Viewers brand film banned in 46 countries 'sick' and it had to be edited to be allowed in UK

Srđan Spasojević made quite a splash with his directorial debut, but it wasn't really in the way he had hoped.

The filmmaker, 48, unintentionally managed to create the UK's most heavily censored cinema release in three decades with his macabre 2010 movie, which most viewers still can't sit through despite the most disturbing parts being cut out.

Talk about making an impression, eh?

The terrifying film is banned in 46 countries. Unearthed Films

So if you're in the market for some sleepless nights, possible physical sickness and being mentally scarred for life, A Serbian Film will be the perfect watch.

But if you want to hold onto your sanity, viewers reckon you should avoid it at all costs.

Festival director Angel Sala was led away in handcuffs after screening the exploitation horror film at the Spanish 'Sitges Film Festival' to an adult audience in October 2010, so that should give you a good indication of just how unsettling it is.

The dark thriller, famed as one of the most vile movies of it's genre, follows the journey of semi-retired porn star Miloš, who agrees to take part in an 'art film' to keep his family afloat before turning his back on the business for good.

But he soon realises that the job advert was a little more than misleading and that he has actually been hired to make a snuff film with themes of paedophilia and necrophilia.

Throw in some violence, drugs and murder and you've got yourself one of the most mortifying movies to ever be released. Take a look at the trailer here, if you can stomach it:

Due to the downright disturbing contents of A Serbian Film, a whopping 46 countries - including Australia, Malaysia, Norway, New Zealand and Spain - banned it.

The people who still braved watching it despite this reckon they have been traumatised for life, so do keep that in mind before you grab the remote.

One viewer said: "If you haven't seen A Serbian Film, do yourself a favour and never watch it."

Another wrote: "There is NOTHING more disturbing than this film. It makes The Human Centipede look PG."

And a third warned: "Please don't watch A Serbian Film, it has explicit scenes that will haunt you forever. Traumatising."

A fourth added: "That's still embedded in my brain. I wish I'd not watched it."

While a fifth chimed in: "I’m a big horror lover and A Serbian Film made me physically sick and I couldn’t sleep for a few nights."

Viewers said they had sleepless nights after watching A Serbian Film. Unearthed Films

Spasojević's outrageous project first debuted at the South by Southwest festival in the US in March 2010 and was scheduled to be shown in the UK in August that year, before Westminster Council put the mockers on it.

Amid fears about some of the really disturbing scenes, they said that A Serbian Film needed to be classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) before they would play it at that year's 'Film Four FrightFest'.

Although the BBFC said that it 'rarely cuts' cinema releases with an 18 certificate, they ordered a staggering 49 compulsory cuts, totalling up to four minutes and 11 seconds of removed footage.

This made it one of the most heavily censored UK cinema releases, only just behind the 1994 Indian film Nammavar, which lost five minutes and eight seconds due to it's violent content.

The organisers eventually decided to pull A Serbian Film from the festival instead, before it was released in cinemas in it's edited form - making it's duration 99 minutes - in December 2010.

The movie was heavily censored before it was allowed to air in the UK. Unearthed Films

You can catch this somewhat tamer version of it on Amazon Prime, but like I said, beware of what you're getting yourself in for.

Spasojević spoke of the controversy surrounding A Serbian Film and the arrest of Spanish festival director Sala, who was charged with exhibiting child pornography in May 2011 after complaints from a Roman Catholic organisation.

The charges were later dropped, but the director reckons all the kerfuffle around it just 'proved his film was right'.

During an interview with IndieWire about Spasojević said: “On the one side, it’s very funny that someone can still find movies and editing so mysterious, like some kind of devil’s work.

"Of course, on the other hand, it’s very sad. It proves my film was right. One of the things the film’s saying is that we’re not living in the free world. The way the film was made also represents our resistance to political correctness, to fascism.

"These kind of reactions are fun, interesting, stupid and very, very sad. It’s evidence that we’re not free people.”

Topics: Film, Weird, TV and Film, World News

Olivia Burke

Olivia is a journalist at LADbible Group with more than five years of experience and has worked for a number of top publishers, including News UK. She also enjoys writing food reviews (as well as the eating part). She is a stereotypical reality TV addict, but still finds time for a serious documentary.

@livburke_