Popular reviews

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  Review by Marna Larsen ★★★★★ 4

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  But when that skeleton shows up, I actually gasped. So, so cool. I always put this on my Halloween watchlist and never get around to it, which is a shame because this would be perfect!

  Creepy, coffin surfing, the wilting daisy crown in her hair. Even a very 'well, that was fun, back to life' (or death, depending) ending where the villagers discuss what really happened...but no one knows. And when they had to prise the flaps off the viy's eyes! I'm smiling just thinking about it.

  Funnier than I was expecting, too: the scene where he's like 'I must have music' of course someone immediately produces a tin pipe. #149

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  Review by Robert Berlin ★★★★½ 10

  Spooky Scary Horrorthons 6 - Film #11

  What starts out looking like a wild stoner comedy set in the picturesque countryside of Ukraine soon turns into a tragedy about a frightened man struggling with his fate while a witch mocks him from beyond the grave. As these mystical events unfold things get quite wacky.

  The folklore roots of Viy feel incredibly apparent, with all the obvious morality lessons and whatnot. The grey, sluggish state of the world surrounding our religious protagonist seem to amplify the evolving state of misery and dread that he succumbs to as he continues to have his nightly confrontations with the witch.

  The true action of Viy takes place in a church which turns out to…

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  Review by Kodiak ★★★½

  Totally worth the incredibly dull first hour for the last 15 minutes, cause that was some bonkers stuff, man. Loved that part.

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  Review by Daniil333 ★★★★½ 1

  Evil Dead + Andrei Tarkovsky + Bergman = Vij 

  Vij is actually one of the best horror films that I have seen. Recommending

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  Review by Sally Jane Black

  The simple beauty of handcrafted sets and monster costumes, the intensity of the witch, the strange folktale narrative's twists and turns wrapped around something almost sensible, the monks giving a goat a book... It's not simply a preference for older ways of doing things or some sort of nostalgia; it's about seeing depth and life in a fucking movie. The huge costume of the demon at the end wouldn't be out of place in a Muppet film (I say that as both the highest of praise and an admission of its unreality), but the way it portrays its own weight (the rumbling, the eyelids) does more for the scene's atmosphere (intimidating), whimsy (it opens the world up), and the performance…

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  Review by 1313: Tony the Terror ★★★★ 3

  For a 77 minute film, it does take a little too long to get going and that had me worried I was not going to like it, but once it does get to the good stuff, that stuff is great!

  The dubbing and obviously low budget make it all seem a little silly for maybe the first third of the film. However, once the horror starts I was extremely impressed with the imagery and what was accomplished on that small budget.

  Definitely worth a watch for the historical significance and also for the creepy skeleton dancing around which may be etched into my brain forever. I couldn’t decide if it was really hokey or really terrifying, but either way I shan’t forget it!

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  Review by Paul Elliott ★★★½

  Based on the horror novella by Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol, which was initially published in the first volume of his anthology of tales in 1835, Viy is a colourful movie concerning witches, with a hidden political subtext. Produced by Mosfilm studios, which is one of the oldest in Europe, it features an exciting variety of practical effects and set designs by Aleksandr Ptusjko which perfectly captures the tone of Gogol’s adapted folktale. Viy’s significance as the first Soviet-era horror film released in the USSR is merely the beginning of what makes this so extraordinary.

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  Review by Lars Henriks ★★★★½

  I am always looking for obscure, weird movies to watch. Movies that nobody knows about, tiny, secret jewels, forgotten by time.
  Most of those fucking suck.
  "Viy" is one of the reasons I keep trying.
  As a massive fan of "The Witch" and folk-horror in general, I HAD to watch this as soon as I had heard about it. And I was so happy I did! The look of the rustic, rural setting is gorgeous. The creepy atomsphere that is being built up works perfectly. There is even some wild, fantastic imagery going on in this mostly pretty subdued movie.
  It's a true treasure that deserves more attention. Watch "Viy". Chances are, you'll like it a lot.

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  Review by nathaxnne [hiatus] ★★★★½ 9

  I like watching witch movies mostly for vibes and solidarity. I don't find witches especially scary. Generally unless we are up to some Evil Queen or Helena Markos #girlboss shit we spend our time foraging, researching, meditating, communing, tripping out, chanting, riding the night, u know, stuff that rules!!! In order for there to be witch horror someone somewhere has to fuck with a witch. Now this witch can be living or dead it does not matter. Life and death, materiality and immateriality, are less salient for witches than they are for people who care about such things? They are an alteration in form, in degree, not in kind, not in being. We are with the Mother, we are one…

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  Review by Edgar Cochran ★★★★★ 9

  If you combine Bergman and some of Bresson's metaphysical elements with the subsequent fantasy touches of Pasolini in 1974 and the random horror/fantasy insanity that Raimi popularized so much with his NC-17 classics, you get Viy, a groundbreaking glimpse into the collision between the impossible magic of celluloid and a "Tarkovskian" struggle of faith against demons. Unique and influential masterpiece that opened new boundaries for camp fun in the most artistic way possible.

  99/100

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★½

  Viy is based on the same story by Nikolai Gogol that inspired Mario Bava's Black Sunday. This film adaptation goes in a different direction - instead of mainly straight horror we get a tale based more around faith, with the main plot depicting a young priest who must preside over the corpse of a deceased witch in a church for three nights. It's a slow start - the film half is basically set up. It does set the tone - surreal fantasy style elements, with matt painted backgrounds that give the film a real unique look. There's a bizarre jocular sense of humour which runs throughout too. It all livens up in the second half. The scenes in the church…

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  Review by Tori 🐛 ★★★

  Evil Dead’s weird Russian cousin who you don’t like as much.