Film

The first—and for many years only—horror film produced in the Soviet Union, this rarely-seen, sinister fairy tale boasts eerie, expressionist atmospherics and eye-popping special effects. Based on a story by Nikolai Gogol, it charts the unhappy fate of a young priest (Kuravlyov) compelled to sit vigil at the wake of a beautiful (un)dead witch (Varley) for three terrifying, demon-plagued nights. Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.

Memories of magic and mysticism mingle with ethereal footage of the witch women of the remote island of Lanzarote in this eerily beautiful short.