Leptirica
Tags: cult

Plot synopsis:
An old miller hears strange sounds coming from the woods. While he sleeps, a millstone suddenly stops working and a strange human-like creature with black hands and long teeth and nails bites his neck.
After the opening scene, the film turns to a romance between a poor young man Strahinja (Petar Božović) and a beautiful girl Radojka (Mirjana Nikolić). Radojka is the daughter of landowner Živan (Slobodan Perović), who refuses to allow her to marry Strahinja. Disappointed, Strahinja leaves his village and goes to Zarožje. He meets peasants discussing the cursed mill and accepts their offer to become the new miller. He spends the night in the mill and survives the attack of the creature, finding out its name - Sava Savanović. The villagers visit the oldest woman in a neighboring village and ask her if there is a grave of somemone called Sava Savanović somewhere nearby. After finding the place where his body is buried, they nail a stake through the coffin and a butterfly flies out.
The peasants help Strahinja take Radojka from her home and bring her to Zarožje. During the night, while the villagers are preparing the wedding, Strahinja sneaks into his future wife's room while she is asleep. As he undresses her, he discovers a bloody hole under her breasts and realize it is from the stake they used to impale Sava's coffin. Radojka opens her eyes and transforms into a disgusting hairy creature which climbs onto Strahinja's neck while he is trying to run away. She leads him to Sava's grave where he manages to take the stake out of the coffin and impale her.
The film ends with Strahinja lying motionlessly on the ground and a butterfly in his hair moving its wings.

Review: Unfortunetally its TV movie made with TV camera so you never have impression of a real movie...But that kind of work has many achievements because you simply don't expect that kind of HORROR in that form of film-making!Makeup is brilliant!!!
Acting is beutyfull - all professional, academic actors - which is not the case with 99.99% of horror movies!
Story it pretty simple but it all revolves in 19th century Serbia so it has sweetest plot I'we ever seen in a Horror!I recommend it with greatest pleasure!.
Remember it still in the mist and it is one of the few horror movies that spooked the hell out of me.
Highly recommended vintage treasure, straight 10/10, one of the TOP5 horror movies of all times.
Brilliant camera, weird rural atmosphere, a true representative of Balkans' scary legends on the big screen..
Wonderful, I've seen this movie ONCE when I was a kid and since then it's burned in my mind as of the most scary films I've ever seen.
Hm, I think I will try to find this film again, I'm pretty curious about how I would feel now while watching it.
It certainly did contribute to my love for the horror-genre, and vampire figures in films, in general.
This particular vampire , leptirica, is very old in Slavic folklore.
Eerie Yugoslavian vampire film..
"Leptirica" is a Yugoslavian female vampire horror film from the early 70s shot in the Serbian countryside and based on a novel.The incredibly eerie beginning takes place in a mill.The old miller listens strange bird voices and while he's sleeping the millstone suddenly stops working and a strange creature with black hands,long nails,angry eyes and long teeth bites his neck and drinks his blood.Soon the area of a small Yugoslavian village and the dark woods are plagued with the attacks of a truly hideous vampire creature...This is my first Yugoslavian horror film and I'm highly impressed.It features some of the creepiest vampire attack scenes ever captured on screen.It's also based on Serbian folklore,unfortunately my DVD-R don't have English subtitles,so 90% of the plot went beyond me.Still if you want to see truly scary horror film try to find "Leptirica".9 out of 10..
You feel like 5 years old child after that film.
Spooky vampire story from the Balkans - a short description of the movie.
I guess that that kind of feeling (one that this movie produces), can maybe be found, and only sometimes in some places...
Like when you're alone in a creepy and dark place, with a long way to home, that you know you have to cross- where staying or turning back is even greater fear...
So, like twenty years later, here I am, watching it for the second time.
The feeling, of course is not the same, ´cause through the years I became very big fan and some kind of an expert for horror cinema.
When I think of the comparison, the only movie that comes to my mind is BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (same atmosphere, dark woods, witches, etc.) and trust me when I say that Myrick & Sanchez flick is not at all superior.
Project intended to introduce fantasy and horror to Yugoslavian film production.
Movie have lack of thrilling atmosphere, but all scary scenes are even scarier.
Yugoslav movie makers didn't have experience in horrors, but Leptirica is rare gem within yu movies.
All later horror movies fixed mistakes of Leptirica.Beside that, it takes me twenty years to get courage to watch it again!
I didn't expect to watch overwhelming special effects or perfect film making.
To make things worse, the recording I watched wasn't of extremely high quality (maybe a rip from a very old home recorded VHS).The movie is seriously scary, but with some comedic relief which might be considered annoying if you don't expect to see them.
There is no attempt to "explain" the plot to the audience , as commonly happens with more modern western movies.
Beautiful and convincing, hard to believe she did not appear in famous movies.
