mosquitodragon’s review published on Letterboxd:
Memory fails me exactly but this Yugoslav version feels like a much closer adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's The Viy than the more famous Soviet film. Whereas Viy fully embraces notions of the supernatural and the (literally) monstrous, A Holy Place prefers to dwell in the borderlands of psychological horror and supernatural horror, where the existence of witches and the living dead seems to be confirmed but could easily be interpreted as delusion as well.
This one came as a special feature on the Eureka blu-ray release of Viy and, despite the film stock looking scratched-to-shit in the finest grindhouse tradition, this is a gorgeous looking film. The performances are strong all round, but I have to give special mention to the Branka Pujić as the possible witch, possibly dead but possibly not. What an incredible screen presence - diabolical but nuanced, and OK yeah, hot as hell too.
A Holy Place's true triumph is its portraiture of this small bucolic community - one nobleman's estate and the microcosm of dependents it supports (and exploits) - as a seething morass of psychosexual entanglement - and this is the area which I think may be embellished from the original (and would likely have put Soviet censors off majorly in the other famous production). The dread Katarina we find has actually been abused by her father (the serfs see this as her bewitching the man, but modern sensibilities can construe an alternative power dynamic). The mother's death, years earlier, is therefore reframed as a possible suicide upon learning of this sexual relationship - or maybe even something more sinister. Could she have been murdered by either her husband or daughter? The Satanic power of Katarina now is symbolic of the incestuous stain on the family.
The servants each retell episodes of this family's life as they have glimpsed it. Nikita was the local dog trainer and a man of some standing, but after a fling with Katarina he was transformed into a gibbering vegetable with a predilection for dropping his pants and waving his dick at her whenever she passes by. Hey dude, you gotta know when the affair is over. But the scene we are shown in flashback, where this assumed sexual relationship actually consisted of Katarina making him lie on his back on the ground while she trampled his genitals is probably the most horrifying moment in the film.
The final climax goes in a completely different direction to the Russian film, which might be disappointing to fans of creature effects, but is a little more narratively satisfying. All that fear and loathing and delusion just to be undone by something so simple. And that final sequence where he meets his fate the morning after his third night's vigil is masterfully shot in a single wide angle composition.
This is really excellent stuff. Highly recommended.