"A Serbian Film" Guide To The Most Disturbing Scenes

Image via Complex Original

Sometimes, a new movie (usually foreign) comes along and walks the fine line between vile exploitation and psychologically devastating horror. Last year, Dutch filmmaker Tom Six’s controversial The Human Centipede (First Sequence) accomplished this, albeit in an unintentionally funny, not to mention partially effective, way; as hard as Six’s movie tried, there’s just nothing scary about a chain of ass-to-mouth people. Putrid, absolutely, but not frightening at all.

Besides, after seeing A Serbian Film, The Human Centipede seems like a lighthearted comedy. Opening in limited release this weekend (rated NC-17, mind you), Serbia-born director Srdjan Spasojevic’s debut feature has been a lightning rod of criticism and outright anger since the incredibly violent and sexually explicit flick began its festival run early last year.

Now that we’ve finally seen A Serbian Film, it’s easy to understand why people are labeling it as perhaps the most extreme movie ever made. It’s about a has-been porn star, Milos (Srdjan Todorovic), who takes one last movie job in order to move his wife and son out of oppressive Serbia; his new director doesn’t tell him what the role entails, though, leading to a series of grotesque scenes that shock both Milos and A Serbian Film’s brave audience.

An angry piece of nihilistic work, Spasojevic’s film goes to unbelievable lengths to batter one’s eyes with one ghastly image after another. So, for all of you brave movie-loving souls out there, we’ve decided to supply a primer for what’ll easily go down as 2011’s sickest movie. Here is our Guide To The Most Disturbing Scenes In A Serbian Film. You see the things we do for your entertainment and informational needs? Now, we’ll just need you to cover our therapy expenses. The bill is already in the mail.

Parental discretion is non-existent.

When to look away: 1:00 into the movie



A Serbian Film opens with what we’re guessing is the director’s idea of a tender family moment, which is to say it’s still pretty messed up.

Without any set-up, we’re thrown right into the middle of a rather graphic porno movie sex scene, starring A Serbian Film’s protagonist, Milos. At first, though, it seems that the viewer is watching a hot-and-heavy round of intercourse, complete with doggystyle and oral, go down within Serbian’s actual storyline, but then Spasojevic pans back to show that we’re actually in a quaint living room. And watching the porn-within-the-movie, wittily titled Milos The Filthy Stud, is Milos’ young son, who can’t be any older than eight.

Some films encapsulate father/son moments with images of families watching old home movies; A Serbian Film has its kindergarten-aged character ask mommy about why daddy has another woman’s face in his crotch. Awww.

Brotherly love, gone way too far.

When to look away: 37:10 into the movie



OK, so Milos’ brother has a thing for his wife. How do we find this out? By watching his bro, Marko, whack off in Milos’ bathroom after watching the wife eating an apple. Yet, that’s a romantic gesture compared to the next time we see Marko.

While some no-name prostitute goes down on Marko, he watches home video footage from one of Milos’ son’s birthday parties. The little dude blows out his birthday cake’s candles as the chick blows…you get the point. Maybe Spasojevic’s intention is to draw some kind of visual parallel between Marko’s deeply rooted obsession with his brother’s family, or perhaps the writer-director is just one perverted bastard who can’t pass up an opportunity for X-rated fellatio. We’re going with the latter suggestion.

So far, A Serbian Film sounds no worse than one of those pretentious adult films that tries to tell an actual story, right? Guess again, because it’s about to get hairy (no Brazilian)…

Two words: newborn porn.

When to look away: 55:00 into the movie



Up until this point, Milos gets more head than a baseball cap, and A Serbian Film isn’t particularly loathsome, save for a scene in which Milos is forced to punch a woman in the face while she’s performing BLANK on him. On second thought, it’s already pretty reprehensible by the 55-minute mark. But that’s when A Serbian Film goes from graphically adult to downright hell-on-film.

In order to convince Milos that his crazy little porno is “not pornography, but life itself,” just one of the flick’s many laughably ostentatious lines of dialogue, his employer Vukmir offers a private screening of one his prized works. In it, a large guy dressed in medical scrubs delivers a baby, which we see in all of its painful and vivid gruesomeness. Then, as the newborn cries uncontrollably and the mother looks on with a devilish grin, the doctor has sex with just-born child.

Milos is, understandably, repulsed; Vukmir, meanwhile, declares, “It’s a new genre! Newborn porn!” And us? We’re wishing that this was Baby Genuises, or Look Who’s Talking.

Two more words: slasher porn.

When to look away: 1:03:00 into the movie



We’re not going to say that what follows “newborn porn” will make you wish that a baby was on screen, but don’t be surprised if the remainder of A Serbian Film does just that.

The movie’s final act is largely comprised of a feverish flashback, with Milos gradually piecing together a night full of drug use and horrific moviemaking. His first recollection involves a woman tied to a dirty bed on her stomach, which prompts Vukmir and his crew to order Milos around, via a concealed earpiece, while he’s riding the pony, so to speak. First, Vukmir commands him to pound on her back, and then Milos is given a ridiculously large machete, and then he’s ordered to lop off her…let us stop. Just think of Jason Voorhees starring in a Ron Jeremy-directed film.

Not the kind of S&M Rihanna talked about.

When to look away: 1:11:00 into the movie



Part of Milos’ recollection process incorporates camcorder-shot footage that fills in some blanks. We see his good female friend, who’s also a porn star, tied up with her arms dangling from chains that are hooked onto the ceiling.

Oh, and she’s naked, of course. Some fat dude then shows up wearing a Rey Mysterio-like mask and inserts his A-YO! Into her mouth, which is missing teeth thanks to a nearby pair of pliers. As the perverted luchador gets his knob INSERT ACTION VERB HERE, he pins Milos’ lady pal’s nostrils shut with his fingers. You can figure the rest out for yourselves; we’re still too busy rubbing our eyes with disinfectant.

"A real, happy Serbian family."

When to look away: 1:23:00 into the movie



We’re not here to spoil the entirety of A Serbian Film for all of you sick sons of bitches who’ve already pre-ordered tickets to catch it this weekend. Don’t worry, everyone is “that creepy guy” in a theater that’s playing this unbelievably vile trainwreck of a movie. Like any true showman, Spasojevic saves his pair of amazingly immoral images for last.

The first sets up A Serbian Film’s big climax, set in a large, open warehouse space adorned with a big white bed that has two lifeless bodies on it, covered in bloodied sheets. Their identities are kept secretive as a drugged-up Milos and his brother Marko start humping around the hidden people’s backsides.

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out just who’s under those sheets; deep down, though, we were hoping that our suspicions would be proven wrong. But, of course, Spasojevic holds nothing back in the big reveal. Let’s just say that a certain someone experiences Milos The Filthy Stud’s return way too up close and personal.

You’ll wish it was an “eye for an eye.”

When to look away: 1:28:45 into the movie



Really, we should’ve seen this last bit coming. Note: The double entendres in that sentence will sink in once you’ve seen A Serbian Film, assuming you’re reacting to our guide as if it’s a glowing piece of positive advertisement. In which case, we done fucked up.

The proverbial feces hit the fan at this point in the movie, with a birthday-suited Milos killing everyone who’s wronged him throughout the narrative. One nameless bodyguard type, however, gets the most over-the-top of sendoffs: After unleashing a shower of clenched fists onto the man’s head, Milos rams his little friend into dude’s eye socket. The guy’s flaccid (sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves) body hits the floor quicker than the viewer’s jaw.

And there you have it, friends—A Serbian Film. Good, clean family fun…if you’re last name is either Dahmer or Gacy. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have yet another appointment with our shrink.