This Serbian, made for TV movie, tells the folkloric tale of a 19th century rural village, seeped in superstitious paranoia.
through a montage of close-ups we see staring eyes, surrounded by dirty skin; an ash- blackened hand, adorned with long, sharp finger nails, dip in the flour; sharp teeth are exposed, not in the traditional fang image of western vampire lore, but a full front row of stalactite-like gnasher's.
With the discovery of the body, we are informed that this is the fourth miller to die within a year, and the speculation of a vampire murderer is brought forward.Strahinja (Petar Bozovic) is a very poor local, who is in love with the very beautiful Radojka (Mirjana Nikolic), daughter of the ill-tempered farmer, Zivan (Slobodan Perovic).
The villagers gather to try to hunt down the monster.Vampire films are so incredibly prevalent at this moment in time, but most do not hold any form of atmosphere.
The sense of isolation in the remote village is palpable also, lending the film an aura of horror.
The films title translates into English as Butterfly, which has its meaning exposed in the last moments.
Whilst it is clear who the vampire is early on in the film, it does not diminish the climax, which is gaudy, but strangely haunting.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com.
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.
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..
Something for obscure horror film fans.
It amplifies the general atmosphere and gives the whole film a haunting and eerie feel.
One of the things I regret the most in my life is the fact that I didn't see this TV-drama film when everybody else in my generation saw it.
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.
This seems to tie in more accurately with the traditional Serbian model which is like a cross-over between a vampire and a werewolf.
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.
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.
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.
I saw this movie when i was around 6 or 7 years old back home in former Yugoslavia and i remember being scared as hell watching this imo masterpiece.
Its very eerie movie.perfect setting and its based on serbian vampire legend so it makes it even more interesting..yes acting couldve been a little better but scenery makes up for it..i saw this movie again recently after a long time and i can say its still scary and eerie after all these years..i would deff recommend this movie to people who love vampire movies and also to lovers of horror genre but make sure you find english subs or whatever subtitles you need..i am not sure if there are any so good luck and a i would also recommend another fine Yugoslavian horror movie its called Sveto Mesto ( The Holy Place) its also on the level with Leptirica ( She- Butterfly).
For a while now, I've been hearing how this movie is supposedly a hidden gem of vampire horror and Yugoslavia's best horror film(whatever that's worth.) I absolutely LOVE low-budget/high-concept horror films since many of the classics were made on the cheap and are better for it.
Aside from that, after seeing this movie, all of the praise I've heard for it now sounds like the jokey sarcasm of someone who wants to trick you into wasting your time and effort tracking down this crap!.
"The She-Butterfly" is a genuinely frightening Serbian fairy tale revolving around a cursed mill and the young man willing to spend a night there to win the hand of a village maiden.The IMDb reviews are pretty funny -it seems this Yugoslavian TV movie was inadvertently screened in a time slot reserved for kids and it scared the bejezus out of a whole generation of impressionable Slavs.
You have to know Serbian folklore, it seems, but it really doesn't matter since the film's got the look of a Grimm fairy tale and the toothsome demon doesn't disappoint.
Leptirica aka She Butterfly is an interesting little made for TV folk horror film, from the former Yugoslavia (now Serbia), based on the story After Ninety Years (1880) written by Milovan Glisic (who was konwn as the "Serbian Gogol", for it's six degrees of seperation to Mad Love).The Balkans are home to polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, who documented the world's first written account on vampires- about the legend of Jure Grando from Istria (now Slovenia)- in his encyclopedia: The Glory Of The Duchy Of Carniola.His book was published 17 years before Stoker wrote Dracula; basing the story on folk tales he heard from the mountain dwelling villagers living along the Drina River Valley.And so we have the tale of the Leptirica...the She-Butterly...a vampiric apparition of a beautiful young maiden, who shapeshifts into a werewolf, whenever she needs to feed.She's already gone through 4 millers in the past year...and the villagers are starting to get suspicious.The elders hold a town hall meeting and decide that they must take action.Meanwhile, a poor, jobless young man has been wooing her in her maiden form.
But her dad keeps intervening to stifle their love.So he joins the older men, who suggest he take up the job of the miller, considering the position has recently been vacated by the death of the previous miller.He agrees, hoping it will win things over with her dad, but it doesn't take long before he, himself, is attacked.Luckily he survives...but it's the last straw.The villagers fear a vampire is at work here.
So the men set off to dig it up, so that they can stake the corpse and (hopefully) end the curse.But they must use Parzivalian tactics find it.However, when they do...a small butterfly is released...and they are unable to catch it.It escapes.But, now endowed with a newfound confidence (after having survived the attack)- alongside a little encouragement from his friends- the young man sets off to elope with his beloved (regardless of her father's wishes).Everything seems to be going fine until he goes to consummate the marriage; at which point he discovers a gaping hole in her stomach...right about where they had staked that unburied coffin they were directed to uncover.He tries to remove the stake, in hope it might save her soul, and return her to her former self.But it's too late...she has now taken on her monstrous form permanently...ultimately leading to the film's conclusion.I really liked pretty much everything about this film...but there is one thing I just didn't get.What did her father do with the Butterfly when he caught it?
