The vampire shadow "Leptyrica" (or "Butterfly" in Russian translation) is based on the famous Serbian legend about the vampire Sava Savanović, who lives in an old mill near the village of Zarozhje on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. This image originates from the work of the Serbian writer Milovan Glišić “Ninety years later”. According to the plot of the book, at night, a wurdalak penetrated into a mill standing on the outskirts and killed every miller who dared to stay there overnight, drinking the blood of the unfortunate.
This story started a long time ago. It was so long ago that no one remembers how she got flesh. Only old people still tell the ancient legends about how Savanovich brutally killed his lover for not accepting his proposal, and then the locals killed him. He's not dead. They say that they see him often at night in the old mill, and none of those who walk in those parts return.
In fact, in remote Serbian (and indeed Eastern European) settlements, legends of vampires and ghouls are still alive. Walking on the streets of the village of Zarozhye, you can inadvertently see garlic rolls on the doors, protecting from the mysterious nocturnal inhabitant of these places. This mill is an absolutely real place, but it collapsed a few years ago, and the locals are afraid to repair it, so as not to disturb Savanovich. Now it is a real tourist attraction of these places.
Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the Serbs made a film based on this legend, slightly changing its components, but reliably conveying the temper of the people and life of those places. According to the plot of the film, a poor man named Strahinya stops for a visit to one of the remote Serbian villages and falls in love there with the daughter of a miller. To prove his feelings to her and at the same time earn a little extra money, he decides to stay the night at the old mill, which is considered home to the guerilla Sava Savanovich.
Talking about such films as Butterfly, it is always difficult to give them any assessment, because this film is included in the Serbian archive fund and, of course, is a classic. Of course, the "angular" camera work, a somewhat naive by today's standards script and directing, although rich in stylistic techniques, but still not ideal due to the limited budget of the picture, should not be an obstacle to watching the film. In the end, this is a wonderful adaptation of an ancient legend, which has real foundations.
On the direction, by the way, it is worth dwelling on in more detail. Director and screenwriter George Kadievich brilliantly conveyed not only the atmosphere, but also the feeling of animal fear of the unknown. Fear, as you know, the thing is irrational, and the same remained the main villain of this picture - a guerilla Sava Savanovich. For the whole film, it will be shown once in a glimpse, but this is surprisingly enough, because the main thing in this scene is the frightened look of the main character and the premonition of a further nightmare.
Cinema is suitable for folklorists, collectors of vampire legends and in general all those who are interested in the subject of ghouls, because we are talking here, neither much nor less, about the first vampire in popular pop culture. Yes, it was Savanovich, because the writer Milovan Glischich published a story about a terrible beast from the village of Zarozhye for several years of the release of the cult work of Stoker.
“Butterfly” is one of the most curious vampire tapes, a real rarity that will help to understand and be inspired by the amazing culture of Eastern Europe and its ancient legends. The very end of the tape, by the way, also directly refers to the ancient beliefs of Europeans, so let it not seem too metaphorical to you. That's the truth.
10 out of 10