Page 105 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

1991-2004). There exists a general consensus, summarised eloquently by Josephine Woll, that the
Soviet period should be excluded from the discussion as 'the genre of horror films and the formulas
that constitute its essence contradict almost every major tenet of Marxist historical materialism, of
Soviet doctrine, and of Socialist Realist dogma. This is because,
the fears and anxieties underpinning horror films - of the uncanny or supernatural, of chaos,
of the irrational - contravene a materialist philosophy that holds as self-evident the primacy of
man as a social and rational being, who acts primarily out of motives of material interest, and
whose alienation stems from specific economic and social conditions. 3

This chapter is a diachronic discussion of major motifs of supernatural mysticism, physical and
psychological horror in Russian and Soviet cinema and their transmutations over years and genres.
It is divided into four parts, concentrating on recent works, but also referring to films from all three
periods, thus allowing for a broader perspective on the idiosyncrasies of Russian and Soviet cinematic
mysticism and horror. The specificity of the Russian and Soviet perception of horror in general and of
its cinematic representation in particular prompts the need to view its cultural, political and aesthetic
aspects in a larger philosophical framework. As Sergei Dobrotvorsky has put it, 'the mythology of
Soviet cinema operates on a social and collective level, manipulating collective instincts, and ignoring
or repressing the individual-physiological ones that constitute the usual target of [traditional,
Western] screen horror'.4 Philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev's concept of 'the Russian Idea, interpreted
by Oleg Kovalov, provides the framework for discussion of the 'mythology of Soviet' and post-Soviet
cinematic horror.5

THE RUSSIAN IDEA, PSYCHOANALYSIS AND CINEMA

Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) understood the Russian community in terms of what he called 'the
Russian Idea', or the mission of the nation in a context of strenuous co-existence of socio-psychological
and ethical extremes:

despotism, hypertrophied role of the state and anarchism, frivolity; cruelty, violence and
gentle kindness; ritualistic conservatism and restless truth-seeking; individualism, heightened
sense of personal responsibility and faceless collectivism; nationalism, arrogant self-promotion
and human solidarity and universalism; eschatological-messianic religiosity and phony piety;

God-searching and belligerent atheism; humility and arrogance; slavery and rebellion.6

Following the tradition of nineteenth-century Russian philosophy, Berdyaev sees these exttemes in
the light of his concept of the 'noumenal world-in-itself which is spirit, personality, freedom and
creativity', and the 'phenomenal world, which is alienated from personality and imposes general laws
and material objects as limitations of human freedom'. The 'dualism of these two worlds', he claims,
'is the source of universal tragedy'.7 Calling himself a 'religious existentialist', Berdyaev defines the
Russian Idea as mystical, expressing 'the thought of the Creator about Russia', and also as a socio-

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