Trailer for the rare Belarusian folk horror film "The Brutal Hunt of King Stakh"

Trailer for the rare Belarusian folk horror film “The Brutal Hunt of King Stakh”

by Alex Billington
May 31, 2024
sauce: Youtube

“This is a really awful house.” Wow, what is this?! Deaf Crocodile, Belarusfilm and Seagull Films have teamed up with DiabolikDVD to release the lost Belarusian folk horror film on disc. King Stak’s Brutal Huntwas first released in 1980. It has been described as an “ultra-rare” film and a “major rediscovery for genre fans,” making it a must-see. A mysterious drama set in a remote castle in the woodlands of Belarus at the end of the 19th century. A young ethnologist, Andrei Bielarecki, visits the castle to investigate local folk legends, including the tale of King Stakh. “A mix of folk horror and supernatural mystery, King Stakh is a classic tale inspired by the works of Terry Gilliam, Italian Gothic horror, 1960s Hammer films, and the like.” The Wicker ManLong unavailable, the film has recently been restored from the original film elements and extended as a 126-minute director’s cut. Elena Dimitrova, Boris Plotnikov, Albert Philosoph, Roman Filippovand Boris KhmelnitskyEven though the film won’t be re-released in theaters, it’s so weird and quirky and unique that we just can’t help but share this new trailer with you anyway.

Check out the trailer for director Valery Rubinczyk’s new film here King Stak’s Brutal Huntfrom Youtube (via TFS):

“There are more ghosts here than living people,” mutters the pale, haunted mistress of Marsh Firs (Elena Dimitrova) to a scholar of ancient folklore who has come to her castle to study the legend of King Stak, a murdered 15th-century nobleman whose spirit roars through the woods. A mix of folk horror and supernatural mystery, the film is a melancholic, chilling mix 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 “shadows, gloom, madness and death,” the more bizarre and surreal the film becomes. There’s a mad widow in a white wig, a man whose skull bleeds spontaneously, a dwarf hiding in a rotting dollhouse, shrieking crows and a demented puppet show.

King Stak’s Brutal Huntoriginally named Dikaya okhotaya korololya sthya (or What to see in the town of Stara) is a Russian-language version directed by a Belarusian filmmaker. Valery Rubinchikhis seventh feature film at the time. Venok Sonetov (1977). The screenplay was written by Vladimir Korotkevich and Valery Rubinchik. The music was by Evgeny Glebov. The film was released in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. It subsequently premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival and the Chicago Film Festival in 1980, and had a brief release in the United States in 1982. Belarusfilm, Deaf Crocodile and Seagull Films have partnered with Diabolik DVD to re-release Rubinchik’s films. King Stak’s Brutal Hunt Now available on Blu-ray July 1, 2024 Visit Deaf Crocodile’s for more information and to order this summer. Official site. Anyone want to see this?