From Carpathian Legends to Stories of Soviet Experiments: What to Watch on Halloween

A selection of Ukrainian films for a Halloween evening.

Fear in Ukrainian cinema took different forms depending on where the threat came from. Thus, Carpathian legends became the basis of a mystical plot, while Soviet bunkers turned into a space for fantastic horrors.

In more recent films, the genre also responded to the experience of the full-scale war, reinterpreting folk beliefs and historical heritage.

How Ukrainian filmmakers create an atmosphere of fear and what is known about the making of "Synevir", "Ether", "The Witch of Konotop", and "The Kakhovka Object" — read the overview by DeTalks.

"Synevir", or a Carpathian monster in 3D

The Ukrainian horror film "Synevir" is the story of students who were vacationing near the lake of the same name in the Carpathians in the late 1970s. The film was made by the brothers Oleksandr and Viacheslav Aleshechkin, who used 3D and turned to Ukrainian folk tales about supernatural beings.

According to the plot, while on vacation the students heard the legend of the dog-heads — monsters with a human body and the head of an animal, who lured people into the forest by imitating human voices. At first, the group took the story as a scary tale, but as night fell its members began to disappear and die in attacks by unknown creatures.

The story of the brother and sister Sashko and Ivanka, who secretly went fishing and got lost in the forest, unfolded in parallel. When Ivanka met the students and asked them to help find her brother, they set off into the darkness. Gradually, the characters realised that the monsters could take on human form and use the voices of acquaintances to lure victims into a trap.

In the end, only Danyk and Katia survived. The girl was found unconscious, but no one believed her stories about the monster attacks. Danyk, however, told Professor Yehor about what he had been through, and he travelled to Synevir, where he learned more about the ancient legends of the dog-heads.

The idea for the film originated with Viacheslav Aleshechkin long before filming began. The director became interested in the figure of the dog-head when reading folk tales to his daughter. Later, this motif became the basis of a feature-length horror.

"Ether" — mysticism in the historical settings of Lviv

In 2018, the Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi presented the film "Ether". It is a mystical drama with elements of a thriller, created as a co-production of Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania. The story addressed the themes of scientific experiments, human power, and moral boundaries.

The events took viewers back to the beginning of the First World War. The protagonist of the film is a military doctor who studied the properties of ether (a substance that gives control over another person's mind). After being accused of attempted murder and sexual violence, the doctor fled punishment and ended up in a fortress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There, the man continued his experiments, seeking to influence human behaviour with the help of chemical substances.

The lead role in the film was played by the Polish actor Jacek Poniedziałek, while the Ukrainian Ostap Vakuliuk played his assistant Taras.

The Ukrainian part of the production is connected with the Lviv region. The film crew worked in the former prison on Lontskoho Street, in the building of the former Austrian military barracks on Kryvonosa Street, and in Svirzh Castle.

In particular, in the Lontskoho prison the creative team set up a laboratory. For this, they installed false walls, arched structures, and a prop stove. The historic rooms, however, were used as part of the artistic space in which the hero carried out his research.

"The Witch of Konotop" — an ancient image in the context of the current war

The horror film "The Witch of Konotop" was released in cinemas on August 22, 2024. The film was created by FILM.UA Group, with Andrii Kolesnyk as director and Yaroslav Voitseshek writing the screenplay. The creators combined Ukrainian mythological motifs with a story connected to Russia's full-scale invasion.

At the centre of the plot is an ancient witch from Konotop who gave up her magical abilities for the sake of an ordinary life with her beloved Andrii. But after the start of the Russian invasion, the occupiers seized the city and killed her beloved. Then the woman regained her powers and began to take revenge on the invaders.

The lead role was played by Tetyana Malkova. The film also features Taras Tsymbaliuk, Pavlo Vyshniakov, Olena Khokhatkina, Ivan Sharan, and other Ukrainian actors.

While working on the film, the creators drew on ancient Ukrainian legends and beliefs, as well as on the real story of a woman from Konotop. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she turned to a Russian soldier with the words that every second woman in Konotop is a witch.

The image of the main heroine, in turn, combined motifs of Ukrainian mythology and elements of the traditional embroidery of the Sumy region.

"The Kakhovka Object" — the Soviet legacy as a space of horror

In 2025, FILM.UA Group released "The Kakhovka Object" — a Ukrainian zombie horror directed by Oleksii Taranenko with a screenplay by Yaroslav Voitseshek. The film continued the "Cinema Heroines of Dark Times" line, which also includes "The Witch of Konotop".

The events unfolded after the Kakhovka dam was blown up by Russian troops. A Ukrainian military unit led by a female fighter with the call sign Mara found a secret Soviet bunker at the bottom of the drained reservoir.

Inside, the military discovered the consequences of secret experiments conducted during the Cold War. Soviet researchers tried to create super-soldiers, and today's heroes came face to face with the half-alive creatures left over from these experiments.

The main heroine was played by Maryna Koshkina, who before filming went through combat training. The cast also included Volodymyr Rashchuk, Oleksandr Yatsentiuk, Dmytro Pavko, Andrii Podlesnyi, and Mykhailo Dziuba.

The film crew began work in March 2025. Filming lasted about a month and a half at six locations in Kyiv. Among them were an abandoned milk kitchen and a bomb shelter of a Soviet-era research institute.

The start of filming was accompanied by a symbolic act. Instead of the traditional breaking of a plate, the creative team destroyed a bust of Vladimir Lenin. This gesture connected the production of the film with its subject matter — a critical rethinking of the Soviet past.