Viy

~ The Soviet Union’s first horror film! ~

Overview:

A seminary student on monastery holiday kills an old witch in a remote village. The hag then transforms into a beautiful young woman whose dying wish is for him to watch over her wake for three nights. With terrors occurring and his faith waning, he reads prayers on the overnight watch and tries to survive the supernatural encounters.

Director:

Georgi Kropachyov

Status:

Released

Language:

Russian

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

witch
village
evil spirit
corpse
demon
gothic horror
folk horror

Cast

Leonid Kuravlyov

~ as ~

Khoma Brut

Natalya Varley

~ as ~

Pannochka, the Centurion's Daughter

Aleksey Glazyrin

~ as ~

Centurion

Nikolay Kutuzov

~ as ~

Witch

Vadim Zakharchenko

~ as ~

Freebie

Petro Vesklyarov

~ as ~

Dorosh

Vladimir Salnikov

~ as ~

Horobets

Dmytro Karpa

~ as ~

Overko

Stepan Shkurat

~ as ~

Yavtukh

Georgiy Sochevko

~ as ~

Stepan

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 2 year(s) ago
7
I gather this is one of the few "horror" films ever made during the Soviet era and it plays rather well on the superstitions of a rural population who are pretty much scared of their own shadows! "Khoma" (Leonid Kuravlyov) is a young priest who is charged with sitting with the corpse of a young woman. Locked, overnight, inside a small wooden church, he must protect her body from the evil spirits that might emanate from the depths of Hell to corrupt not just her, but him too! The eponymous "Viy" is the mightiest of those demons who is determined to seduce the young man - but can the faith and strength of this man of God prevail? I really quite liked this - it is maybe a bit over-scripted, but the visual effects are fun and there is (deliberate) humour amongst the scenes of mayhem as coffins - and their occupants - whizz around the church scaring the cassock off the innocent and frequently terrified "Khoma". The denouement - well that has to be seen to be enjoyed. Don't let the opening few minutes - a bit fable-esque - put you off, this is easily as entertaining as anything Hammer were chucking out in the late 1960s and there are some quirky supporting characters to keep it lively for a quickly paced eighty minutes.