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[Blu-ray Review] ‘A Serbian Film’

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Srdjan Spasojevic’s debut feature, A Serbian Film, has been called many things since its 2010 SXSW premiere. Disgusting. Vile. Reprehensible. Gross. Boundary Pushing. Art. Exploitation. But the most persistent adjective used to describe the commentary on government resentment and the rough life of an entire culture – though, it can be argued that it’s not really about ANYTHING – is polarizing; polarizing in the way – as a friend put it – a passersby might gawk at a crime scene or car crash, but polarizing nonetheless. Regardless of your distaste or appreciation of it, it’s almost impossible to look away from A Serbian Film; it’s pure, angry, brute power condensed into imagery that’s haunting, to put it mildly. Spasojevic and co-writer Aleksandar Radivojevic aren’t really concerned with being heavy on plot; their narrative follows Milos (Srdjan Todorovic), a former porn star that comes out of retirement for a hefty payday and role in an “art film,” but is drugged with a speed/Viagra/memory-blocking serum and unknowingly coaxed into participating in acts of necrophilia, pedophilia, and a lot of other really messed up stuff. Instead, they’re focused on what it means as an allegory, leaving A Serbian Film to be all about what the scenes, actions and mood represent, and not whether they’re cut together to tell a compelling story.

Entire careers have been built on subtext, but Spasojevic hasn’t proven himself to be a Jodorowsky or Lynch quite yet. A Serbian Film is giddily content with merely pushing buttons and wondering if you’re brave enough to come along for the ride. It’s an exploitation film about the exploitation of a nation’s people by its government, which makes it smart in a meta way. At the film’s premiere, Radivojevic said that the film “is a diary of our own molestation by the Serbian government,” so placing it within the porn world is appropriate, but then it takes a step further and literalizes being fucked from birth in a scene that is sure to shatter souls, even if it does look kind of fake.

Like Human Centipede 2, A Serbian Film accomplishes what it sets out to do without any compromises, but the purpose of Tom Six’s sequel makes anyone who watches it out to be a villain; Spasojevic is just trying to convey the tribulations of his country. His sentiment falls short by not explaining even a slither of Serbia’s history within the film, making the imagery seem a bit haphazard and leaving those not “in the know” confused by what they’re watching. But for sheer audacity and power, A Serbian Film is worth experiencing as long as you can come to grips with the fact that you can’t unsee it.

A/V

I’d never heard of Invincible Pictures until now, but I’m pleased to report that their 1080p transfer for A Serbian Film is quite good, minus the baby scene looking even more fake than usual in HD. Shot with the Red One, the picture is clear and sharp looking, and generally upholds the film’s intended drab and cold looking color palate without letting anything “pop.” For the darker (in color, not tone) scenes, the blacks seem a bit splotchy and drown out some fine detail. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 is strong, though it’s sad that there wasn’t a 5.1 mix created. It presents dialogue clearly and balances it well against the not exactly aggressive, but dirty feeling dubstep soundtrack. But a 5.1 track could’ve made the more nasty sound effects… well, nastier. A Serbian Film doesn’t place anywhere on my soundtrack essential list, nor the sound design one; rather, it lets the depraved things on-screen do what they’re supposed to do.

Special Features

Sadly, there are no bonus features, which is a shame considering the controversy that’s surrounded the film since its premiere. There’s a digital copy, if you have a desire to see it on your iPod/iPad/whatever, but I think a bar of soap would’ve been more appropriate for all the showers you’ll need to take afterwards. Also, I’m not really sure what qualifies this as a limited edition release, unless the digital copy or slipcase is disappearing soon – in which case, that’s a pretty terrible argument.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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