6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A young man wants to marry the beautiful daughter of a landowner who refuses to allow the marriage. To prove his worth, the young man becomes a miller in a vampire-infested local mill.
Starring: Mirjana Nikolić, Petar Bozovic, Slobodan 'Cica' Perović, Vasja Stanković, Aleksandar StojkovićHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 90% |
Drama | 35% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.30:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Serbian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as a part of All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror.
All the Haunts Be Ours advertises itself as "the most comprehensive collection of its kind", which may initially beg the question as to "kind of
what?". But the release also comes with a front cover sobriquet
proclaiming it "a compendium of folk horror", which may then beg the next obvious question as to what exactly "folk horror" is. In that
regard, this set
begins with a fascinating and diverse documentary which has its own subtitle referencing folk horror, Woodlands Dark and Days
Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, which provides a veritable glut of clips from international films which director (and this entire set's guiding
light) Kier-La Janisse has assembled to help define the genre, but perhaps the best answer is to simply echo a certain Supreme Court Justice named
Potter Stewart who was trying to decide a case involving supposed pornography, and who famously opined, "I shall not today attempt further to define
the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I
know it when I see it. . ."
Leptirica is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.30:1. Severin's insert booklet states that this was culled from an "HD master from Public Service Media Radio Television of Serbia". This can't quite muster the same quality as some of the other offerings in this set, but considering the source it offers generally secure saturation after the optically printed credits sequence (and a similar optical toward the end). The bulk of the central part of the film features a nicely vibrant palette (pops of color like the vivid red flowers Radojka carries at one point contrast nicely with a sometimes neutral production design approach in terms of some of the costumes), though detail levels definitely fluctuate. There is an extended sequence toward the end that supposedly takes place at night, and there's not a wealth of detail.
Leptricia features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track in the original Serbian. This has a noticeably bright, thin and occasionally slightly distorted high end, and some of the effects, like the omnipresent bird calls and water sounds, struck me as a bit "wet" (no pun intended). The soundtrack is very interesting in any case, with weird chanting and hallucinatory ambient environmental effects, all of which are rendered with good fidelity. While the track is fairly "busy" a lot of the time, when it quiets down, both hiss and an actual buzzing sound can be discerned. Optional English subtitles are available.
- Štićenik (HD; 44:35)
- Diary of an Inmate (HD; 10:10) is an interview with Štićenik actor Milan Mihailovic. Subtitled in English.
- Devičanska Svirka (HD; 59:27)
- Prisoner of Song (HD; 13:29) is an interview with Devičanska Svirka actor Goran Sultanovic. Subtitled in English.
Leptirica may not have the epic budget or star quality that some others in the All the Haunts Be Ours set offer, but it has a uniquely spooky ambience. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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