The Horror Pod Class Episode 123: Viy (1967)
live from the Dr. Roman Armitage Memorial High School AV Room Welcome to episode 122 of The Horror Pod Class. This week it is Viy. My name is Tyler and I am the editor in chief of Signal Horizon a magazine dedicated to exploring genre fiction in and out of the classroom.
What are We watching/reading
Tyler: Double Dead Chuck Wendig. Shadow and Bone. Devils Carnival
Orrin: Precious little this week, more’s the pity, as I’m buried in one work thing or another.
Dark Corner of the Web: Episode 93 of The Outer Dark.
Essential Question: What can VIY tell us about Gothic Literature and Filmmaking
SUMMARY: A young priest is ordered to preside over the wake of witch in a small old wooden church of a remote village. This means spending three nights alone with the corpse with only his faith to protect him.
Directors: Konstantin Ershov, Georgiy Kropachyov
Writers: Konstantin Ershov, Nikolay Gogol (story) (as Nikolai Gogol) | 2 more credits »
Stars: Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin | See full cast & crew »
Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
 | Leonid Kuravlyov | … | Khoma |
 | Natalya Varley | … | Pannochka (as N. Varley) |
 | Aleksey Glazyrin | … | Sotnik (as A. Glazyrin) |
 | Nikolay Kutuzov | … | Vedma (as N. Kutuzov) |
 | Vadim Zakharchenko | … | Khalyava (as V. Zakharchenko) |
 | Pyotr Vesklyarov | … | Rektor / Dorosh (as P. Vesklyarov) |
 | Vladimir Salnikov | … | Gorobets (as V. Salnikov) |
 | Dmitriy Kapka | … | Overko (as D. Kapka) |
 | Stepan Shkurat | … | Yavtukh (as S. Shkurat) |
 | Georgiy Sochevko | … | Stepan (as G. Sochevko) |
 | Nikolay Yakovchenko | … | Spirid (as N. Yakovchenko) |
 | Nikolay Panasev | … | Uteshitel (as N. Panasev) |
https://www.academia.edu/7113566/Viy_as_Dracula_Selling_Russian_literature_One_More_Time
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3086175?seq=1
Talking about the Nun
Def in the Gothic Tradition and in that way could be quite useful for classrooms
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-movements/gothic-literature/characteristics
Good Detailed Breakdown of Gothic Lit
Some heavy Mime action towards the end.
Its like the mountain fight in LoR
Color palette is rad.
Black Sunday is based off of the short story
Keeping the dead company really makes me think of the Vigil which is GREAT!
Four Films: It’s a trick question, because there ARE no other films like Viy!
Orrin: Haxan (1922) and Black Sunday (1960)
Tyler: The Nun (2018) Hagazussa: A Heathens Curse (2017)
Anonymous Letterboxd User
It looked really good but the story was slow as shit. For only being 77 minutes long, it dragged. Some shots were really dope and the creatures towards the end was genuinely creepy. Shoutout to Mother Russia. Like The Weeknd said, “You want to be… high for this.” Good news tho, I definitely found my new haircut inspiration in this movie. CLOSING
Next Week: Saint Maud with Nadia Bulkin
Tyler has been the editor in chief of Signal Horizon since its conception. He is also the Director of Monsters 101 at Truman State University a class that pairs horror movie criticism with survival skills to help middle and high school students learn critical thinking. When he is not watching, teaching or thinking about horror he is the Director of Debate and Forensics at a high school in Kansas City, Missouri.