Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Strangler vs. Strangler Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 14, 2022

Slobodan Sijan's "Strangler vs. Strangler" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro. The supplemental features on the release include new program with the director as well as new audio commentary recorded by critics Dejan Ognanovic and Igor Sanojevic. In Serbian, with imposed English subtitles. Region-A "locked".

Belgrade's usual suspects

Serbian director Slobodan Sijan took a huge risk when he made Strangler vs. Strangler in the early 1980s. If seen now, Strangler vs. Strangler very much looks like a close relative of Rolf de Heer’s Bad Boy Bubby. It has a weird sense of humor and occasionally becomes utterly unhinged, but it wears a mask and behind it there is a great deal of human suffering. So, like Bad Boy Bubby it is actually a very sad film, in some ways pretty disturbing too.

But Strangler vs. Strangler comes from a very different place and plays a very risky game. It identifies itself as a "comedy of terrors", but it is a political film that reveals a number of big truths about life in communist Yugoslavia. It does it in the most dangerous way, too. It quickly transforms its humor into satire and then uses it like a whip to provoke and annoy. In fact, its desire to annoy becomes so transparent that it should have created some serious problems for Sijan.

The targets that were supposed to be annoyed must have been in the Yugoslavian Ministry of Culture, the country’s most prominent newspaper critics -- all taking orders from and reporting to the Ministry of Culture -- and the regional authorities that would have determined whether Strangler vs. Strangler could enter their city. In other words, all targets would have been members of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). During the Cold War, these were the people that decided what films local directors could make and what type of foreign films can be imported into the country. Without their approval, local films quite simply did not get made.

There is a very particular reason why Sijan was able to make Strangler vs. Strangler and did not get in trouble, but before I reveal it, I wish to describe the ‘problematic’ material in the film.

Strangler vs. Strangler tells the story of Pera Mitic (Tasco Nacic), a bachelor in his early thirties who lives with his elderly mother and sells carnations in Belgrade’s upscale restaurants and night clubs. Because the carnations are his only source of income, he is in love with them, and when they are mistreated by potential clients, he feels an inexorable urge to defend them -- initially by confronting the offenders, and later on by strangling them. It is how Mitic ‘accidentally’ becomes a serial killer. The Party assigns inspector Ognjen Strahinjic (Nicola Simic), a man with the IQ of a door knob, to track down the serial killer and calm down Belgrade, but shortly after he goes to work a copycat killer (Srdjan Saper) seriously complicates his mission and pushes him on the verge of a complete and permanent nervous breakdown.

When Sijan began working on Strangler vs. Strangler the official story was that he was recreating a real case laced with a small dose of black comedy, but this must have been just a pretext to calm down the state censors. Also, and this is the main reason Strangler vs. Strangler survived, Sijan went to work at a time when a new generation of filmmakers had just initiated the Serbian/Yugoslavian New Wave, so there was a greater than usual freedom to create and get riskier films completed.

What makes Strangler vs. Strangler unique and interesting to deconstruct is the dual nature of its personality. Indeed, it is pretty effective as a black comedy, but it is very interesting as a bold absurdist time capsule. Sijan places Mitic in authentic situations but then uses his condition to brutally satirize everyone that enters his orbit. No one is spared, not even Mitic’s elderly mother, but the ones that represent the state, like inspector Strahinjic, are whipped the hardest. Believe it or not, the absurdist circus that emerges is a pretty accurate replica of the absurdist communist reality people in the former Yugoslavia (and the rest of the Eastern European states) were forced to endure.

*Mondo Macabro’s Blu-ray release introduces a brand new 2K restoration of Strangler vs. Strangler which was completed after the film’s original camera negative was accessed.

Strangler vs. Strangler Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Strangler vs. Strangler arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro.

The release is sourced from a new 2K master that was prepared after the film was restored from the original camera negative. I think the visuals look very nice, but I must mention that I have never owned another home video release of this film. What I see now are stable organic visuals with very good delineation, clarity and depth. On the other hand, it is pretty easy to tell that the film must have been shot with a very modest budget because there is quite a bit of raw footage, which means that there are numerous small and bigger density fluctuations that affect delineation, clarity, and depth. Fluidity is good, but I think that this is the one area where some minor improvements can be made. Color balance looks good to me, and as you can tell from the screencaptures we have included with this article, the dynamic range of the visuals is very convincing. Image stability is excellent. I did not encounter any large cuts, debris, marks, blemishes, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Strangler vs. Strangler Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Serbian LPCM 2.0. and English LPCM 2.0. There are imposed English subtitles on the Serbian track. (I could not turn off the English subtitles with my remote control).

I viewed the entire film with the original Serbian track. The dialog was stable and clear. Balance was good too, but some of the organic sounds and noises produce sporadic very light unevenness. Dynamic intensity is very modest, but I am not surprised considering how the film must have been shot in the early 1980s. The English translation is good.

Strangler vs. Strangler Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Killers and Carnations - in this new program, director Slobodan Sijan discusses his career, the intent behind Strangler vs. Strangler (which was in fact to irritate various people in his country), his decision to cast Pera Mitic to play the strangler because he reminded him of Peter Lorre), the film's stylistic appearance and specifically the various lighting choices, Belgrade's past and present 'unsuccessful' metropolis image, and the film's sense of humor. In English, not subtitled. (30 min).

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by critics Dejan Ognanovic and Igor Sanojevic. I found the commentary to be quite interesting because in addition to discussing the conception and unique qualities of Strangler vs. Strangler, the two gentlemen shared plenty of information about the state of the Yugoslavian film industry and some particular trends and traditions that had an impact on young filmmakers like Slobodan Sijan. The commentary is in English.

Strangler vs. Strangler Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Strangler vs. Strangler identifies itself as a "comedy of terrors", but it was pretty easy for me to tell that it was conceived to be an unorthodox time capsule. Its main protagonist looks like Peter Lorre and quickly becomes the central figure in an absurdist circus that is a pretty accurate replica of the absurdist communist reality people in the former Yugoslavia were forced to endure. I don't think I have seen another film quite like it. Some of Dusan Makavejev's films have similarly strange personalities, but they don't work well as time capsules. Mondo Macabro's Blu-ray release is sourced from a very good exclusive new 2K master. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.