Region: All
Video: Pan and Scan for TV
DVD Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33:1)
Audio: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel
Language: English, French, Russian
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Russian, German, italian
Weight factor: 1 item(s)

Plot Synopsis

This Russian film adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's story was for a long time the only horror film made in the Soviet Union. Khoma (Leonid Kuravlev), a young novice, travels across the countryside and stays for a night in a barn that belongs to an ugly old woman. When she attacks him at night and takes him for a broom ride, the scared novice fatally wounds her, and before she dies, she turns into a beautiful young noblewoman (Natalya Varley). The latter leaves a will, according to which Khoma should pray for her for three nights in the chapel until her body is buried. At night, the witch rises from the coffin and tries to catch Khoma. She flies around but she can't reach him or see him because he stays inside the circle that he has drawn around himself. During the third and last night, the witch makes the last attempt to scare him out of the circle, and she calls all sorts of ugly creatures to help her... Gogol wrote several stories based on Ukrainian folklore, many of them dealing with the Devil and the supernatural. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

Editorial Reviews:

Though bereft of the suggestive violence of many European horror films of the 1960s, the Soviet-made Viy compares visually to sources as diverse as the silent-era black-and-white expressionistic motifs of F.W. Murnau and the primary color contrasts of the Hammer films of Terence Fisher. The sparse production design is effective in evoking the unreality of the story. Ironically, the weakest visual element is the titular monster, but he's confined to a brief appearance in the film's otherwise superb climactic scene. Given that the story avoids building up anticipation of his presence, he functions adequately without disappointment. The protagonist, Khoma (Leonid Kuravlev), treats his clerical duties as though they were a job rather than a calling. If he has much faith at all, it is faith in conformity. On the critical third night, instead of continuing to pray for the salvation of the dead, he curses the witch girl and calls for God to strike her. It is at this moment that his circle of protection fails him and he is killed. His job was to pray for her soul. His protection ended when he stopped doing his job. The film's epilogue scene reinforces the theme of conformity through work. In it, two friends bemoan Khoma's passing and speculate whether or not he is truly dead. Just as they start to question the official version of his fate, an authority figure approaches and asks them if they are working. Clearly frightened, they quickly make themselves look busy. The authority figure tells them to keep on working and the film ends. What scant hope the workers may have is found in their passive adherence to structure. Kuravlev's performance is essential to making the film work. Khoma is not particularly likeable, but the audience sympathizes with his situation. He's more overwhelmed by circumstance than the tragic victim of some greatly personal flaw. Though she has little dialogue, Natalya Varley is eerily radiant as the witch. Overall, this is a fine film with brisk pacing and vivid production design. In that there is no hero, and not much promise of a better future for the survivors, it is also a much more bleak film than Western audiences are accustomed to. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide