A Holy Place

I've not seen much of the Yugoslav cinema and I'm not such deep in to that. But this movie encourages me to try more, certainly in the horror genre. It belongs to the more defined and Gothic genre of horror which unfortunately isn't that much justified in the Hollywood.

Its always a good experience to watch the visual performance of some piece of literature, and its better when the general atmosphere of the movie retains the depth or at least the mood defined by the author.Though this isn't the literary adaptation, it definitely has some real creepy scary moments. There is definitely a dark side to erotics and its done good here. The character Katrina seems fitting in the Gothic erotic. A good pick for the fans of Gothic horror.

Three seminary students are walking home from a fair when one of them, Toma, is almost hit by a carriage containing a beautiful woman no one else sees. As evening draws near, the trio come upon an isolated farmhouse and ask the old woman who lives there if they can spend the night lest they be set upon by wolves. She agrees and later on, in the middle of the night, she comes to Toma and starts taking off her clothes. When Toma rebuffs her, the old hag attacks him and rides him through the fields like a stallion but by reciting the Lord's Prayer, he's able to throw her (the way a horse would) and beat her to death - whereupon she changes into the beautiful lady in the carriage. Toma doesn't tell his friends what happened and the next day, the head of the monastery orders him to go to their benefactor's feudal estate and read prayers over the man's dead daughter for three consecutive nights. When he gets there and looks in the coffin, it's the young woman (?) he'd killed the night before...

This one's got it all- misty moonlight, howling wolves, hanging cobwebs, church crypts, cackling crones, a beautiful witch who rides men in more ways than one, a black cat in attack mode, a young man's hair turning white overnight, an erotic painting, superstitious villagers telling scary little stories in sepia-like flashbacks -and don't ask how the village idiot got that way (oh, OK, he was boinked senseless). Surprisingly, none of it's cheap, cheesy, or over-the-top and there's also nudity, lesbianism, and incest but even so, it's a terrific blend of sex & horror with a real sense of dread by the time the third night approaches. It's a good, "grimm" Eastern European fairytale for grown-ups -catch it if you can! The director's LEPTIRICA (1973) is also very good.

Almost two decades after the cult "Leptirica", Djordje Kadijevic brings us another, now also a cult horror film, based on the short story "Viy" by Nikolai Gogol. In relation to the source material, "A Holy Place" follows the basic flow of the story, but while, perhaps due to the budget being too low for special effects, it omits the multitude of supernatural beings that the story abounds in, on the other hand, it expands its erotic elements and deepens the characters by inserting, in the original non-existent, flashbacks from their past. As a result, we got an excellent script, which is the strongest asset of this production. Everything else is at a much lower level.

The production gives the impression of a film at least a decade older than it actually is, and could perhaps fit somewhere in the seventies. The general atmosphere and visual experience for most of the film leave the impression of comedy rather than horror. Maybe it should have been. Comedy is something that fits both Serbian mentality and our authors, and if you look back at the best achievements of Serbian cinematography, I think you will agree that most of them are comedies, followed by dramas. Horror is not our forte. This impression is additionally contributed by Dragan Jovanovic in the leading role. Let's face it, he's a great stage actor and comedian, and I love him a lot, but for this movie, he's totally wrong and completely kills any chance of establishing a creepy atmosphere.

The rest of the cast is quite good, the music neither stinks nor smells, I can't decide whether are the motifs directly taken from "Leptirica" plus or minus,... All in all, a solid film worth seeing, but don't let the status of best Serbian horror get your hopes up too much, because it didn't deserve it by being a masterpiece, but by its lackluster competition ("Variola vera", "Serbian film" and "TT Syndrome" prevent me from using the term non-existent).

7,5/10 (this 0.5 just to raise it above "Leptirica")

It is one of the best Balkan horror movies , really scary . Story about young Serbian monk . He must singing ope-lo 3 nights in small village church , In church is a death young woman Katrine (she was dyed mystery).Young monk every day listen scary stories about Katrine , and at night he goes to church to singing ope-lo at night. Whats happenings in church i don't tell...

Its very hard to find this movie , in Serbian only in VHS format (videotape) but a have some Dix (VHS rip).This movie someone must work up to DVD format (i think at Croatian JADRANFILM) because movie is a fantastic!

Yugoslav cinema has produced number of great comedies and dramas, but horror movies have never been better than mediocre. It just doesn't suit mentality of Slavic people. Every movie looks and feels goofy and naive, suitable only for children and ones with that kind of sensibility. Sveto mesto, both visually and thematically, is anchored in time which has passed a long time ago. I just can't comprehend it was made in 1990.! It is bleak from every angle. Music by Lazar Ristovski is really dumb and spoils atmosphere every time it plays. There are some good/spooky moments though. Acting is nice, especially Danilo Lazovic in a supporting role. If Sveto mesto had been made in 70's, maybe it would struck a chord, but either way it feels kind of cheap. I can't recommend it, but it wouldn't hurt watching it.