books, these are the films that comprise the country’s cinematic contributions to the genre.
THE DREAM OF DR. MISIC (San doktora Misica, 1973) This very spooky TV film by Serbian actor/director Branko Plesa is positively thick
with Gothic atmosphere. The story revolves around a bachelor doctor in the coun- tryside who is haunted by a dream in which a dead girl he’s supposed to dissect leads him to his own death. He pays no heed to stories about spirits, omens and premonitions, but his fate will prove that there’s more to life than science taught him.
THE DAMNED THING (Prokletinja, 1975) Long before Tobe Hooper’s Masters of Horror episode, Branko Plesa adapted Am-
brose Bierce’s celebrated short story “The Damned Thing” into an unusual TV film of the same name. Unlike Hooper’s version, it was faithful in word and spirit to Bierce. Plesa takes an arty approach in depicting the terror of a man encountering an invisible entity, which slaughters people in the marshes.
GASP! (The Backbone, or Kicma, 1975) A series of unexplainable suicides haunts a modern high-rise block. A young doc-
tor traces the source of a stinky, yellowish mist to a decrepit crematorium located nearby, but it does not stop the disaffected, alienated people from killing them- selves. Directed by Vlatko Gilic, Gasp! is a slower, inventive companion piece to David Cronenberg’s Shivers.
VARIOLA VERA (1982) Inspired by a real event from early 1970s, when a Kosovo Muslim brought small-
pox from his pilgrimage to the Middle East back to a Belgrade hospital and created a small-scale epidemic, Variola Vera has more than history on its mind. The grue- some disease is a metaphor for the sick socialist state, and the claustrophobic feel of the quarantine – as well as the film’s gory images – are not to be forgotten. It also boasts an excellent script and direction by Goran Markovic, and stars notables
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