The Savage Hunt of King Stakh: Standard Edition – Deaf Crocodile (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Soviet Union, 1980
Director: Valeri Rubinchik
Writers: Vladimir Korotkevich, Valeri Rubinchik
Cast: Boris Plotnikov, Elena Dimitrova, Albert Filozov, Roman Filippov, Boris Khmelnitskiy, Valentina Shendrikova, Aleksandr Kharitonov, Igor Klass, Vladimir Fyodorov, Mariya Kapnist, Viktor Ilichyov, Yuriy Dubrovin, Boris Romanov

Release Date: February 11th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 132 Minutes 9 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Russian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

""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 (Boris Plotnikov) who has arrived at her castle to research the bloody legend of King Stakh, a murdered 15th century nobleman whose spirit supposedly thunders through the local woodlands. (The Wild Hunt is a fixture of northern European folklore in which a sinister figure leads a chase followed by ghostly companions.)" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Brand-new restoration of the Director’s Cut of the film by Craig Rogers for Deaf Crocodile."

The Savage Hunt of King Stakh comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 43.3 GB

Feature: 36.4 GB

This is another solid encode from Fidelity in Motion. The source is in great shape; flesh tones look healthy, colors look correct, image clarity and compression are solid, black levels are strong, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Russian with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced. Range-wise, this audio track does a superb job with ambient sounds.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a 2024 restoration trailer (1 minute 43 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Russian with non-removable English subtitles), an introduction by filmmaker and author Kier-La Janisse, director of Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (13 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for films clips in Russian), a video essay by film historian Evan Chester titled The Wild, Wild Hunt of King Stakh (16  minutes 10 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for films clips in Russian), an audio commentary with Mike White of The Projection Booth, an audio commentary with comics artist (Swamp Thing), film historian, and author Stephen R. Bissette, and an insert with a URL that has PDF's for Kier-La Janisse introduction, The Wild, Wild Hunt of King Stakh, and Mike White audio commentary.

Summary:

An ethnographer visits an out-of-the-way Belarusian woodland and inquires about its folklore.

The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is an adaptation of Uladzimir Karatkievich's novel King Stakh's Wild Hunt. Uladzimir Karatkievich's novel is based on the Wild Hunt, a motif that occurs in the folklore of various Northern and Eastern European cultures. Though The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is not always faithful to the source novel, it always retains its essence.

The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is a folklore film that straddles between horror and melodrama. The look and feel of The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is overflowing with Gothic horror elements. Also, the isolated rural location and gloomy locations greatly add to the foreboding atmosphere. Another strength of the locations is how effectively the visual uses them to heighten the mood.

When it comes to the performances, the cast are all great in their roles, especially Elena Dimitrova’s portrayal of Nadezhda Yanovskaya, the mistress of the mansion of Marsh Firs. Her character is a member of a family whom King Stakh cursed for 20 generations. Was her characters plight due to a curse or mental illness? Another performance of note is Valentina Shendrikova, who portrays a widow who's gone crazy since her husband's death.

Though there is a deliberateness to the pacing, it never derails the narrative's momentum that builds to a symbolic ending where the 18th century transitions to the 19th century. The Savage Hunt of King Stakh relies more on ambient sounds than a score, which is minimal. That said, The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is a dialog-heavy film, and what music there is does a phenomenal job of reinforcing the mood. Ultimately, The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is a challenging film that’s a deeply rewarding cinematic experience that stays with you long after its final haunting image.

The Savage Hunt of King Stakh gets a solid release from Deaf Crocodile that comes with a strong audio/video presentation, and insightful extras; highly recommended.

Note: There is a deluxe release of The Savage Hunt of King Stakh that comes in a slipcase, and a 60-page booklet with an essay by film historian and professor Peter Rollberg (Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema), and an essay by film critic Walter Chaw (Film Freak Central).

Written by Michael Den Boer