7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In 19th century Russia, a seminary student is forced to spend three nights with the corpse of a beautiful young witch. But when she rises from the dead to seduce him, it will summon a nightmare of fear, desire and the ultimate demonic mayhem. Based on the classic novella by Nikolai Gogol.
Starring: Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin, Nikolay Kutuzov, Vadim ZakharchenkoForeign | 100% |
Horror | 98% |
Drama | 21% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Russian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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. . ."
Video quality is assessed in the above linked review of the standalone release.
Audio quality is assessed in the above linked review of the standalone release.
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.
- The Portrait (480p; 7:53)
- The Queen of Spades (480p; 16:30)
- Satan Exultant (480p; 19:30)
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Лептирица | The She-Butterfly | Limited Edition
1973
Il demonio
1963
Temnye vody
1993
1970
She-wolf
1983
1970
1989
1993
1987
1988
1983
1988
De dødes tjern
1958
1981
Kladivo na čarodějnice / Witches' Hammer / The Witch Hunt
1969
1974
دختری در شب تنها به خانه میرود / Dokhtari dar šab tanhâ be xâne miravad
2014
2013
1993
Chi o suu bara
1974