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Viy (1967) N
A Russian horror fantasy based on Gogol's story.
A seminary student named Khoma gets involved with a witch on his way home. He ends up beating the hag near death when she suddenly turns to young girl. He runs away but is later called to pray for rich merchants dying daughter. It turns out that the daughter is the former witch and spending three days praying by her body isn't as easy as it sounds.
Viy is more fantasy than horror and it's more fun than scary. There are few drunken scenes that made me laugh out loud. Initially I though that Viy was mangling Gogol's story badly but after quick Googling I realized that I had mixed Viy with another story (Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's Ubir - not sure if the title is correct as I can't find full bibliography for him but it matches the Finnish translation) and the movie appears to be quite faithful filming.
Film looks pretty nice and has some creative camera work. Most of the effects near the end look decent but Viy itself is kinda silly. Acting isn't the best and especially Khoma looks like he's stoned the whole time (well, I guess the character is drunk most of the time so maybe it fits). Witch in her young maiden form is beautiful (hence the two pictures on this review).
There's something in Russian cinema and it's way to tell a story that I don't like. I can't properly explain it but instead of a constant flow they're kind of like bouncing from one big scene to another. It feels weird and while I've got little used to it by now it's still something I dislike to some degree.
Little light on story and characters but visually beautiful and funny fantasy from Russia.
+
A Russian horror fantasy based on Gogol's story.
A seminary student named Khoma gets involved with a witch on his way home. He ends up beating the hag near death when she suddenly turns to young girl. He runs away but is later called to pray for rich merchants dying daughter. It turns out that the daughter is the former witch and spending three days praying by her body isn't as easy as it sounds.
Viy is more fantasy than horror and it's more fun than scary. There are few drunken scenes that made me laugh out loud. Initially I though that Viy was mangling Gogol's story badly but after quick Googling I realized that I had mixed Viy with another story (Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's Ubir - not sure if the title is correct as I can't find full bibliography for him but it matches the Finnish translation) and the movie appears to be quite faithful filming.
Film looks pretty nice and has some creative camera work. Most of the effects near the end look decent but Viy itself is kinda silly. Acting isn't the best and especially Khoma looks like he's stoned the whole time (well, I guess the character is drunk most of the time so maybe it fits). Witch in her young maiden form is beautiful (hence the two pictures on this review).
There's something in Russian cinema and it's way to tell a story that I don't like. I can't properly explain it but instead of a constant flow they're kind of like bouncing from one big scene to another. It feels weird and while I've got little used to it by now it's still something I dislike to some degree.
Little light on story and characters but visually beautiful and funny fantasy from Russia.
+