#117 - VIY FOR VENDETTA: Dracularity and Poshlost in the Only* Soviet Horror Film

Dimitri and Khalid return to the Subliminal Cinema to dissect the 1967 Soviet horror classic “Viy”, including: the murky etymology of Gogol’s eponymous “king of the gnomes”, satanic Cossacks, sleazy seminarians, getting spiritually molested by a witch, Gogol’s gift for portraying the poshlost of a poshlosty man, the shockingly ghoulish climax of the film, Khoma Brut getting dragged to Hell In A Bucket, some background on Nikolai Gogol’s life, becoming a liberal satirist superhero before doing trad autofiction and getting cancelled, Belinsky’s scorched earth takedown of Gogol’s politics, Stalin the seminarian, religious dynamics of Marxist-Leninist governments, the failure of edgelord atheism and Stalin’s soyface-inducing reconciliation with God during WW2, Aleksandr Ptushko aka “the Soviet Walt Disney”, the evolving Soviet framings of Gogol, and The Responsibility of the Artist to have perfect politics. For access to full-length premium episodes and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara’ Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.