Movie Review: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (Blu-ray)

The sub-genre of “snuff films” in movies have been explored and even exhausted in many ways by filmmakers since Paul Schrader’s fantastic Hardcore. In 1997, there was even a book on the existence of snuff with Yaron Svoray’s book God’s of Death. It  took on this subject with compelling but seemingly fictional stories from the author who claimed to see a person killed on camera upon a visit to an Eastern bloc country.

A Serbian Film has gotten a ton of attention over the past three years as it not only explores the “snuff film” but takes the sub-genre to some sickening points.  Another film taking on the subject matter from director Mladen Djordjevic called The Life and Death of the Porno Gang recently came out of Yugoslavia. Synapse Films has been no stranger to tackling more obscure international fare which they often do a great job at. If you’ve only seen the movie at a film festival you’ll be happy to know that The Life and Death of the Porno Gang has made its U.S debut on Blu-ray and DVD.  Could it actually be better than A Serbian Film?

 

Marko (Mihajlo Jovanovic) loves making movies. He seems to have a lot of love for horror and exploitation but neither is doing anything for his career. That is until he be-friends a porn director named Cane (Srdjan Miletic). Like the states, porn is a huge in Serbia so Marko makes the decision to follow Cane's advice of making fuck films. Marko gathers up several of his friends (gay, straight, drug addicts and even a struggling actress) and starts to make his own films. Doing a live porn show soon becomes a viable option for Marko, so he makes strides to make it happen by putting on an energetic, crazy performance for an audience.

It doesn’t take too long for the cops to crack down on Marko and the gang and for him to be targeted by the local papers. Now it’s time to make the porno gangs antics a road show top avoid cops any unwanted attention. After one of the shows Marko is approached by an admirer of the porno gang’s performances. He’s a wealthy fellow from Germany named Franc who feels Marko should take the next step to the lucrative world of the snuff film. From here The Life and Death of the Porno Gang takes a very dark turn that’s so unique in tone to what you saw in the sex-filled and even funny first half.

Synapse Films has packed the Blu-ray with several fine supplements. There are numerous deleted and extended scenes that really are entertaining enough that they could have still been left in the film. One extended sequence is  part of what is easily one of the funniest parts of the film - the gang produces a porn film involving a farmer who fucks a whole in the ground, loads it with his splooge and creates psychedelic plants which junkies use that later turn them into zombies. Yes, you read that right! The big supplement is the inclusion of Mladen Djordjevic’s highly explicit Made in Serbia.  This feature runs at close to two hours and delivers a massive amount of sleaze that will make porn connoisseurs giddy.

Is The Life and Death of the Porno Gang better than A Serbian Film? I say yes. The story is solid, the acting across the board is pretty good and the filmmakers seem to really take advantage of the meager budget.  It edges that film (which I liked) for one important reason though – it has plenty of replay value. I’ll watch this Blu-ray again and even the documentary, which is something I couldn’t do with A Serbian Film. The Life and Death of a Porno Gang is funny, it’s sickening and frequently boner inducing. Most importantly, it's a great watch and yet another fine release by Synapse that should not be missed. Highly Recommended!

          ( Blu-ray screencaps come courtesy of Rock! Shock! Pop! )