criterionforum.org

Bursting with startling imagery and stunning practical effects courtesy of directors Konstantin Yershov, Georgi Kropachyov, and perhaps most notably, artistic director Aleksandr Ptushko (the legendary special effects artist whose spectacular stop-motion effects and innovative colour cinematography has seen him referred to as the Soviet equivalent of Willis O’Brien, Ray Harryhausen, and even Mario Bava), VIY has influenced generations of directors for more than half a century.

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.

The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present VIY in its UK debut on Blu-ray from a HD restoration of the original film elements.

Exclusive to this Limited Edition, The Masters of Cinema series also presents director Djordje Kadijevic’s A HOLY PLACE [Sveto mesto] for the first time ever on home video in the UK.

• Limited Edition Exclusive O-Card slipcase
• LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE BONUS DISC: A HOLY PLACE [Sveto mesto] (1990, dir. Djordje Kadijevic) A adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s short story and a stunning example of Serbian Gothic cinema from director Djordje Kadijevic. Described by critic Dejan Ognjanovic as “an unparalleled excess of perversity and terror”
• New Interview with A HOLY PLACE director Djordje Kadijevic (Limited Edition Exclusive Only)
• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray
• Original Russian mono audio
• Optional English mono audio
• Optional English subtitles and English SDH
• Brand new audio commentary with film historian and eastern European cinema expert Michael Brooke
• Brand new video essay on Russian novelist and VIY author Nikolai Gogol
• Archival documentary on VIY
• Three Russian silent film fragments, The Portrait [1915, 8 mins], The Queen of Spades [1916, 16 mins], and Satan Exultant [1917, 20 mins]
• Newly commissioned sleeve artwork by Peter Savieri [TO BE REVEALED AT A LATER DATE]
• A collector’s booklet featuring a new essay on Aleksandr Ptushko by Tim Lucas, and a new essay by Serbian writer and film critic Dejan Ognjanovic

And of course, I get this right after receiving Severin's release. Oof.

Looks like that "Three Russian silent film fragments" are the same clips which were on the old Ruscico dvd disk of "Viy" from twenty years ago.

Yup - no reason for them not to be, since they've never been released by a UK label before.

Blueprint Review.

There's also a full-page rave in the current (April 2021) Sight & Sound, but at the moment it's print and proprietary digital edition only.

Beaviy.

A rewatch of this has confirmed what I already knew and that is that this is a genuine masterpiece of horror in part because it's so distinctly comic and charming compared to really any other horror film at the time. Helped especially because you have 2 comic actors in the lead roles who both in someway playing off bits of their personas but in a much darker form (Russian audiences today best know the monk actor's, Leonid Kuravlyov, for his scummy yet charismatic performances in Afonya and Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession while Natalya Varley was famous for her lead female role in Kidnapping, Caucasian Style culminating in an almost ghostly like figure in the climax which I'm sure helped her secure the role) but also because the source material was written by Nikolai Gogol who often wrote satirical literature and the film incorporates the humor of Gogol and the small town wonderfully.
So with the comic set-up alongside the initial use of fantasy with the witch's flight, the film almost lulls us into a sense of calmness (helped by the fact that effect's master Aleksandr Ptushko's reputation was pretty much noble heroic tales and classic kids tales adaptations), until Kuravlyov kills the witch and suddenly the atmosphere becomes darker where grief and apathy prevail to the point where even the comedy is an extension of the horror as Kuravlyov is treated with an uncaring attitude to his worries and that even as he tries to leave, the consequences of his actions catch up with him.
Which leads to the funeral scenes, which on their own are strikingly original and chilling set pieces but given the slow buildup they're all the more impactful when it reaches that point because of the rather casual and not slightly unnerving vibes of Act 2 which builds up a sense of realism until we pretty much forget that this is a horror film and not a comedy. So when Ptushko gets his chance to shine with his special effects, he really does and uses the best of his effects to deliver jaw dropping setpieces that are just stunning to witness culminating in one hell of a climax.

Does Sveto mesto play back unsatisfactorily for anyone else? There’s almost duplicate or missing video frames, so you get a “stutter” on any panning shots or where the camera is still, but there’s slow, steady movement within the frame.

Yes, definitely. It was a TV production so presumably shot 25fps, but it's wrongly been forced into 24fps on the disc, causing it to stutter once every second, instead of simply been sped up.

The same problem affects Tilbury in the All the Haunts Vol 1 set from Severin, also a TV production presumably shot 25fps.

Really shitty presentations and sloppy work from both labels, and I don't believe any reviewer picked the issues up. Both discs should have been recalled.

EddieLarkin wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:33 am Yes, definitely. It was a TV production so presumably shot 25fps, but it's wrongly been forced into 24fps on the disc, causing it to stutter once every second, instead of simply been sped up.

Are you saying they've just completely discarded a frame per second? That really is egregious if so. Frame duplication can be annoying enough if you're a person with an eye to notice it, but frame deletion should indeed be cause for recall.

EddieLarkin wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2025 9:33 amReally shitty presentations and sloppy work from both labels, and I don't believe any reviewer picked the issues up. Both discs should have been recalled.

If I remember rightly, Eureka was fully aware of this but it was apparently that flawed master or nothing. And since it was a limited-edition-only supporting feature, they decided that "nothing" would be the less appealing option. (See also my decision to go with The Seven Minutes as DVD-only support to Arrow's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls as Fox wouldn't supply anything better than an ancient analogue telecine – but since the film subsequently got locked up in the Disney vault I have no regrets about that decision whatsoever!)

At least one of Deaf Crocodile's Shahram Mokri films is in the same situation, which they actually flag up at the start, spelling out that the alternative was not including it at all. Thankfully, they're right that it's not overly distracting, as the film is mostly talking heads - it's only when the camera moves that it's hard to miss.

Yeah, I would have been surprised if this was a Eureka fuck-up, and more of a case of this or nothing. A real shame.