Horrorfest 2013: Viy

Now let's head off to Russia for 1967's VIY, a horror flick based on a Gogol story with the distinction of being the first horror movie released during the Soviet era.

VIY stars Leonid Kuravlev, a n'er-do-well of a philosophy student who finds himself abducted by a witch on a night away from the seminary where he is studying. After a psychedelic flight through the night on her broom, the student is able to beat the witch to near death, only to find out that she was actually a beautiful woman (Natalya Varley) who had been possessed.

The next day the student is surprised to find that he has been summoned to the bedside of the same possessed woman he has just escaped -- she wants him to say prayers over her. Mystified, the student attempts to resist, but is ushered to her side where he is eventually tasked with saying prayers over her dead body for 3 nights.

The nights turn out to be hellish, as all manner of demons appear to tempt and harass the student.

Gogol loves his black humor and this film was surprisingly funny in parts, getting some laughs out of the reluctant, frightened monk. The special effects aren't great, but in some ways that adds to the horror -- the witch and demon effects are so matter of fact, that it doesn't leave much room for any kind of interpretation. You're just faced with exact, traditional representations of what these creatures are supposed to be, and the filmmakers are left with using the oldest tricks in the book to pull it off.