Viy

Mr. A. Peacock

at 2:35 am

Viy (or The Vij) one of the lesser known works of the brilliant writer Gogol’s; is a supremely creepy story. However the film isn’t really in the same catagory.

It begins in a camp jolly way, a long time ago in the past in Russia, with a small group of friends stopping off at a creepy house owned by an even creepier old (and slightly pervy?) woman. From that point on a story about dreams, witchery, demons and punishment unfolds.

The concept is certainly interesting, and the story itself is aswell, it just doesn’t translate that well to the big screen, the story itself doesnt particularly develop enough or last long enough to become totally engrossed, in many ways it is a sort of Edgar Allan Poe-esq short story; which in book form would be exciting, translated to the screen it just wouldn’t be eventful enough.

The film features in the book ‘1001 films you must see before you die’ which is the sole reason i bought this film, also i presumed it would soon be out of circulation anyway; but i can’t really figure out why it is. The demon’s themselves at the finale are supposed to be amazing, but in reality their all pretty similar and don’t really do anything.

I suppose it is worth seeing for the general idea behind it, as it is unlike anything you’ll have seen before; it’s certainly an oddity in cinema history, but it’s up to you whether that merit’s watching it; in my opinion it probably deserves 3 stars (at most) but unless your a particular fan of rare russian cinema then you probably won’t rate it higher.

HOWEVER! Other than the film itself, there is a particularly strong reason for buying this film: And that is the dvd itself. I’ve personally found that alot of dvds for Russian film’s are insanely weird (Artifical Eye’s Andrei Rublev, for example) but this one is undeniably the weirdest of all. The layout of the menus is so confusing and yet so infinite, you can find all manner of completely random things on the dvd; there are the usual dvd fodder like notes on the film etc, then there’s a feature or two about Gogol himself and the source materia; but after that you can stumble across random silent russian films from 1912 onwards and other things which i don’t want to spoil for you if you end up buying this dvd! All i will say is that there is absolutely no logic to the utterly bizarre features and shorts you’ll find!!

Worth buying for the Special Features alone!!
Rating: 3 / 5

Steven Taylor

at 5:29 am

If you’re a fan of the writer or of fairytales,this is for you ,given you’re not a snob about trendy effects or reading subtitles…It is a great film because it’s a literary translation of an interessant story about a shapeshifty witch, the daughter of a rich kulak or lordling,who seems like a hag and is yet a beauteous damsel who abducts frivolous seminary students for piggyback trips through the sky…It’s not really scary but it is a fun romp and I thought the effects excellent and effective-It is theatrical and of its time,to be sure but so what?It’s a european and a mythical theme and people still love such tales as it is a picturesque antidote to both the thematically bland or shabby and tendentious fare Hollywood stills churns out…It’s good but many of the extras never played on my copy although the three silent films did as did the Gogol film…Good extras even then-A worthy buy.
Rating: 5 / 5