These monsters from a Russian dark fantasy movie are taken straight from your nightmares

Ever heard of Viy, or ‘The Forbidden Empire’ (not the one with Jackie Chan) as it’s known over here? I won’t be surprised if the answer is no, because the 2014 Russian dark fantasy movie has somewhat slipped under the radar. It might have come out a while ago, but movies and TV shows are increasingly turning to CGI to bring fantastical characters to life, (Rogue One even brings back actors who have passed away), sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves that practical effects still have a place in movies. Telling the tale of Jonathan Green’s travels through the East, the cartographer ends up getting stuck in Ukraine. Heavy fog and an impenetrable forest hide a village that’s barricaded themselves against the evils that lurk outside. Somehow a moat doesn’t prove very effective against the hellish monsters, though… Downright outstanding practical effects blended with CGI mean that its creatures refuse to leave my mind, so I’ve decided to share them with you. Because I’m considerate like that.

We’re going to start off small with a tiny imp thing with a big mouth. Not so scary, right?

Time to ramp it up to this half-disembowelled hoof guy...

Aaaand a creature who’s pushing itself out of someone’s mouth. Lovely.

Finishing with a multi-eyed thing with eyelids as long as your arm.

That’s us done. Thank god that’s over.

While here at GamesRadar, Zoe was a features writer and video presenter for us. She's since flown the coop and gone on to work at Eurogamer where she's a video producer, and also runs her own Twitch and YouTube channels. She specialises in huge open-world games, true crime, and lore deep-dives.