Forbidden Empire 2014

Early-18th-century cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Western Europe to the East to map the entire world. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassable woods of Dnieper Ukraine. A year before his arrival, a demonic entity has allegedly killed a woman, after which the village elder Sotnik hired young monk Panas to pray for his daughter Pannochka’s dead body in the village church. However, the malevolent spirit of the girl seemingly kills him, after which the village priest Paisiy declared the town to be cursed and locked it from the outside world. The villagers theorize that she turned into a witch, while the town was seemingly overrun by demons.

When Jonathan arrives in the village, the priest mistakes him for an envoy of the Devil due to his coded scientific writing. However, the other villagers, tired of the lockdown, do not take him seriously. As Jonathan is an atheist, Sotnik lures him to the cursed church under the pretense of wanting a map of the oblast. At dinner, Jonathan is attacked by the villagers, who have seemingly turned into demons and, after using a chalk circle to ward them off, is confronted by the demonic entity, Viy. As he looks into its eyes, he is cursed to die. However, the demon offers him a challenge: should he save Pannochka’s soul, he shall lift his death curse.

At the top of the church, Jonathan begins drawing the map but is knocked down. At the order of Paisiy, the villagers imprison him and the blacksmith’s daughter, Nastusya, accusing them of Devil worshipping. As it turns out, Paisiy is a charlatan that uses smokes and mirrors to suggest the gullible villagers the demonic presence. Furthermore, he has raped and killed Pannochka disguised as a demon. Panas, who has witnessed the murder, fled for his life in Paisiy’s disguise and has hid costumed in the cursed church for a year, being fed by a fearful Nastusya. Jonathan uncovers the ruse and Paisiy is killed. However, it is implied that his encounter with Viy and Pannochka’s spirit was real.