Very much Blair Witch-ish, with some of the worst English fubbing I've ever heard. Much better to watch it in Russian with English subs.
30 Reviews
Watch it in Russian.
schneider20631 April 2021
The Bleh Witch Project
tmccull524 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Lets see. We have a search and rescue team out on maneuvers who get called upon to search the nearby woods for a missing teen-age boy.
The team goes into the woods and they find mysterious markings on some of the trees. They wander around for a bit. Then they drive around for a bit. Then they wander around for a bit. Then they drive around until one of the team manages to drive the van into a pond and drowns. Then the rest of the team wanders around for a bit. Then they wander around for a bit. Then they wander around for a bit.
I've seen commercials for breakfast cereal that were scarier and more suspenseful than this farce. It isn't anywhere near as good as "The Blair Witch Project" was. If you're into movies that consist of people wandering aimlessly in the woods at night for about 85% of the film's running time, then this may be the movie for you. It isn't even remotely scary. Tony the Tiger shouting, "Theeeyyy'rrrreee GREAT!" about Frosted Flakes is more frightening or startling than anything that happens in this flop.
The team goes into the woods and they find mysterious markings on some of the trees. They wander around for a bit. Then they drive around for a bit. Then they wander around for a bit. Then they drive around until one of the team manages to drive the van into a pond and drowns. Then the rest of the team wanders around for a bit. Then they wander around for a bit. Then they wander around for a bit.
I've seen commercials for breakfast cereal that were scarier and more suspenseful than this farce. It isn't anywhere near as good as "The Blair Witch Project" was. If you're into movies that consist of people wandering aimlessly in the woods at night for about 85% of the film's running time, then this may be the movie for you. It isn't even remotely scary. Tony the Tiger shouting, "Theeeyyy'rrrreee GREAT!" about Frosted Flakes is more frightening or startling than anything that happens in this flop.
The Widow, one hell of a story!
CRIFYNS26 April 2021
Overall (1h 26m), this movie decent but the main plot is not expressed or what could say is, I'm not satisfied, it requires some kind of background story elements, have some patience it takes some time like 10mins at first and later on you will get sticked till the end, one more thing the whole locations match-up best with music it's really nice but the english version not been synced to the original (Russian) and if you are a kind of person want some horror it's the one..
This was utterly pointless...
paul_haakonsen30 March 2021
Well, from the movie's rating on IMDb and a relatively interesting movie cover/poster, I must admit that I was expecting this movie to be something worthwhile watching.
But it wasn't. This was a snoozefest of epic proportions. Nothing, and I mean that literally, nothing of any worth happened throughout the course of the prolonged and intolerable 45 minutes of suffering I sat through before I just gave up on the movie given the total sense of boredom that permeated the movie.
Sure, the movie was off to an interesting start with the rescue team roaming about the countryside looking for the lost boy Nikita, and then the found the mysterious woman instead and the movie just slipped down a very slippery slope and never recovered. The movie went from being relatively interesting to being a boring event in an instant.
As for the storyline in the movie, well, forget about it, because there isn't really much of anything here. And whatever little there was present in the storyline was just brutally killed by the permeating boredom and sense of pointlessness that oozed from every single scene.
And little did it help that the characters felt like faceless drones milling about. I couldn't tell the characters from one another, not that it really mattered, because the characters had no personalities, no background stories, no traits or quirks to make the unique. It was just a faceless swirl of bodies running around with no aim or purpose. So whatever happened to the characters in the 45 minutes of suffering I sat through didn't matter one ounce.
If you enjoy horror movies, then "The Widow" (aka "Vdova") is not a movie that I would recommend you wasting your money, time or effort on. Some of us did in smaller or greater extend - depending on your tolerance level of watching rubbish - so you don't have to.
This movie was a massive swing and a miss from writers Natalya Dubovaya, Ivan Kapitonov and Ivan Minin. It is actually sort of impressive that not one, but three writers, could collectively manage to churn out something this dreadful.
My rating of "The Widow" lands on a more than generous two out of ten stars, and that is based solely on the atmosphere that there was to the movie. Everything else here was just pointless. And having suffered through 'only' 45 minutes of this ordeal, I can honestly say that there is nothing to lure me back to finish watching the rest of this pointless movie.
But it wasn't. This was a snoozefest of epic proportions. Nothing, and I mean that literally, nothing of any worth happened throughout the course of the prolonged and intolerable 45 minutes of suffering I sat through before I just gave up on the movie given the total sense of boredom that permeated the movie.
Sure, the movie was off to an interesting start with the rescue team roaming about the countryside looking for the lost boy Nikita, and then the found the mysterious woman instead and the movie just slipped down a very slippery slope and never recovered. The movie went from being relatively interesting to being a boring event in an instant.
As for the storyline in the movie, well, forget about it, because there isn't really much of anything here. And whatever little there was present in the storyline was just brutally killed by the permeating boredom and sense of pointlessness that oozed from every single scene.
