Variola Vera (1982) | Region-Free (DVD) | Directed by Goran Markovic

Title: Variola Vera (1982)

Alternate Title: Вариола вера

Genre: Drama, History, Horror

Plot Synopsis:
An Albanian pilgrim returns to Yugoslavia from the Middle East, unknowingly infected with a disease believed to have been eradicated. As his condition deteriorates, he is transferred to a hospital in Belgrade, where the medical staff struggles to identify his illness. By the time they realize it’s smallpox, the virus has already begun to spread. The hospital is quarantined, and both patients and staff must confront the ensuing epidemic, revealing various facets of human nature under duress.

Cast and Crew:

• Director: Goran Marković
• Writers: Goran Marković, Milan Nikolić
• Cast:
  • Rade Šerbedžija as Dr. Grujić
  • Erland Josephson as Dr. Dragutin Majcan Kenigsmark
  • Dušica Žegarac as Dr. Marković
  • Varja Đukić as Dr. Danka Uskoković
  • Rade Marković as Superintendent Čole

YouTube Trailer:
Variola Vera | Trailer

IMDb Link:
Variola Vera (1982)

Reviews from Letterboxd:

1. Michelle – ★★★★☆
   “Variola vera is the virus that causes smallpox. This is a Yugoslavian film about smallpox spreading in a hospital, but it’s shot like a horror movie! Everyone has to quarantine for 21 days AFTER the last case but it keeps spreading so they end up staying in the hospital for a long time and subsequently people start going crazy. Has a super creepy score (there is a flute cue that pops up every time someone gets infected). Not your usual outbreak flick.”
2. Justine de Sade – ★★★★☆
   “Now that’s a real life horror story. Inspired by the events from 1972 (smallpox epidemic which probably serves here as a metaphor for the Yugoslavian system), Variola Vera provides truly claustrophobic atmosphere of a hospital cut off from the world with people being trapped in it, missing supplies and the army guarding all the gates. Fear of the invisible enemy, hopelessness, mistrust, the worst and the best in people coming out. Great movie.”
3. solh – ★★★☆☆
   “Titled after the Latin name for smallpox and inspired by actual events, this Yugoslav movie follows an outbreak of the disease at a Belgrade hospital with panic ensuing. The film is cut from the same cloth as Contagion, and while never as engrossing as that with less enticing characters, the film has enough effective small touches that the overall movie works. A flute has particularly eerie connotations here, playing whenever someone is infected, and the film does well depicting the chaos that ensues as the hospital is quarantined with nobody allowed in or out.”

Meta Description:
“Variola Vera” (1982), directed by Goran Marković, is a Yugoslav drama-horror film that portrays the outbreak of smallpox in a Belgrade hospital, exploring human behavior under quarantine and the ensuing chaos.