Viy

The Yugoslav adaptation of Gogol’s stories from the early nineties was scarier, but this old Soviet version is still quite interesting. Those night scenes in the church are good even today, especially the third and last one. A beautiful showcase of legendary monsters, vampires and werewolves. I won’t write off the new version prepared for next year (2012), so many more attractive things can be done with this. In any case, if you are interested in horror cinematography, you shouldn’t let this gem pass. (29/08/2011)

Viy or Spirit of Evil was created based on a high-quality horror short story by the classic Russian literature author N. V. Gogol, where the author enriched traditional elements of gothic novels with East Slavic mythology and 19th-century Russian realities. Furthermore, he seasoned it with typical Gogolian sarcastic irony. The film is a reflection of its country and its time, and it is pointless to compare it to, let's say, Anglo-American examples, which could rely on a long genre tradition and significantly greater financial backing. It is even more pointless to measure Viy or Spirit of Evil against contemporary genre creations. It is the first attempt at a horror film in the USSR, and its special effects aspect now provokes a slight smile, but by no means mockery. Unfortunately, where the film should escalate, namely during the final encounter between the guardian of the tomb and Viy, the work of the artist, who had done very decent work up until then, lacks inventiveness, and therefore the atmosphere is not there. Viy now belongs to the category of films valuable from a historical perspective and interesting for genre fans as well as enthusiastic cinephiles for expanding their horizons. Overall impression: 60%. By the way, a remake is currently being planned, and I'm really curious to see if it will be just an imitation of American horror B-movies. Otherwise, the potential is great, and I would truly be glad if someone finally made use of the extensive East Slavic mythology to create an original horror film. What would a film that used the motif of Baba Yaga or Mokosh or Leshy, witchcraft, and others be like? (18/06/2013)