King Stach's wild hunt

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Movie
German title King Stach's wild hunt
Original title Дикая охота короля Стаха
Country of production Soviet Union
original language Russian
Publishing year 1980
length 108 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Valery Rubinchik
script Valery Rubin Tschik
uladzimir karatkievich
production Belarus film
music Yevgeny Glebov
camera Tatiana Loginova
occupation

King Stach's Wild Hunt is a Soviet mystery thriller by Valeri Rubinschik from 1980. It is based on a novel by the Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkewitsch .

action

Around 1900: Before a thunderstorm, the young legend researcher Andrei Belorezki took refuge in the stately home of the young Nadezhda Janowskaya. He is asked to eat by the housekeeper, but Nadezhda is intimidated towards him and soon withdraws. Ignati Gazevich, the manager of the house, advises Andrei to leave. The next morning, numerous guests gather in the house, as Nadezhda will come of age on that day. She receives a richly decorated dress, fur and a painting of a man from her guardian Dubotovk. A little later Andrei sees Nadezhda pouring a liquid over the painting that corrodes the man's image. Nadeschda collapses passed out. Only now do Ignati and Nadezhda Andrei, who woke up from the faint, explain the peculiarities of the place and house. Ghosts put people in the area in unrest and fear: A blue woman, the ghost of a woman who was executed centuries ago, is said to have appeared to everyone in the house, except Nadezhda. Tradition says that to those who do not see it, it will appear just before death. Nadezhda believes that she must die, especially since she has also seen the Little Man, who supposedly always appears shortly before someone dies. Most of all, however, the villagers fear King Stach's wild hunt, a mounted horde of ghosts that has already claimed countless lives, including that of Nadeschda's father.

Among the guests at Nadeschda's celebration were the quick-tempered Ales Worona, who reacted aggressively to Andrei and almost provoked a fight, and the former student Andrei Svetilovich, with whom Andrei becomes acquainted. Andrei also meets the crazy widow Kulscha, who would be Nadeschda's legal heir and whose husband was murdered by Stach's pack, as well as her coachman and keeper Rygor. One day the steward Ignati is found dead. Shortly before his death, Svetilovich noticed strange things about the old church and told Andrei about them. When he comes to church with the alarmed Rygor, Svetilovich is just collapsing there dead. Forensic medicine, however, cannot rule out suicide or alcohol death; Andrei's hint that it could be a ghost-induced death - he himself was once hunted by King Stach's gang - is taken note of with suspicion. Andrei learns that he himself is under surveillance by the authorities, since the dead Ignati had a letter from someone else with him in which the clerk Andrei wanted to clarify the truth about the little man in Nadeschda's house.

Back at the Nadeschda estate, Andrei sees the blue woman who, however, turns out to be the fleeing Nadeschda, who is now afraid of everyone and therefore sleeps in a different room every day. Andrei also sees the little man at a window and follows him when he tries to steal Ignati's diary. It turns out that Ignati had a small brother whom he secretly hid in the house and regularly provided with food. It was only when Ignati stayed away that Basil dared to emerge from his hiding place. Ignati's diary reveals that he wanted to drive Nadezhda insane, but she turned out to be more robust than expected. He intercepted the letter that was supposed to be sent to Andrei and that would have thwarted his plan.

King Stach's wild hunt is suddenly announced again. The crazy widow Kulscha, who has put on Nadeschda's birthday dress, walks towards the group and is shot. Now the inhabitants of the surrounding buildings gather and march towards King Stach and his men. The riders stop and Rygor pulls the hoods off one by one. Under the robes there are straw dolls with animal skulls. Only two riders flee. One is shot while the other, Ales Worona, escapes to Dubotovk's house. Ales accuses Dubotowk of having planned everything, so the horses followed him without a real rider. Dubotovk apparently wanted to secure Nadeschda's property. Dobotowk shoots Ales. The farmers set fire to Dubotovk's house and he escapes, standing on fire, and dies in the swamps.

Andrei is arrested for inciting hatred. The police take him to Saint Petersburg and Nadezhda comes with him. It is January 1st, 1901, the first day of the new century.

production

Pidhirtsi Castle, in the film Nadeschda's property

King Stach's wild hunt was filmed largely at Pidhirtsi Castle in the Ukrainian Oblast of Lviv . The film premiered in April 1980. On November 6, 1981, it was shown in GDR cinemas and on June 3, 1983, it was shown for the first time on DFF 1 on GDR television. The film was released on DVD in 2005 with German subtitles as part of the Russian Cinema Council Collection.

criticism

For the film service , King Stach's wild hunt was “a tension-free and disappointing reappraisal of a Belarusian legend about King Stach […]. An unimaginative and amateurishly staged film that in the end also wants to be understood as a revolutionary epic. "

Awards

At the Montréal World Film Festival , Valery Rubintschik received the Jury Prize in 1980. At the International Festival of Crime and Mystery Films in Cattolica , Italy, King Stach's Wild Hunt won the award for best film in 1980. The film was awarded a Golden Raven at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 1983.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ King Stach's wild hunt. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used