SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Lugo1989 I came across this film completely by chance. I have never heard of it before even though I was born in Slovenia , which used to be a part of Yugoslavia. The She Butterfly has a very simple premise. It is shot in a beautiful countryside whose inhabitants are puzzled and shocked by the murders of five millworkers. It is clear that it is a doing of a malevolent presence. 1h3min running time is perfect. The film never drags or loses momentum. It also contains some quirky humour which you will especially enjoy if you are from the Balkan region. But the highlight of the film, in my opinion, is the soundtrack. It amplifies the general atmosphere and gives the whole film a haunting and eerie feel. Definitely recomended if you are a fan of old school horror.

Red-Barracuda A fellow IMDb user alerted me that this 70's TV movie was in fact the very first horror movie from Yugoslavia. I can't honestly say I have actually seen any others myself but this fact did leave me somewhat intrigued for sure. 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. Unlike most other European vampire presentations, though, the creature here is a long way off the sophisticated aristocratic blood-sucker variety and is instead a filthy feral beast with excess body hair, sharp nails and teeth. This seems to tie in more accurately with the traditional Serbian model which is like a cross-over between a vampire and a werewolf. I very much appreciated the difference here and had never before seen a depiction of this creature done quite in this way. It felt a very authentic rendering and one which seemed to have emerged organically from Serbian culture.Similar to the tradition of fairy-tales from eastern and central Europe, there is also a fearless ambiguity to how events are played out on screen. Many aspects are never explained fully and remain tantalisingly remote and enigmatic. 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. These types of unusual details possibly are not explained fully as the intended Yugoslavian television audience perhaps were expected to understand them from widely told folk tales from that country. 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. After all, the unknown is often the lair of the scariest things of all. 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. It's a very interesting alternative indeed to the more traditional Gothic fare from Western Europe.

imavrin I couldn't agree more. It is one of the horror that scared me the most when I was a child. Spooky vampire story from the Balkans - a short description of the movie. B&W technique makes it even more scary. "Leptirica" is based upon a short story an I've read it - "Posle devedeset godina" (Milovan Glisic the author). I can only say it is almost as scary as the movie. Recently I had three opportunity to see "Leptirica" again. And it is still scary (and I'm not seven years old any more). There are only three chiller scenes, but even those three are too much. The atmosphere itself is scary enough. I give it 10 because it's the only horror that scared me twice.

krdr-mft Leptirica is the part of three movie projects. Project intended to introduce fantasy and horror to Yugoslavian film production. With very small budget and the cream of exYu movie makers, it shacked whole movie scene. Serbian folklore and literature is full of fantasy stories (even science fiction). Authors used the Milovan Glisic's novel:"Ninety years after" for scenario.Actors and camera is excellent, and the pace is very good. There is some inconsistencies that can be filled by novel. I think Kadijevic was forced to cut some scenes. Movie have lack of thrilling atmosphere, but all scary scenes are even scarier. They are surprising. Yugoslav movie makers didn't have experience in horrors, but Leptirica is rare gem within yu movies. It is milestone. All later horror movies fixed mistakes of Leptirica.Beside that, it takes me twenty years to get courage to watch it again! It took a hell out of me!Twenty years after it is not scary at all to me. I know what and when to expect from the movie, so it is some bit silly to me. But, if you never seen Leptirica before, watch it!