VIY (1967)

In 19th-century Russia, a group of seminarians are released for what seems to be the equivalent of spring break. Though the rector tries to preach placid behavior, they are clearly full of piss and vinegar. As they travel that night through rural fields, three of them get lost. They come upon a farmhouse where a very old woman they refer to as Granny reluctantly lets them stay. Two of them sleep inside but one, the attractive but frat-boyish Khoma, has to sleep in the barn. In the night, Granny comes to Khoma and starts groping him, but when he resists, she jumps on his back, riding him like a horse until they levitate and start flying through the air. When they land, he pushes her to the ground and beats her violently, assuming she's a witch, and afterwards her unconscious body transforms into that of a voluptuous young woman. Khoma races back to the seminary where he is told the next day that he has been requested to conduct ritual prayers for the healing of a rich merchant's dying daughter. Sure enough, the young woman (referred to only as a "pannochka," or young unmarried woman) is the one Khoma has beaten, and she dies just before he arrives. The merchant asks him to stay and sit vigil alone for three nights of ritual prayers by her body in a barn-like chapel on the merchant's property. He tries to get out of the obligation but because the woman asked for him by name, the merchant insists. The first night, he stands nervously at a small pulpit and prays, getting more frantic when he sees a tear of blood on the corpse's cheek. Then the candles blow out and the witch rises out of her coffin. Khoma draws a holy chalk circle around him into which she cannot enter. The second night, the coffin itself flies up in the air and the witch curses Khoma by turning his hair white. The next morning, Khoma begs to be relieved of his job, but the merchant, now convinced by Khoma's stories that his daughter did indeed befriend Satan in her witchcraft ways, insists that Khoma stay for the third night so she might find redemption. But the third night winds up being the worst for Khoma as a parade of creatures and demons infests the chapel. Will he be able to hold to his sanity, or his life, to face another dawn?

This is a wild little gem, in Russian and only 75 minutes long. It doesn't look or feel like a movie from more than fifty years ago; indeed, except for the fact that the special effects are not CGI, it could pass for a fairly recent production. The colorful sets and effects are occasionally a bit artificial looking, but for me, that just added to the unique atmosphere of folk horror and fantasy. The Nikolai Gogol story this is based on was pawned off as folklore, but it appears to have been completely the work of Gogol's imagination. Still, it very much feels like an authentic folk story, though if there is a lesson or moral to the story, it's ambiguous at best (be nice to old ladies?). Though there are several actors and roles, this feels like a one-man show, carried very well by Leonid Kuravlyov as Khoma (pictured). If I'm not mistaken, he is in virtually every scene of the movie and his doofish befuddlement which turns to fear is conveyed well throughout. Near the end, he tries to escape the merchant's land but, as in The Blair Witch Project and episodes of The Prisoner, he winds up right back where he started from. It is said that the original story inspired Mario Bava's classic film BLACK SABBATH. The YouTube print is of the Blu-Ray restoration and it looks great. A little gem for Halloween night. [YouTube]