Leptirica (The She-Butterfly, 1973) is based on a revered classic of Serbian nineteenth-century literature, the short story 'After Ninety Years' by Milovan Glisic. Its hero is Strahinya, a poor lad in rural Serbia who falls in love with the local landowner's daughter: in order to prove himself worthy of her love, he has to spend a night in an accursed mill. It is said that a vampire is sucking the blood of unfortunate mill men, thereby bringing the village to the verge of famine. Strahinya manages to survive the night (more through clumsiness than courage), but the vampire escapes. Luckily, the lad learns the vampire's name and, following a prolonged search, the creature's grave is found. A group of villagers seemingly dispatch him with a stake through the unopened coffin, but the young man has yet to meet the real horror - on his wedding night...
