hyped garbage

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

A fellow IMDb user alerted me that this 70's TV movie was in fact the very first horror movie from Yugoslavia. I can't honestly say I have actually seen any others myself but this fact did leave me somewhat intrigued for sure. In the event, Leptirica proved to be a very fascinating watch indeed and one which suggests that the Serbs are missing a trick in not having made more horror films steeped in their folklore. Like most vampire films from other parts of Europe, the events in this one take place in the 19th century. More specifically, the action occurs in a rural village which relies on a cursed mill in which a succession of millers have been murdered in the night by a vampire, a being who once was called Sava Savanovic, a man who died one hundred years ago. Unlike most other European vampire presentations, though, the creature here is a long way off the sophisticated aristocratic blood-sucker variety and is instead a filthy feral beast with excess body hair, sharp nails and teeth. This seems to tie in more accurately with the traditional Serbian model which is like a cross-over between a vampire and a werewolf. I very much appreciated the difference here and had never before seen a depiction of this creature done quite in this way. It felt a very authentic rendering and one which seemed to have emerged organically from Serbian culture.Similar to the tradition of fairy-tales from eastern and central Europe, there is also a fearless ambiguity to how events are played out on screen. Many aspects are never explained fully and remain tantalisingly remote and enigmatic. The vampire itself emerges suddenly and aggressively, it performs strange rituals such as covering its hands in flour, while it appears to mysteriously exist partially as a butterfly. These types of unusual details possibly are not explained fully as the intended Yugoslavian television audience perhaps were expected to understand them from widely told folk tales from that country. I don't know for sure if that is true but whatever the case, the result is to the overall benefit of the film as far as I am concerned as unexplained mysteries often work best when it comes to strange supernatural stories. After all, the unknown is often the lair of the scariest things of all. When the horror moments occur in this movie, they are often very effective and chilling, with the vampire itself a memorably scary creature, who indulges in witchy behaviour such as riding its victim. It's nice to see that this old television movie from the former Yugoslavia has been developing an appreciative audience over the years. It's a very interesting alternative indeed to the more traditional Gothic fare from Western Europe.

Story follows young man Strahinja who is in love with a local beauty Radojka, but their relationship has an obstacle - her father Zivan, who considers Strahinja as nothing but a loser. To prove that he's able to take care of himself and his future bride, Strahinja agrees to take vacancy in village mill... But, mill is known as a place where no one meets the dawn alive... Wow, so all the reviews say this is the scariest vampire movie ever! Is it? Odd that the title Leptirica means The She Butterfly.Anyway, IMDb says this was a TV movie, but it's hard to believe. It's not filmed like a TV movie. The imagery IS crazy. But to be honest, the movie is awfully slow to get to the point. There are countless minutes sitting in the meadow talking. I thought I was watching Tom Sawyer! And then there is the one obvious question -- if anyone who goes into the mill doesn't come out alive, why go into it? It's not that big either. Rather tiny in fact.In the end I have to say that it's an interesting film because it's a different take on the vampire theme. But it's not as good as the reviews suggest. Also, there is one really stupid thing.... for some reason every so often we hear these idiotic jungle sounds like a monkey call -- OOO OOO AHH AHH! And they are obviously done by a person. Really dumb.And despite the hype, the vampire is barely in the movie and the ending is sort of laughable. Piggy back ride and all.

Unfortunately, Leptirica is not so superior film at all. As first, it's actually some kind of horror comedy, maybe even parody of horror genre, but it seems to me that parody was not the intention of author Kadijevich, but some kind of black comedy. Acting is OK for (black) comedy, but if you see this TV-film (in former Yugoslavia term was "tv-drama") as horror, it's pretty bad acting, despite of presence of such distinguished actors as Slobodan Perovich and (very young) Petar Bozhovich. There is no real frightening scenes until the end (which is pretty frightening but narratively unclear), moreover, horror scenes are unintentionally funny. I have some respect for atmosphere of rural province, which is good but not too impressive, and especially for very delicate, ethereal beauty of little known Mirjana Nikolich in title role. I see that most of IMDb users were thrilled with this film in childhood,they have strong emotional bond with it, but actually, when you see it as grown man, quality level of Leptirica is not very high. Djordje Kadijevich has one really very very good movie, but it's Praznik, not Leptirica.

Forget about Scream or Night mare in Elm Street. This is scary. You feel like 5 years old child after that film. You are afraid to go to toilet on your own. You can't sleep. This is what horror movies should be. Really scary not funny.