The Most Beautiful Folk Horror You’ve Never Seen Is Finally Free to Stream
If you’re a fan of folk horror, or if you’re looking for something atmospheric, mystical, or Gothic to watch that’s cold and dark, let me introduce you to a real hidden gem. If you haven’t heard of it before, you’re not alone—this film hasn’t been available to watch for decades. But thankfully, that’s no longer the case.
The only reason I know The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is now streaming on Kanopy and Tubi is because of TikTok. I know I should be embarrassed to admit it, but sometimes the app introduces me to something pretty amazing, and The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is definitely worth seeking out.
Based on a novella by Uladzimir Karatkievich and directed by Belarusian filmmaker Valeri Rubinchik, The Savage Hunt of King Stakh follows Andrey Beloretskiy (Boris Plotnikov), a scholar of ancient folklore who arrives at the Marsh Firs estate to research old legends. There he meets the estate’s beautiful but slightly aloof heiress, Nadzieja (Elena Dimitrova), who tells him that the estate has “more ghosts than live people.” Her family was cursed by King Stakh, a nobleman whose spirit still roams the woodlands with his undead horsemen. But Andrey is a modern man of reason, and though he is smitten with Nadzieja, he doesn’t believe her.
At least, not at first.
Watch the trailer below:
Per Tubi: A young ethnographer staying at a remote castle in the Belarusian woodlands encounters the haunting spirit of a 15th-century nobleman.
The longer Andrey stays, the more he’s drawn into the estate’s violent history and all the ghosts that live in it. What unfolds is a Gothic, folk-horror mystery where superstition and scholarship collide. What I love most about The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is its atmosphere. The castle itself feels alive because of its lifelessness; everything is tinted in a corpse-like gray-blue, the mirrors are covered in dust, and everything looks cold to the touch.
The costuming is extraordinary as well. They reminded me a lot of the costumes in Bram Stoker’s Dracula ; super opulent, tactile, and completely essential to the film’s tone. I loved the ornate lace dresses and the village children draped in rags, the woolen scarves you can almost feel through the screen. Even Andrey’s plain suit is important to the storytelling. Compared to the other characters, he looks awkward and out of place in his modern clothes. He looks just as strange as the ghosts who wander the estate.
The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is a great late autumn/winter watch, perfect for fans of The Wicker Man (1973) or Viy (also on Tubi). And if you end up loving it, it’s available to purchase on Blu-ray as well (trust me, you’re going to want to own a physical copy of this one).
As always, let me know what you think: @ashjenexi on Instagram and X.
Categorized: Streaming News
