Presenting a special Halloween double header: two Soviet cult classics that offer a witch’s brew of folk horror, gothic fantasy, and literary heritage.

Long described as the “first Soviet horror film”, Konstantin Yershov and Georgi Kropachyov’s Viy (1967) follows the misadventures of a seminary student forced to spend three nights with the corpse of a vengeful young witch. Long unavailable to foreign audiences, Valeri Rubinchik’s The Savage Hunt of King Stakh (1980) takes us to the misty swamps of Belarus and a village terrorised by the restless spirit of a medieval warlord. Together, they reveal a forgotten horror heritage rich with folk fantasy, practical effects, and exquisitely macabre production design.