#23 - Viy (1967)

Viy (1967)

(dir. Konstantin Ershov, Georgiy Kropachyov)

While traveling at night, a young seminarian named Khoma has a run in with a witch. After she hops on his back and forces him to fly around, he ends up beating her nearly to death before she turns into a beautiful young woman, at which point he runs away in confusion. The following day, a rich merchant asks for a priest to come and say prayers for his dying daughter, and asks for Khoma by name. She dies before the young priest can arrive, and he is horrified to discover that she is the witch he killed. He is forced to stand vigil over her corpse for three terrifying nights.

I don't know much of anything about Soviet cinema beyond Tarkovsky, so I didn't know what to expect from what was the only horror film from this era. It's based on a short story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol and has the tone of a Russian folk tale (fun fact I just learned: Bava's classic Black Sunday is a very loose adaptation of the same story). It looks better than I expected, and I'd compare it favorably to a Hammer film from the same era. The directors LOVE tracking shots and it seems like almost every scene has some sort of camera movement, which for the most part helps keep things visually interesting.

Most of this film is fine and charming but unremarkable, but the last act where Khoma is in the church praying over the witch is absolutely fantastic and fun as hell. The interior of the church is maybe my favorite set I've seen in a long time, it's all covered in cobwebs, melted candles, and paintings of angry-looking saints and it looks amazing. Everything that happens is really fun. At one point the witch's corpse surfs around the church on her coffin, and later swarms of demons come pouring out of the walls. Most of the creatures look really goofy, but in a good way. I was grinning throughout the whole thing.

If the idea of a '60s Soviet horror film interests you, or if you like wild creative costuming and set design, I definitely recommend checking this out.