A Serbian Film

When you say ‘no impression’, can you elaborate? Then again, you don’t strike me as a natural hardcore torture porn horror fan (I could of course be wrong). What kind of ‘impression’ are we talking? I think these types of films see their goal as making one shudder/vomit in which case, yeah, they don’t have any effect on me either these days. But as I get older, I sort of find all that kind of lame. Less scary than one would think.

Definitely not this week, but I have talked about being desensitised to violence in horror etc in the past, but not recently. RE: E.O.I relate on that - not only does anything to do with animals get me, but I also find myself annoyed at the supposed ‘necessity’ of it. Started watching a show called ‘Trickster’ (dear mother requested something about Native Americans/mysticism and I was caught off guard with no time to even make a thread), and it had a dog get run over in the first 12(?) minutes of the very first episode. I thought it was offputting, though I might still finish the thing eventually.

I have the same visceral reaction to horses being shot/dying on Yellowstone and in all those Northman-type films.

Others were describing it as the worst movie they ever saw in terms of violence & pornography. None of it made the slightest impression on me. I simply viewed it as a movie - none of it was real.

Cheap clothes, cheap makeup, all very icky. So there’s an impression for you.

__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Yes, okay, that sounds perfectly sensible to me. I don’t know, I think it’s definitely not the worst I’ve seen (not by now anyway, and not at the time, I don’t think…). Then again, people get affected by the strangest things, it’s all so personal…

I felt ‘A Serbian Film’ was a bit of an inferior version of the British ‘Kill List’, which was much better imo (naturally). I thought ’Kill List’, in turn, was an interesting enough thriller, but yeah, nothing further. I guess some people can’t abide visceral graphic violence, but I’m not one of them.

I think it’s all very relative and personal and depends on one’s state of mind/circumstances at the time as to what feels disturbing. Back when I was sick I didn’t mind anything with mutilations etc. Then I could suddenly breathe, literally, and now I have a different perspective on people getting maimed in horror because I’m ‘healthy’ and suddenly appreciate what they’ve got to lose.

I thought ‘The Human Centipede’ was ‘worse’ than ‘A Serbian Film’ because that’s again that kind of irreversible physical mutilation that no one would want (or be able) to live after. But yeah, it’s all a bit rhetorical.

@Stirchley or @Yoda, where was this discussion about becoming desensitised last week, as I’m trying to track it down now?

Haven’t a clue. Good luck finding it. But the word was definitely used & stuck in my mind all weekend as I tried to think if I am “desensitized”. I concluded I’m not. I watched a lovely documentary about elephants in Africa some weeks ago. A warning would have been nice as to what occurred halfway through. In any event I cried myself blind.

I'm surprised you've seen it.

Why surprised?

Same.

Well, I was too, it just doesn’t seem like your type of film.

Didn't know you watched extreme films, not many people do.

What is my type of film?

That’s a much harder question to answer. I think it’s safe to say that like @cricket, I just wouldn’t put extreme horror in that category. But I’d say Bergman, Buñuel etc is the immediate mental association I get.

Confirmed:
Stirchley is just MovieGal's alt

__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

A Serbian Film is the most disturbing film I've seen. It's not just the visual that gets to me (Though it's certainly quite stomach-churning at times, especially the horrifying twist scene near the end, where even before the reveal it's hard to watch). The psychological torment and transformation Milos goes through does as well. Here we have a normal family man, who yes might have a history in porn but is quite stable and happy where he is in life. But money isn't something even the most humble can be totally without, so seeing Vukmir completely destroy and manipulate his personality throughout is heartbreaking and upsetting. That's why not even the most infamous scene in the movie is the one I found the most disturbing (Though it's certainly up there). What's particularly scary is the viscous look on Milos' face as he turns into an entirely different person, someone who the drugs injected by Vukmir has turned into a force of evil. Imagine committing some of the most horrific acts in existence, but you do it when you're not fully present at the moment, your regular mind is nowhere to be found whatsoever. That shit is absolutely terrifying to think about.

Too terrified to watch this movie from Bunuel. It’s the eyeball you know.

They made us watch this in art school.

Yup, I relate and I know exactly the one. I haven’t seen it yet properly for the exact same reason. Still traumatised by Kill Bill: Vol 2 and Hostel 20 years later.

Depends, one of my film history lecturers was more traumatised by Breaking the Waves than anything, and I sort of get that one, you know?

Milos doesn’t look very “happy” to me from the onset. Money worries. There’s no “might have a history in porn”. Milos was a famous porn star known for his ability to have an erection-at-will & being able to sustain it. (It’s thrown in that he has a university degree if that makes him more presentable.)
Not sure that he turns into “an entirely different person”. I think the bad things he did were always part of him (he even slapped his wife before he went to work for Vukmir).

The extreme nature of the ending made no sense to me. He was always afraid that his brother harbored sexual fantasies for his (Milos) wife so his brother raping her couldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Why couldn’t they go to counseling? I saw no reason for the murder-suicide. People have done far worse & survived. His young son would forget.

Decided to re-watch Salo, a movie I barely remember. Annoyed there’s nowhere to stream the darn thing. Was sure I own it, but I don’t. Must have borrowed it from the library.

Amazon has many DVDs of this movie, which surprised me considering people are buying fewer DVDs these days. I suppose I could buy it though I am running out of space for my collection.

And here’s a thread for it. https://www.movieforums.com/communit...highlight=Salo

Kill Bill: Vol 2? Recently re-watched both of them. Don’t recall anything traumatic.