Cave Of The Living Dead - 1964 - Yugoslavia

Cave Of The Living Dead - 1964 - 5/10
AKA - Der Fluch der Grünen Augen

After death number six, Interpol sends agent Dorin to a small village.
While all the slain women show neck punctures, the local doctor marks heart failure.
Villagers disdain strangers, yet live in fear of the grotto area, as well as the castle.
And – the titled professor who has taken it over.

 
Superstition be damned, Dorin soon finds a cross more effective than a pistol.
Not to mention the local gypsy fortune teller, more attuned than the doctor.

 
Routine storyline from Yugoslavia, with assorted character types, easy to differentiate.
The photography, sharp black and white, deep shadows, cutting and angles, is first rate.
Locations from cave corridors to castle interiors are sheer Gothic, and look authentic.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3359933

Ward - 1973 - Yugoslavia

Ward - 1973 - 6/10
AKA - Štićenik

 
Young man Mihael, on the run in a bleak countryside, seeks refuge in an asylum.
Steadily pursuing is a man in a black cape.
Mihael begs for, and is granted, shelter, where his paranoia and violence escalates.
The mysterious hunter could be a guardian, could be Death.
Yugoslavian film mixes supernatural hints in obscured mystery.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subscene/155246

The She-Butterfly - 1973 - Serbia

The She-Butterfly - 1973 - 6/10
AKA - Leptirica

Vule makes the fourth miller that year to be murdered.
Villagers curse their bad luck, wonder if a vampire is among them.
More importantly, who will mill their grain?

 
Wait!  There’s young Strahinja, who desperately wants to marry the village beauty, Radojka.
Radojka’s father refuses, however, as Strahinja is poor.  So, he accepts the perilous miller job.
Like males in general, he fails to see the depths within the girl he desires.

 
Superstition with scattered pratfall comedy.
An hour film that packs several themes, history, village lore.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3356785

The Maiden’s Tune - 1973 - Yugoslavia

The Maiden’s Tune - 1973 - 6/10
AKA - Devicanska Svirka

The coachman drops Ivan off in rural oblivion.
No one is willing to carry him further, so Ivan begins to walk.
Until he is transfixed by the castle, the eerie music and haunting song.

 
Circumstances unfold and Countess Sibylle begs his help.
Her enters her coach, enters the castle, and is soon dazed.
Sibylle is seductive, kittenish, fragile, neurotic.

 
While repressed, one gathers she is also sexual and dangerous.
Ivan, the young gallant, is caught between the eyes, the heaving breasts, and desire to help.
Glacial pace, excessive closeups, yet the ending, inside  the music chamber, will linger.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3356533