Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Viy Blu-ray Movie Review

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as both a standalone release (with different supplements) and as a part of All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror.

All the Haunts Be Ours advertises itself as "the most comprehensive collection of its kind", which may initially beg the question as to "kind of what?". But the release also comes with a front cover sobriquet proclaiming it "a compendium of folk horror", which may then beg the next obvious question as to what exactly "folk horror" is. In that regard, this set begins with a fascinating and diverse documentary which has its own subtitle referencing folk horror, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, which provides a veritable glut of clips from international films which director (and this entire set's guiding light) Kier-La Janisse has assembled to help define the genre, but perhaps the best answer is to simply echo a certain Supreme Court Justice named Potter Stewart who was trying to decide a case involving supposed pornography, and who famously opined, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it. . ."

Viy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality is assessed in the above linked review of the standalone release.

Viy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality is assessed in the above linked review of the standalone release.

Viy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Perhaps because Severin has packaged this film on a disc with another film for this set, one of the supplements on the standalone release is not included with this version.

• From the Woods to the Cosmos (1080p; 34:46) is a really interesting overview of Soviet fantasy and science fiction films by John Leman Riley. This featurette may be worth the price of admission alone for some historically minded genre enthusiasts.


• Trailer (1080p; 1:53)


• Soviet Silent Horror

  The Portrait (480p; 7:53)

  
  

  The Queen of Spades (480p; 16:30)

  
  

  Satan Exultant (480p; 19:30)

Viy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's something almost indelibly "Russian" about Viy, and those with an interest in the folklore (real or imagined) of this country will find a lot to like about this film. There's actually not a ton to the story (it's kind of interesting to read how various analysts have come along in the wake of Gogol's original and subjected the tale to all sorts of interpretations, some rather fanciful), and so the film's relatively brief running time is not an issue in terms of development. Some of the special effects are charmingly quaint by today's standards, but the film definitely has style in abundance and some very effectively spooky moments. Technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable, though this version is missing the enjoyable Richard Stanley interview included on the standalone release. Recommended.