Viy (1967)
A young priest must survive three nights with a witch's corpse; perfect for fans of horror and supernatural thrillers.
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
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Viy(1967)
Overview
While traveling during a break from religious school, a young student has a violent encounter with a suspected witch in a remote village. Soon after, heโs forced to keep vigil over a young womanโs body for three nights inside a small church, relying on prayers and fragile faith as supernatural forces close in.
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Review Summary
Pros: striking old-school visuals; eerie folk-tale mood; playful dark humor | Cons: thin story; uneven pacing; effects feel dated
Will You Like This?
Youโll likely enjoy this if you want a strange, fairy-tale-flavored Soviet-era horror with spooky chapel set pieces and a touch of humor; Not for you if you need fast scares, gore, or a deep plot like Storm of the Century.
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When the horror bits get going, it's delightful--there's some super creepy makeup effects going on here. Pity these moments are sort of few and far between, making even a 75 minute movie feel like it drags a bit.
Fun characters, charming effects, and a simple story. A quick and easy to watch movie.
The movie is fantastic, the characters are amazing, the story is really good but all the effects are in-camera so it feels a bit dated compared to some other classic horrors. This would be a perfect candidate for a modern remake. Overall -really enjoyed it and would recommend.
[Filmin] Restored version of a film with the value of the context and its status as the first Soviet folk horror movie. The confrontation between paganism and religion, marked by the presence of a witch, stimulates the proposal, much more effective in a second part that directly embraces the genre of terror, than in the first part, more comical. It is not clear whether it influenced or was influenced.
Catching up before it''s leaving Shudder. An absolute classic. Also one of the best folk horror I''ve seen and it''s funnier than I expected. It takes a while to get there but the second half was a riot! Khoma, a seminarian and his weavering faith has to watch over a '"deceased'" witch body for three nights encounters gradually increasing horrors each night. It''s very creepy and atmospheric with wonderfully inventive monsters. The lead in his bowl-cut and was fantastic. I love the colors, textures, scenery, and practical effects! Shudder only has the one with English dub but it wasn''t that bad.
Featured User Reviews
_Viy_ is a movie this is only going to appeal to arthouse snobs or perhaps Russians who are more familiar with the folk tail. Being that I am neither, I found this boring. There is no story to speak of here. If you've read the synopsis, you've seen the movie: a witch curses a priest, he is tasked with watching her corpse, she haunts him for three nights. The end. This did not need to be a feature film. Were it a short film or a stage play, it would work better. There are, however, a few redeeming qualities: it looks amazing, particularly the lighting; The moments in the church, between the witch, and priest are stelar. This is an effects-heavy film: think Jan Svankmajer or George Melies. So, it does have a charm to it that you can only get with old films, where they feel more like magic shows, and must have been astounding for the time. Unfortunately, I have seen better. All that will stick with me is a witch wearing a flower crown. Post script: In an early scene, our protagonist, Khoma, kicks a pig in the face. I was ready to write this off as merely acting, using forced perspective. Trouble is, later on, we have a pig being dragged by his ears. If you can agree that it's wrong to abuse a dog or cat, then you have to also agree that it's wrong to abuse a pig. If you disagree with all of that, then you're a sociopath; in which case, I can momentarily adopt your amoral philosophy to demonstrate that it does not hold water when applied against you.
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.
