Friday, January 15, 2021

VIY (1967) gets a Masters of Cinema Limited Edition Blu-ray release in March from Eureka Entertainment

VIY [Вий] (Masters of Cinema) Blu-ray

One of the greatest horror movies of all-time - Indiewire

Eureka Entertainment to release VIY [Вий], the ground-breaking gothic folktale made in Russia during the Soviet era, presented as a Limited Two-Disc Blu-ray Edition (3000 Copies Only) as a part of The Masters of Cinema Series from 15 March 2021. The Limited-Edition will feature a Bonus Disc containing A Holy Place (1990, dir. Djordje Kadijevic) and an exclusive O-Card Slipcase.

Bursting with startling imagery and stunning practical effects courtesy of directors Konstantin Yershov, Georgi Kropachyov, and perhaps most notably, artistic director Aleksandr Ptushko (the legendary special effects artist whose spectacular stop-motion effects and innovative colour cinematography has seen him referred to as the Soviet equivalent of Willis O’Brien, Ray Harryhausen, and even Mario Bava), VIY has influenced generations of directors for more than half a century.

In 19th century Russia, a seminary student is forced to spend three nights with the corpse of a beautiful young witch. But when she rises from the dead to seduce him, it will summon a nightmare of fear, desire, and the ultimate demonic mayhem.

The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present VIY in its UK debut on Blu-ray from a HD restoration of the original film elements.

Exclusive to this Limited Edition, The Masters of Cinema series also presents director Djordje Kadijevic’s A HOLY PLACE [Sveto mesto] for the first time ever on home video in the UK

VIY (Masters of Cinema) New & Exclusive Trailer https://youtu.be/keuYSRXwcVg

Eureka Store https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/viy-limited-edition-set-3000-copies/

Special Features:
Exclusive O-Card Slipcase 
- 1080p presentation on Blu-ray | Original Russian mono audio 
- Optional English mono audio 
- Optional English subtitles and English SDH
- Brand new audio commentary with film historian and eastern European cinema expert Michael Brooke 
- Brand new video essay on Russian novelist and VIY author Nikolai Gogol 
- Archival documentary on Nikolai Gogol
- Three Russian silent film fragments, The Portrait [1915, 8 mins], The Queen of Spades [1916, 16 mins], and Satan Exultant [1917, 20 mins] 
- Newly commissioned sleeve artwork by Peter Savieri 
- Original 1967 Trailer 
PLUS: A Collector’s Booklet featuring a new essay on Aleksandr Ptushko by Tim Lucas, and a new essay by Serbian writer and film critic Dejan Ognjanovi

EXCLUSIVE BONUS DISC: 
- A HOLY PLACE [Sveto mesto] (1990, dir. Djordje Kadijevic) An adaptation of Nikolai Gogol’s short story and a stunning example of Serbian Gothic cinema from director Djordje Kadijevic. Described by critic Dejan Ognjanovic as “an unparalleled excess of perversity and terror” 
- New Interview with A HOLY PLACE director Djordje Kadijevic (Limited Edition Exclusive Only)

DETAILS:
Label: Eureka Entertainment
1967 
77 MIN. 
1.37:1 OAR 
SOVIET UNION 
FANTASY / HORROR 
COLOUR 
15 MARCH 2021
Certificate 12 (TBC) 
Director KONSTANTIN YERSHOV & GEORGI KROPACHYOV 
Language RUSSIAN
Blu-ray Cat. No. EKA70415 
Blu-ray Barcode 5060000704150 
Blu-ray RRP £25.99­