After beating a shape-shifting witch to death, a cowardly seminary student is forced to say prayers over her possessed corpse for three consecutive nights. Based on the works of Nikolai Gogol.

Hey kids! Who wants to see a Soviet horror film? Hey! Where are you all going? It’s better than it sounds!

Well actually, that’s inaccurate, there are no soviet horror films. Why? The answer to that question is multifaceted. To keep things short let’s just say that real art cannot exist under a totalitarian regime; in the USSR, film was seen as a tool to “educate” the masses, not entertain them. Horror in particular with its primal individualistic and non-materialistic slant was unwelcome. (Check out this essay for more information.) This film, despite its horrific elements is a literary adaptation based on the works of Nikolai Gogol. (He was one of Russia‘s cheerier writers, until he killed himself by self-inflicted starvation. This is all you need to know about Russian literature.) The only reason a film like this would have been allowed was that as nationalist literature, it was perceived as being “good” for the proletariat. An original work of horror fiction could never have been produced. Imagination is much too base and bourgeois.

That’s not to say that the film itself isn’t entertaining, just a bit inaccessible for many American viewers. While watching the film, one may notice a resemblance to the troika of Russo-Finnish fantasy films featured on MST3000. Indeed, the same Aleksaandr Ptushko who directed said films was a co-writer and also supplied the special effects for ‘Viy’. Anyone who has seen any of the three (‘The Day the Earth Froze, ‘The Magic Voyage of Sinbad’, ‘The Sword and the Dragon’) will recognize Ptushko’s signature style. This film is as beautiful as it is goofy. The blue-screen and giant puppet effects employed are jarringly phony, and yet they seem to fit the fantasy world they portray quite well.

The acting is, well let‘s be charitable. I‘m not going to judge the acting in a communist state-sponsored production of a literary adaptation of a Russian folktale by the same standards of realism as I would judge the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Some of the minor characters are a bit hammy, but the leads are good enough for their roles.

Cinematography is surprisingly flat (aside from the aforementioned goofy sfx shots). The time and place are conveyed well enough, but they just aren’t that interesting to look at. There’s a few too many gents with old timey facial hair and shots of livestock milling about. Unfortunately, the film is obviously padded. Even with long stretches of not much added to the proceedings, the film is only 1:11 long. It’s all the more shameful, as it’s the film’s only serious flaw. The story should have been seriously trimmed down and paired with another classic tale-ala ‘Kwaidan’ or 'Black Sabbath'. (Gogol wrote other uncanny tales, such as ‘The Overcoat’ that would have been apropos.)

However, sitting through the first section of the film is not without its rewards. It tends to lull the viewer into a false comfort, which makes the final section of the film all the more unearthly. Our unfortunate young student must spend three nights in the company of the witch’s corpse. Unfortunately, she doesn’t really feel like having prayers read over her. The church where the confrontation takes place marks a serious change in the film’s tone. Filled with shadowy corners, dripping candles and grimacing icons, when the “philosopher” sets foot into the little chapel the audience sets foot into a different movie. The first night, the body weeps bloody tears before blindly groping for the student in the darkness. The second night, she torments him by using her own casket as a battering ram, and the third night, well….

I’m not going to tell you what the witch does during the third night, but it’s a lulu. The title character finally makes an appearance, although he is the least convincing effect of the scene. (Ptushko uses a giant Muppet-like suit to bring Viy to physical conception. It can be either utterly disturbing, or deliriously silly depending on your view of puppets.) The final prayer scene has impact of a Goya etching come to life. It really doesn‘t matter that it‘s not realistic, in fact, it wouldn’t be half as effective if it were.

In the end, ‘Viy’ is a nice little oddity, if not much else. The film isn’t very engaging, and I doubt anyone over the age of 12 years old would find it terrifying. It has the aftertaste of functional but soulless workmanship that you would expect from a socialist production. However, if you have a taste for weird cinema, or just crave a unique film viewing experience, you need look no further.