Writer(s): Ershov, Kropachyov, and Aleksandr Ptushko, based on a story by Nikolai Gogol
Starring: Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin, and Nikolay Kutuzov
Viy is based on the exact same Nikolia Gogol story that
served as the inspiration for Mario Bava’s Black Sunday; but whereas Bava
used the story in the loosest sense, Konstantin Ershov and Georgi Kropachyov
(who directed and co-wrote the screenplay, with Aleksander Ptushko) aimed for a
more faithful recreation. The end result
is an interesting work, one that baffled me with odd choices every bit as much
as it excited me with others. It’s probably
the only movie that has polarized me so much, as my own opinion swayed from one
extreme to the other, until it ultimately ends on a satisfying note.
Khoma Brut is a philosopher from the Brothers’ Monastery, a
school in Kiev. One night, he and two fellow students are
looking for a place to find shelter and food for the evening, when they get
lost. Eventually, they find an old house
in the middle of the wilderness, run by an old woman. At first, she instructs them that there is no
room for them, but then relents, under the condition that they are fine with
sleeping separately. The other two get
to sleep in the house; Khoma is confined to a barn.
In the middle of the night, the old woman visits Khoma. He thinks that she is trying to seduce him,
but suddenly she climbs on his back and rides him, in mid-air, all through the
countryside. Once they land, Khoma beats
the old woman with a piece of wood, and is astonished to find that she has
turned in to a beautiful young woman.
Immediately, Khoma returns to Kiev, but only for a short time—the young
woman is dying, presumably from her injuries, and has requested that Khoma
watch over her corpse for three nights, reciting Psalms all the while. At first, he is unsure why the lady has
requested him specifically, but it doesn’t take long for him to figure out that
the old-lady-cum-young-woman is a witch, and this is a punishment for the
severe beating he inflicted.
Try as he might (and he tries hard), he cannot escape the
request; all attempts to flee are met with cohorts thwarting him, while
pleading with the young woman’s father results in emotions befitting a man who
is trying to honor his dying daughter’s wish.
And so he is forced to carry out his sentence, locked in a small room
with a witch hellbent on revenge, and armed only with a Holy Bible. Can he survive?
The simple plot is a thing of beauty, and a breath of fresh
air from most modern horror films: there are no convoluted plot twists or red
herrings to follow; this is just one man and his faith, versus a woman who
wants to avenge her own murder. The idea
alone is gripping stuff, and when Viy focuses on this twisted relationship,
it is nothing short of remarkable.
Unfortunately, the nighttime sequences end before any atmosphere can be
maintained, and the film suffers from a confusing identity crisis.
Is this a horror film, or a comedy? Now obviously, I know the two genres don’t
have to be mutually exclusive, and I’ve enjoyed many a-movie that have blended both
into a unique cocktail of laughs and grue.
But the problem is, it’s evident that Viy does not intend to combine
them; like oil and water, it wants the two genres to work together, but
separately. So what we have are daytime
scenes that focus on Khroma, who the film makes clear is both a coward and a
doofus (and plays this for laughs), and nighttime scenes that remove all forms
of laughter, and focus entirely on scares.
It wants to have its cake and eat it too, but the sudden changes in tone
does more harm than good; we’re left with basically a half-baked casserole of humor
and terror, where neither aspect is allowed to gel.
This might be the first time I’ve ever said this, but Viy’s 77-minute runtime is almost painfully short. By the time it finally gets around to the
first (of three) night sequences, the movie is more than halfway over, and I
was bitterly disappointed to find that the first two nights last somewhere
between 5-10 minutes. Literally, one
freaky thing happens for a couple of minutes, and all of a sudden the rooster
crows and it’s daytime. There’s simply
no way for it to build tension on this kind of time frame, and that is its
biggest flaw. Even the final night,
which is a masterpiece of cinematography and makeup effects, still only lasts
about seven minutes. With an elongated
ending, it really could have packed an even stronger punch.
On a technical level, Viy suffers from unevenness. The nighttime sequences are amazing, with
excellent photography and lighting effects that evoke a great atmosphere. Yet there is a lackluster quality evident in
many of the day scenes; the first few minutes of the movie especially feature
lots of clumsy shots and editing that give the movie an amateur feel. Maybe this is what the filmmakers were going
for, to give the movie some added laughs and to set up Khroma as an imbecile,
but I thought it was more awkward than anything.
Really, the way I feel about the movie itself is strongly
reminiscent of the battle between “good” and “bad” that takes place
onscreen:. For everything I can say
“good” about the movie, something “bad” would help to steal away some of the
momentum for me. In the end, good
manages to prevail, but the battle was a lot closer than it had any right to
be.
RECAP: One of the most divisive films I’ve ever seen, Viy
managed to have me swaying from one end of the point spectrum to the other. On the one hand, the nighttime sequences are
incredibly well shot, with excellent lighting to boot, while the daytime scenes
focus more on what an incredible doofus main character Khroma Brut is, playing
everything for laughs, as if wanting to downplay the terror of its
material. Another first for me: Complaining that a movie is too short. This is a 77 minute movie that easily could have
added another twenty minutes, which would have allowed it to properly develop
(and maintain) tension. I’m recommending
this for horror fans, but this is merely a “good” film that could have been so
much more.
RATING: 6/10
FULL MOVIE
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