(I guess I'll have to read the story...)Otherwise it's a really enjoyable film.I particularly enjoyed how they messed with the mad drunken priest.If you are into folk horror, this will definitely be up your alley.7 out of 10..
Leptirica is set in a small rural village in Serbia, in which the people rely on an old fashioned mill to grind flour for bread.
Thankfully, a new miller is found when a young bachelor with nothing to lose agrees to do the job.The monster in this story is a werewolf/vampire creature who attacks the mill at night.
Taking a look at reviews by a fellow IMDber,I spotted a review for the first ever Horror film from Serbia.With the October Horror Challenge taking place on IMDb's Horror board,I decided that it was the perfect time to catch the She-Butterfly.The plot:Spending his life in a village terrorised by a creature called who kills anyone who works at the towns lone mill, ivan keeps a close eye on his daughter Radojka.Falling for Radojka, Strahinja asks for her hand in marriage.With Strahinja not even having a roof over his head, ivan dismisses the offer.Hurt by the dismissal, Strahinja gets a job at the cursed mill,and soon finds himself milling with the mythical creature.View on the film:Made for TV, (where it was first shown at dinner time,as a treat for the whole family!)writer/director Djordje Kadijevic & cinematographer Branko Ivatovic give the film a gritty folk horror atmosphere,by filling the town with rotting buildings and thick slabs of stone.Threading the whispered tales around the viewer, Kadijevic gets the audience to join the very close-knitted community,by keeping things down to earth with tightly held shots which reveal the myths that bind the villagers together.Adapting Milovan Glisic story Posle devedeset godina,the screenplay by Kadijevic gives the She-Butterfly creature a sharp Gothic bite,by slowly releasing vague details on the creatures appearance,which allows the viewer to create their own "full" image of the beast,before Kadijevic delivers a wonderfully grisly twist ending.Building a firm rural backdrop, Kadijevic keeps the drama between ivan & Strahinja off-centre,thanks to ivan's sly looks over Strahinja surviving deadly obstacles in order to get Radojka's hand in marriage, gradually revealing that ivan knows the truth behind the butterfly effect..
The worst horror movie I have ever seen.
Leptirica (also known under the correct but an ugly English translation The She-Butterfly) is a 1973 TV film which is famous for being one of the first Yugoslavian horror films.
Nearly every review of it seen here on IMDb is from someone who remembers being terrified by Leptirica as a child but hasn't re-watched it.
Those who do re-watch it (un)fortunately find their childhood experiences shattered as this movie isn't scary at all.Leptirica is based on Milovan Gliić's story After Ninety Years and takes most of its inspiration from traditional Serbian folklore (Sava Savanović, one of the most well-known folklore vampires, is mentioned several times).
Considering that the vampire myths originated from the Balkans, it's unusual that this is probably the only Slavic vampire movie, and as such it had great potential and could've been a masterpiece if it were done right.
Most of the 60-minute running time is filled with scenes of little to no importance, or with failed attempts at humor in a movie where such things shouldn't really belong.
And it's never really explained how come the vampire can only attack people in the haunted mill and not elsewhere, aside from this being a convenient plot device.The movie is often praised for its atmosphere, but sadly the only scene that was truly atmospheric is the one where the girl lies around in the field covered in sunlight, accompanied by natural sounds.
That was the best scene in the movie and the effect it achieves isn't even creepy or something.
It's just a nice scene, with the rest of the film taking a very unimaginative approach at storytelling and horror atmosphere.
The first scene is just cheesy, the second one is the exact same thing as the first one, except with the amazing flour escape which I mentioned above, so I guess the third horror scene, that famous climactic moment, has to be at least a little bit scary to justify the movie's cult status, right?
I mean, it's the most famous scene in the film.Unfortunately, the final vampire scene is even more ridiculous than the two scenes that preceded it.
The image quality is in bad need of restoration, and the audio is so bad that I had to watch the film with subtitles even though I know the language.
Yes, it's true that the film is horrible by today's standards, but this is absolutely atrocious even in the 1970s TV movie standards.
And it's a shame too, Leptirica could've been a fantastic movie..
Wow, so all the reviews say this is the scariest vampire movie ever!
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.
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.
Really dumb.And despite the hype, the vampire is barely in the movie and the ending is sort of laughable.
Inspired by the Serbian version of the vampire, who is not a white luxurious aristocrat, but a hairy monster, an animal that has lost all trace of humanity, Kadijevic made ​​a film in which the meaning of a butterfly or the mill may be disturbingly unclear.
The culmination of the film is very improvised, and made without using special effects, scene in which the girl is painfully turning into a vampire.
The following is a long scene in which the vampire insanely rides its victim.