Aside from the fact that the 13th edition of the festival was moved to the month that usually begins with witches and vampires, this year’s Zagreb Film Festival can also boast a new special programme selected by Daniel Rafaelić. Eastern European horror, the Slavic chill, the fear that drove Bram Stoker to write his Dracula imbues and pervades the films waiting for an audience to suck their blood!
Having long been cinematically accustomed to the fact that all kinds of horrors can take place behind the iron curtain, ZFF decided to cast a glance to the other side and see if terror, dread and horror also appeared on the silver screen. Although never a dominant genre (unlike westerns, crime and even SF), the Eastern European horror primarily wanted to scratch the surface of its own historical and present-day traumas. Romanians in the Ceausescu era shoot Dracula, Croats connect the New Wave with vampires, the Czech settle scores with Nazi sympathisers, and the Soviet Union with the terror which, according to official records, never even existed.
Two films in this selection are vampire tales, and Vlad Tepes (1979), directed by Doru Nastatse, takes the most famous of all the blood-thirsts, who served as inspiration to Bram Stoker for his best known character, to his natural environment – the 15th century Romania. Nastase’s cruel murderer will be joined on ZFF’s screen by the handsome vampire from Zagreb, Teobald Majer, in Dejan Šorak’s film Blood Drinkers. Set in the foggy streets of Zagreb’s Old Town, Blood Drinkers is a tale of a mysterious young man who one day appears at the door of respected psychiatrist Franz Glogovac, claiming to be a 16th century vampire. The film stars Danilo Lazović, Maro Martinović and, introducing, Ksenija Marinković.
Czechoslovakia is the home of a horror movie with bits of dark humour, The Cremator (Spalovač Mrtvol, 1969), directed by Juraj Herz. The story is set in late 1930s Prague and follows Karel Kopfrkingl, a cremator who believes that cremating bodies in fact liberates the deceased souls. Kopfrkingl is a lover of Tibetan philosophy and also a Nazi sympathiser and collaborator, which gives him many chances for professional progress. Because of a dark-humoured portrayal of the Czechs who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, The Cremator was banned immediately after the premiere. Despite that, it got excellent critic reviews, became part of many horror anthologies and acquired many fans, including the influential stop-motion animation duo, the Quay Brothers.
The line-up also includes the first Soviet horror, Viy (1967), directed by Konstantin Yershov and Georgi Kropachyov. The story is based on the namesake short story by Nikolai Gogol, and focuses on a young theology student coming home for the holidays in the company of a few friends, and seeking shelter on the way in an old lady’s house. Soon, but unfortunately too late, the young man realises his hostess has a hidden agenda. A special visual trademark of this film are the special effects signed by the so-called Soviet Disney, Aleksandr Ptushko, the author of the animated film The New Gulliver.
The 13th edition of Zagreb Film Festival takes place 14-22 November at Europa and Tuškanac cinemas, Museum of Contemporary Art, Dokukino KIC and Academy of Dramatic Art. This year the festival lasts a day longer than before, the central competition is dedicated exclusively to fiction film, and appealing special and off programmes feature many cinematic surprises.