By Tristan Bishop
Despite an undeniably huge influence on the development of cinema (think Eisenstein and Tarkovsky), Russia doesn’t have a rich history of horror films, preferring to deal, at one end of the scale, with epic social(ist) realism, and on the other with lavish adaptations of classic fairytales. Whether this is down to regional tastes or the interference of government censorship (which was heavily in place right up until the 1990s) is a matter for debate, but aside from the occasional dark treatment of the aforementioned fairytales (1967’s Viy, which is a visual delight – and in fact was remade last year) and the blockbuster Nightwatch duology (which despite featuring vampires was closer to epic fantasy than horror), not much of note has been added to the annals of horror from Mother Russia.
Now along comes III, from second time director Pavel Khvaleev, to attempt to redress the balance. Set in an unspecified (and actually kind of confusing) time period in an equally unspecific rural region of Eastern Europe, sisters Ayia and Mirra are taking care of their dying mother and making plans to leave the village after her impending death – whatever illness she is suffering from seems to be spreading amongst the village. However their plans are dealt a swift blow when Mirra also succumbs to the illness. Having now lost their family home, Ayia takes Mirra to the local priest, Father Herman, who was a friend of the family, and he takes her into his own home to convalesce. As Mirra’s condition worsens, Ayia discovers a very strange (and rather unchristian) book of what appear to be magical rituals among Father Herman’s possessions. Realising that this may hold the key to helping Mirra, Ayia begs Father Herman for his help, and he relents, but the bizarre rituals that he enables might be life-threatening for all involved.
On first glance, III doesn’t really stray all that far from the standard Russian fairytale path – two young sisters left alone in the countryside to fend for themselves, for instance – but Khvaleev’s film strays into a direction more akin to, say, the possession subgenre in the second half, and the ‘dream’ imagery employed during the ritual sequences comes straight out of a Silent Hill nightmare world sequence (beds surrounded by chains; hideously deformed, lurching creatures). These are used to examine the power and influence of religion in Eastern Europe, which is undeniably an interesting concept.
The first thing that will strike the viewer about III, however, is the visuals. Every shot is stunning, with great use of colour and composition; it’s really no lie to say that the entire film looks like a painting, which is a real treat to anyone expecting yet another rough-around-the-edges low budget chiller. I’ve not been able to find any information about the budget of the film but I suspect it’s one hell of a lot less than any recent Hollywood horror film, and it looks ten times better, so full credit is due to cinematographer Igor Kiselev on what astonishingly appears to be his first film.
Unfortunately, after about thirty minutes of sumptuous visual elegance, the film starts to become a bit of a plod – The plot is drawn-out even at 80 minutes, there is no attempt to flesh out any of the characters, and the sombre mood remains throughout where a slight change of pace or even injection of a little humour might have helped. The performers aren’t really given much to work with by the script, and therefore none of them really manage to stand out, although the actors appear to be fairly competent. If you’ve not been lulled into sleep by the time the climax rolls around (as I admit I was on first attempt) the pay-off is quite good; although a little confusing and unsatisfactory, it hits a nice grim note, which is always a good way to wrap things up.
In conclusion III is certainly worth a watch for the visual poetry on display, but is unlikely to engage the casual horror fan, given the basic failings in pacing and tone, which is a shame, as there’s obviously a fascinating film in there somewhere.
III recently premiered at BIFFF, and is expected to appear at more festivals later this year.