Strangler vs. Strangler (1984)

Belgrade. The mid-80s. For centuries Belgrade has been a cosmopolitan city, a center of art and culture, ultra-modern, and packed with plenty of people. But the coveted status of metropolis has long evaded the city. For that, Belgrade needs the king of all criminals: The Strangler! Enter Pera Mitic, a fat, bumbling, middle-aged florist who lives with his tyrannical mother. There are two things Pera loves more than anything else in the world: carnations, and cream pies. But when girls start refusing to buy his carnations, even going so far as throwing them at him, Pera decides to take drastic action.... And soon enough Belgrade is paralyzed by fear as a strangler is choking off the city's women! But Pera never remembers any of his crimes, only that he has done something his mother is going to scold him for. Meanwhile, across town, is the young punk rocker Spiridon Kopicl (who looks a lot like yours truly, albeit with glasses), who, because his dad married a hot young nurse after the death of his beloved mother, hates beautiful young women. He believes himself to be telepathically linked with The Strangler, and even writes a hit song about him! But when he falls for the sexy radio DJ, Sofija, his mind splits open and he wants nothing more than to win her love and strangle her. Lastly there is Comrade Inspector Ognjen Strahinjic, whose unusual crime fighting methods (such as talking to his cat) have made him the laughing stock of the city police. And it is not long before all three bumbling antiheroes are on a tragicomic collision course. Slobodan Šijan is a creative wizard. The film is shot in a kind of grainy half-sepia tone that gives it the look of an old-school surrealist horror movie, but it is also filled with wacky slapstick comedy, and absurd humor up the wazoo. Tasko Nacic, one of Serbia's most popular comedians, gives the performance of a lifetime as Pera. He comes off as a kind of fifth murderous Marx Brother, and the scenes with his mother are nuggets of comic gold. But just when you think you have settled down into a delightful, but somewhat morbid comedy, Šijan takes a 180 degree turn into pure horror, but without ditching the sardonic edge. I love genre benders like this, and even more so when all of the various elements clash and melt together in a strange and delightful mix. Easily one of my new favorite discoveries.