User reviews

This was the first Serbian flick that had made a movement into the film industry, Serbia was becoming hot and due to the holy 3 from France someone had to make an even more shocking flick. But this here isn't that well known as the other disturbing Serbian flick A Serbian Film. But due the latter things it do came out in Europe. Already causing trouble with the release because it contains some disturbing moments.

I was lucky to catch me a copy at a local famous DVD shop, soon after it's release it was banned from the shop. I was at a horror convention last weekend and they sold official copies already for 40 euro's!! But is it all worth the money? Well, it surely isn't like A Serbian Film. People do compare both flicks on forums and both do win sometime. For me the winner is A Serbian Film because it do add a little creepiness and sickening story to it. This flick goes deeper into the 'porn gang'. But be advised, it do has his moments. But there's a lot of talking in it because you need to get involved with the characters. So by all that talking people will leave it for what it is. But those who carry on until the end are in for a terrible ride. Watch out, IMDb states that it clocks in at 90 minutes, it isn't, mine clocked in at 102 minutes and it was said, full uncut.

What is it that attracts geeks all over the world towards this flick. Well, you will have a lot of frontal male and female nudity. You will see what the war did in former Yugoslavia, there are some sickening shots in it. On the other hand it isn't for the squeamish too or the easily offended because you will see homo penetration straight into the black hole, zoomed in. You will also have a golden shower by some MILF. A hard on of a horse is being sucked by a guy, some decapitations, and some brutal killings.

You really have to love flicks like August Underground to like these kind of flicks. I didn't have any trouble watching it but I admit, I'm a sick buff. If you can catch a copy do so but if you are only into 'normal' horror or flicks don't watch it, you will surely puke!

Gore 4/5 Nudity 5/5 Story 3/5 Effects 4/5 Comedy 0/5

Start promises a very decent, realistic movie about a guy who ended up directing and circumstantial (read it for the money) ends up in the porn industry. After deciding to make the first porn theater in Belgrade and the prohibition of forced to do so, decided to gather porno gang will work shows the rural parts of the country. Then chaos ensues.

The film clearly wants to show how victims of war is in our near and distant surroundings and the ultimate extreme way of showing how much people are willing to go far for the sake of personal satisfaction, financial stability and the goals. Again, shows the narrow-mindedness of rural areas who refuse to accept something new when they see that, in their view, a negative effect on some of them.

Great camera and relatively unknown actors leave a real impression as if this team really is, and that was filmed a documentary about them.

Take my word, this film has everything, and I would single out the scene when family take a supper on the back of an old man who was scheduled for lapot.

Well all the himbos and bimbos that are claiming this is better than A Serbian Movie are obviously delusional ... This is practically the same story done without a good script or budget that's all ... One great scene when the villagers take revenge and the gang just ends up laughing is truly fabulous ... Would have been interesting if Serbian Movie hadn't knocked the socks off this one in the powerful movie stakes ... Serbian Movie 10 out of 10 ... Porno Gang 3 out of 10 ... And those that have been scared off SB by the bollox spouted about it by so many people need to watch it ... The most powerful thriller in a decade

This is a quite disturbing movie on post-war Serbia in the early 90's of last century. The main character is a young movie director eager to make his first movie. The only opportunity he has to start his career, is making a pornographic picture. Being partially successful, he begins with his cast a pornographic vaudeville roadshow in rural parts of formerly Yugoslavia. Not surprisingly, the locals disapprove of the explicit content of the sex shows. But than there is a businessman in the audience who wants to have snuff movies produced by the 'porno bande'...... Rise and Fall of a Porno Band is a very interesting movie on how things are today in Serbia. It deals with the poverty and struggle for survival in an European country. The non-professional actors do an excellent job and are convincing in showing the hard times Serbia has to go through. Not for the ones amongst us with weak stomachs.

Paul Algra

Quite a mess of a film, that is disjointed in it's narration, and at times distasteful. It feels like a film that doesn't really know it's own direction. Starts as a semi-comedy and spirals into the absurd, while bombarding us with pornographic imagery and snuff movie elements. But none of it has any real impact and ends up feeling just nasty for nasty's sake (A scene involving the killing of a goat was totally unnecessary, and quite disturbing)

Like a badly made cocktail of Lars von Trier's The Idiots, and part A Serbian Film, I found Zivot I Smrt Porno Band a pretty weak entry into modern European extreme cinema.

I've just watched it...and I've never been so close to being stunned by a movie. So forgive me if I'm being incoherent. There are many movies that try to be deep, smart...They mostly end up being pretentious. Or you're left with something you're sure not even the filmmaker knows what's it about. They try to be philosophical, but get tangled in it. This movie is simple, very simple. Others want to trick you. They play with your senses for their gain, to achieve their goal. They try to impress you, shock you, make you cry...More often than not, it comes off cheap. This movie uses no tricks. This movie is...what it is. You have to deal with it. You can't discard it, or laugh it off and ignore it, it's too sincere. It enters you and you believe it. You become part of it. You're one of them. You're there, with the gang, standing around the victim, behind Vanja who is filming it all with his camera. And you're scared. Of yourself.

i was quite excited about watching this with a lot of reviewers saying it was better than a Serbian film which came out at the same sort of time. so i watched both in the same week and this one just doesn't cut it.

i wasn't engaged by the characters, their choices seemed stupid and the bad things that happen towards the end didn't shock or ram home any sort of point that hasn't been done better elsewhere.

there was just no interest in watching a gang of poor serbians wander the country in a van having sex in front of farmers.

the acting is below standard, the script rambles and the last hope of sex and violence is a waste of time.

watch 'a Serbian film' (uncut) instead.

