One of the more exciting recent discoveries is Severin’s release of the Blu-ray & DVD of the rare 1967 Russian Horror Fantasy- Viy. This weird, wonderful film was never theatrically released in the States at the time, and only accessible later on Japanese laser discs. This gorgeous subtitled version is a cause for celebration. (The Blu-ray also includes three fascinating like-minded silent films).
Based on Nikolai Gogol’s “The Vij,” which was loosely adapted by Mario Bava as one of his tales of terror in Black Sabbath. This Russian incarnation was directed by Konstantin Ershov & Georgiy Kropachyov but the bizarre special effects were by Aleksandr Ptushko (The Day The Earth Froze and The Sword And The Dragon).
It’s about a goofy, tipsy, seminary student (in a bowl-cut hairdo) named Khoma (Leonid Kuravlyor) who gets separated from his friends on a walking sabbatical and spends the night in the barn of a witch. She climbs on Khoma’s back and, grabbing a broom, they fly over the land. That scene is so magical and lovely. But Khoma is so distraught about the satanic implications that, when they land on the ground, he beats the witch to death with her broom and she transforms into a beautiful woman (Natalya Varley).
Later down the road Khoms comes to a village and is summoned to the home of a wealthy man and asked to recite verses over the body of his daughter for three nights as she lies in state in a small church. To his horror, he discovers the girls’ body is none other than the transformed witch.
But each night of his watch, as he lights numerous candles and protects himself within a magic chalk circle, the witch rises up to torment him. She sheds a blood tear. She flies in the air attempting to break through his holy circle. Her coffin rises and she surfs around the room glaring at him.
Khoma attempts to relay this to the other villagers but they drag him back to do his duty in the church and the final night is where the witch summons all the “vampires and werewolves” to come out. Strange creatures climb down the wall, skeletons float through the air, their teeth chattering, and a hulking lumbering creature enters the church- the dreaded Viy.
Watching this end scene is to be struck by the imaginative, special effects. They help create this otherworldly nightmare universe filled with sinister creatures- many years before Clive Barker’s Hellraiser.
This wonder needs to be seen to be believed.
