Leptirica

Landowner Živan visits a mill on the edge of the forest, bringing a bag of wheat to be milled into flour. While he converses with the miller Vujo, strange sounds are heard outside the mill and force Vujo to run outside in his attempt scare off what he believes is the bird making the noises. Živan displays concern when he realizes Vujo plans to spend the night in the mill to finish his work. The two spot Živan's daughter Radojka on the hill with her sheep and Vujo comments how beautiful she is, stating that she looks "like a she-butterfly". During the night, Vujo once again hears strange sounds coming from the woods. While he sleeps, a millstone suddenly stops working and a strange human-like creature with black hands, hairy face and long teeth and nails attacks him. Vujo is overpowered and the creature bites his neck. The millstone is seen starting to turn again. Vujo's body is discovered in the morning by one of the peasants from the nearby village, who runs off in horror and informs the village chief about his discovery.

The film turns to a romance between Radojka and a poor young man named Strahinja. Živan refuses to allow approve their marriage. Disappointed, Strahinja leaves his village and goes to Zarožje. He meets peasants discussing the cursed mill and accepts their offer to become the new miller. He spends the night in the mill and survives the attack of the creature, finding out its name - Sava Savanović. The villagers visit the oldest woman in a neighboring village and ask her if there is a grave of someone called Sava Savanović somewhere nearby. After finding the place where his body is buried, they nail a stake through the coffin and a butterfly flies out of his mouth.

The peasants help Strahinja take Radojka from her home and bring her to Zarožje. During the night, while the villagers are preparing the wedding, Strahinja sneaks into his future wife's room while she is asleep. As he undresses her, he discovers a bloody hole under her breasts and realizes it is from the stake they used to impale Sava's coffin. Radojka opens her eyes and transforms into a disgusting hairy creature which climbs onto Strahinja's neck while he is trying to run away. She leads him to Sava's grave where he manages to take the stake out of the coffin and impale her.

The film ends with Strahinja lying motionlessly on the ground and a butterfly in his hair moving its wings.

• Mirjana Nikolić as Radojka
• Petar Božović as Strahinja
• Slobodan Perović as Živan
• Vasja Stanković as Kmet
• Aleksandar Stojković as a peasant
• Tanasaije Uzunović as The priest
• Ivan Đurđević as a peasant
• Branko Petković as a peasant
• Toma Kuruzović as Vule

The movie was filmed in the village of Zelinje, near the river Drina, close to the city of Zvornik. The mill that appears in the movie is still in its original location.[5]

• Cinema of Yugoslavia
• Cinema of Serbia
• List of films based on Slavic mythology
• Vampire film

• Leptirica (Full Movie) on YouTube
• Leptirica at IMDb
• Leptirica at Rotten Tomatoes