This movie preceded A Serbian Film (2010) which had a similar approach. This one, however, focuses on porn and gore in an attempt to convey its supposed socio-political message.

The premise is that the Big Brother controls the Serbian society through various secret services. One of them hires the protagonists to tour the country with a porn theater. The purpose of the assignment is left unclear, but it might be a part of some political power struggle.

Apart from aiming at conspiracy theories, which are a kind of national sport in Serbia, there is nothing but shock value in this movie. Nevertheless, i also understand that a lot of critics and viewers considered it carrying a higher artistic message, which i haven't noticed...

I heard a lot about Life and Death of a Porno Gang. Being compared to A Serbian Film, saying it was equally disturbing and thought provoking and that it set the standard for extreme cinema in the future.

Personally i rate this film much higher than A Serbian Film. Both films tried to symbolize the difficulties of life in Serbia, but i felt with A Serbian Film, they tried way too hard to be provocative and the symbolism was lost in translation. However, Life and Death manages to create that sheer depression and desperation perfectly!

We have a group of people, put on the outer of society for the lifestyles they have chosen. They decide, to make money, to form a traveling show that features extreme sex acts. As they tour through the rural areas of Serbia, they are continually being hounded from the secluded communities, which ultimately leads them to even more desperate measures, involving making snuff films.

I am not aware of the situation of Serbia, but from what I hear, it is a pretty hard lifestyle. Survival of the fittest. I thought the movie really captured the cold, dark, dreary and depressing atmosphere of people facing desperation, and how far we will go to get ourselves out of the hole we just dug ourselves. I felt sorry for each character, as they regret all the terrible things they do, but facing starvation, they have little choice, which ultimately paints a VERY disturbing and depressing situation.

The film depicts extreme acts of sexuality and violence, so its definitely not for everyone. But if you want to test yourself and open your eyes to situations facing the less privileged, Life and Death of a Porno Gang comes highly recommended!

Zivot i smrt porno bande (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang) is the rare exception, at least for me, when it comes to extreme cinema. While most extreme films are mainly only made to shock audience members, this clever gem of a movie shocked me in an entirely different way. It was surprisingly funny, the story and characters were intriguing, and it had a certain visual style that could perfectly captured the mood of the film. If you can imagine if a game of Candlyland came to life, went feral, and was all captured on dirty 35mm film cameras, then you'd probably have some idea of what Porno Gang has in store.

"Life and Death of a Porno Gang" is a major work full of pain and despair, about the destiny of a torn apart nation, from a specific part of the world, but whose tragic existence can be found anywhere in these times of major transition in all spheres. It has the same fetid smell of the best films of Harmony Korine, Lars von Trier, John Cameron Mitchell or Jonathan Caouette, although director Mladen Djordjevic cleverly introduced humor all over his motion picture, as in those other filmmakers' products. It is just cultural differences that detract some people from the Serbian images. In "Life and Death of a Porno Gang" it is not easy to turn the head the other way, because Djordjevic avoided giving us a hint of the "nice side of Serbia ", and that is his right, in order to build the morality tale that is the result. Here you do not find the carefree indifference of blank young girls during spring vacation, the cannibalistic crisis of the bourgeois couples or the narcissistic defense of our LGBT bodies with our LGBT backs turned on the misery of other people's lives (and bodies), very characteristic of rich societies, living far from war, bombs and the smell of a pile of dead bodies. This is a rich work that makes you reflect (well, if you care about the film, anyway, or if you can see through its strong images) about the validity of ephemeral art, about the lack of ethics in all strata, the lack of information of people living in the inner country, the devaluation and depreciation of life, the exaltation of death and its cult, and (if you are curious of what happens beyond your national borders) it also urges you to find a bit of information about Serbians, Croatians and all the struggles they have been involved in the recent past. And perhaps above anything else, it makes you think about the validity of cinema today and if we really need the products that are being made. Here, Marko, a young film graduate, wants to direct his first feature, and ends up making snuff films. Cinema has gone a long way: once it was entertainment and, more importantly perhaps, it was an ensemble of many windows to the worlds beyond ours. There were no other lookouts but movies, to go, see, be informed, learn. That mission was fulfilled but now it has to be shared, and television and internet have mostly taken that role. Now we have multiple possibilities. But usually we have to see what the media companies want us to see. So cinema still has a place to fulfill, but those works are not being made. I believe that nobody needs a very high percentage of the movies made today. We get sex, violence, death, "action", fights, and so on, to anesthetize us… But we learn very little. I know some think they learn now a lot from Tarantino and a few others, as they did from Kubrick before. But in my time there were better sources of knowledge than Kubrick, and those movies are seldom talked about... Or they are called "pretentious". And then we wake up. But please do not follow the final example of Marko. Open your mind, watch better films and not the usual dose of crap, domestic, provincial movies, dressed up in special effects and syrupy music to make you believe you are a highly sophisticated "cinéphile", when you are just an Oscar follower.