Rare Belarusian Folk Horror ‘The Savage Hunt of King Stakh’ Trailer
by Alex Billington
May 31, 2024
Source: YouTube
“This is a horrible, damned house.” Whoa – what do we have here?! Deaf Crocodile, Belarusfilm, & Seagull Films, in partnership with DiabolikDVD, are releasing on disc a lost Belarusian folk horror film titled The Savage Hunt of King Stakh, which originally debuted in 1980. Described as an “ultra-rare” film that is a “major rediscovery for genre fans” who might want to take a look. A mystical drama set in an out-of-the-way castle in the Belarusian woodlands at the end of the 19th century. A young ethnographer, Andrej Bielarecki, arrives at the castle to research local folk legends including the story of King Stakh. “Part folk horror, part supernatural mystery, King Stakh is a melancholy, chilling mixture of Terry Gilliam, Italian Gothic Horror, 1960s Hammer Films, and The Wicker Man.” Long unavailable, the film has recently been restored from the original film elements in its extended 126-minute Director’s Cut. The film stars Elena Dimitrova, Boris Plotnikov, Albert Filozov, Roman Filippov, and Boris Khmelnitskiy. Even though this isn’t getting a theatrical re-release, it’s so kooky and strange and peculiar, I can’t help featuring this new trailer anyway.
Here’s the new trailer for Valeri Rubinchik’s The Savage Hunt of King Stakh, from YouTube (via TFS):
“We have more ghosts than live people,” murmurs the pale, haunted mistress of the mansion of Marsh Firs (Elena Dimitrova) to a scholar of ancient folklore who has arrived at her castle to research the legend of King Stakh, a murdered 15th century nobleman whose spirit supposedly thunders through the woodlands. Part folk horror, part supernatural mystery, the film is a melancholy, chilling mixture of Terry Gilliam, Italian Gothic Horror, 1960s Hammer Films, and The Wicker Man – and a major rediscovery for genre fans. The longer the young scholar stays in this mysterious house of “shadow, gloom, madness and death,” the more strange & surreal the film becomes: a mad widow in a white wig; a man bleeding spontaneously from his skull; a dwarf hiding in a decayed doll’s house; screeching ravens and maniacal puppet shows.
The Savage Hunt of King Stakh, originally known as Дикая охота короля Стаха (or Dikaya okhota korolya Stakha) in Russian, is directed by the Belarusian filmmaker Valeri Rubinchik, his seventh feature film at the time, right after making Venok Sonetov (1977) before. The screenplay is written by Vladimir Korotkevich and Valeri Rubinchik. Featuring music by Evgeniy Glebov. This film originally opened in the Soviet Union in early 1980. It then premiered at the Montréal World Film Festival and Chicago Film Festival in 1980, before eventually opening in the US briefly in 1982. Belarusfilm, Deaf Crocodile, Seagull Films in partnership with DiabolikDVD will re-release Rubinchik’s The Savage Hunt of King Stakh on Blu-ray starting on July 1st, 2024 this summer. For more info and to order, visit Deaf Crocodile’s official site. Who wants to watch this?
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