The Reluctant Reviewer Who Somehow Still Clicked “Upload”
There’s a particular type of internet review that deserves its own genre, not horror review, not film analysis, no.
I call it “The I Didn’t Want To Make This Video But I’m Making It Anyway For The Algorithm” genre.
And that’s exactly the energy we’re dealing with here, early in the video, the reviewer announces something along the lines of:
“I don’t want to be making this video. I don’t want to say the things i’m about to say.”
Which is fascinating, because there is a very simple solution to that problem, don’t make the video.
No one forced a camera into your hands, no one demanded you open your editing software, and unless YouTube has secretly started holding creators hostage, pressing “upload” was entirely optional but somehow the video still exists.
It’s almost as if saying “I don’t want to make this video” has become a ritual disclaimer that allows someone to talk about controversial material while appearing morally above it, the internet equivalent of whispering “I hate gossip” before spilling all the gossip.
Not to mention once again, she claims in the movie there is a baby scene! not accurate
The Internet’s Favourite Hobby: Reviewing Movies They Barely Understand
Another recurring pattern in videos about A Serbian Film is that many reviewers treat the movie as a checklist of shocking moments rather than an actual narrative, instead of analysing structure, themes, symbolism, or the broader context of the film, the review becomes a dramatic retelling of scenes designed to make the audience gasp.
And then something interesting happens, every review starts sounding exactly the same. Same talking points, same descriptions and same outrage.
Almost as if everyone watched someone else’s summary first and decided that was good enough, when every review of a film sounds identical, it usually tells you something important. It tells you most people aren’t analysing the film, they’re repeating the mythology around it.
The Problem With “I Don’t Want To Talk About This”
The reviewer repeatedly frames the video as something they feel uncomfortable discussing, which again raises an obvious question. If the goal was to avoid discussing disturbing material, why build an entire video around describing disturbing material?
This is where the contradiction appears, the reviewer wants the moral distance of someone who disapproves of the film, while also benefiting from the attention that comes from talking about it. It’s the cinematic equivalent of saying: “i’m absolutely disgusted by this, but let me describe it in detail for ten minutes.”
The Reputation vs The Reality
A Serbian Film has developed a reputation online that is honestly larger than the film itself, for many people, the movie exists as a list of rumours rather than something they’ve actually watched. And when reviewers rely on those rumours instead of the film’s actual narrative, the discussion quickly turns into exaggerated folklore, which is how you end up with audiences believing the film contains things it literally does not.
At that point the conversation stops being about cinema, it becomes internet telephone, where every retelling becomes more dramatic than the last.
Shock Is Not Analysis
Another thing that happens in many reviews is that shock becomes the entire point, the reviewer recounts controversial moments with dramatic reactions, but rarely examines the film beyond that, and that’s where the discussion falls apart because extreme cinema has always been about more than shock.
Whether someone likes A Serbian Film or hates it is completely irrelevant, what matters is understanding what the film is attempting to say. Extreme cinema often explores themes like exploitation, power, corruption, and control. It deliberately pushes viewers into uncomfortable territory because discomfort forces reflection.
Ignoring that context reduces the entire film to a shallow internet horror story.
The Review That Didn’t Need To Exist
So we return to the opening claim: “I didn’t want to make this video” and after watching the review, the strange irony becomes obvious, the video didn’t actually add much to the conversation. It repeated the same talking points that have circulated online for years. It reinforced the same exaggerated reputation the film already has and it did all of this while insisting the creator didn’t even want to be talking about it.
Which raises one final thought, if someone truly doesn’t want to discuss something, the internet provides a miraculous feature called silence. You don’t need a disclaimer, you don’t need a dramatic introduction.
You simply, don’t press upload.
Here is the YouTube video, if you do wish to put yourself through repeated descriptions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuqWOl_q4lw
P.S. This isn’t a personal attack against the reviewer, this post is simply my response to her review and a critique of the points made in the video. The video itself is publicly available, and i’m sharing it so readers can see the original context for themselves. She has every right to publish her video and express her opinion, and I equally have the right to analyse and respond to it. My intention here isn’t to target the creator, but to challenge the repeated misinformation that often surrounds this film. I’m simply not going to stand back and watch a movie be dismissed by people who appear to be repeating second hand talking points rather than engaging with the film itself.