And little did it help that the characters felt like faceless drones milling about. I couldn't tell the characters from one another, not that it really mattered, because the characters had no personalities, no background stories, no traits or quirks to make the unique. It was just a faceless swirl of bodies running around with no aim or purpose. So whatever happened to the characters in the 45 minutes of suffering I sat through didn't matter one ounce.
If you enjoy horror movies, then "The Widow" (aka "Vdova") is not a movie that I would recommend you wasting your money, time or effort on. Some of us did in smaller or greater extend - depending on your tolerance level of watching rubbish - so you don't have to.
This movie was a massive swing and a miss from writers Natalya Dubovaya, Ivan Kapitonov and Ivan Minin. It is actually sort of impressive that not one, but three writers, could collectively manage to churn out something this dreadful.
My rating of "The Widow" lands on a more than generous two out of ten stars, and that is based solely on the atmosphere that there was to the movie. Everything else here was just pointless. And having suffered through 'only' 45 minutes of this ordeal, I can honestly say that there is nothing to lure me back to finish watching the rest of this pointless movie.
Watching Paint Dry
billcr1230 March 2021
People are going missing and a group of rescuers are sent to look for a boy who is the latest to vanish. Along the way, the van gets stuck in the mud; what excitement. It only gets worse as it progresses. Bad acting and a dumb story make for a deadly combination. Avoid this bore-fest, unless you need help falling asleep.
No thanks
haskel-7295112 July 2021
Death is such a great mercy
nogodnomasters23 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
In a forest outside of St. Petersburg, Russia people go missing every year not politically related. A crack rescue team along with a reporter are searching for a lost boy when they find a nude woman near dead. The woman gives us the back story of the widow murdered by villagers and how she demands human sacrifices. As they attempt to leave the forest, the forest doesn't allow them to go as they must now fight to survive.
This was a Russian film dubbed in English. Subtitles unavailable. The voices were the same ones used in bad foreign films for the last 50 years. The press lady was acceptable, the rest need to be cut and replaced. Newspapers with Russian headlines appeared important but were not translated. Part of the movie looks like found footage. They even had the dragged from behind scene. Failure to pay attention to details such as this ruined what would be an otherwise decent film.
Guide: No swearing. Brief nudity. No sex.
This was a Russian film dubbed in English. Subtitles unavailable. The voices were the same ones used in bad foreign films for the last 50 years. The press lady was acceptable, the rest need to be cut and replaced. Newspapers with Russian headlines appeared important but were not translated. Part of the movie looks like found footage. They even had the dragged from behind scene. Failure to pay attention to details such as this ruined what would be an otherwise decent film.
Guide: No swearing. Brief nudity. No sex.
Oh, that awful dubbing...
arikiczkowski12 July 2021
I am having a hard time getting through this movie. It's not really a Blair Witch clone, but something obviously inspired by it. The story seems like it might be interesting, but the dubbing is a crime unto itself, making the movie near unwatchable. It's like someone took a horror movie and then get laid the soundtrack to an old Scooby Doo episode over top. Absolutely atrocious.
I think I will restart from the beginning with the TV muted, closed captions on, and maybe try to synch up Dark Side of the Moon, see how that works. I want to watch it, but I don't want characters in mortal terror sounding like a high school cheer squad.
I think I will restart from the beginning with the TV muted, closed captions on, and maybe try to synch up Dark Side of the Moon, see how that works. I want to watch it, but I don't want characters in mortal terror sounding like a high school cheer squad.
Oh the dubbing!!
shannon-bill10 April 2021
This is a good movie that is deeply wounded by terrible dubbing. It would've been much better off subtitled. The dubbing alters the mood and turns what, no doubt, is a creepy movie oozing atmosphere into a much lighter adventure. For example a minor role of a young boy sounds like a cartoon mouse and there are instances of laughing or other non-word utterances like oohs and ahs that sound on!y cartoony. But it's not just these instances but the entire dialogue that is ruined. It comes off sounding more like an episode of Scooby Doo and less like the tense and atmospheric folk horror that is is.
A subtitled version of this movie would gain at least a star and possibly two but as it stands now its a real stretch to give it the six I did. I do think it's potentially a great little movie and I tried hard to ignore the laughable dubbing when rating it.
A subtitled version of this movie would gain at least a star and possibly two but as it stands now its a real stretch to give it the six I did. I do think it's potentially a great little movie and I tried hard to ignore the laughable dubbing when rating it.
the widow
imharpyboy16 May 2021
Soviet history a real horror
robruss-656422 April 2021
Since concerned citizens are still finding mass burial sites from Stalin's reign (when not beatened or threatened by Soviet romanticists) I figured this movie was going to involve ghosts of zeks or Article 58er's. No such luck but this film did manage to make me forget my status quo for about 80 minutes and enjoyed the dark atmospherics of a remote boreal forest still lost in the past. Recommended viewing, watch it......slava!
Better than expected!
brahmix4 April 2021
Firstly: I hate Blair Witch copies, and pretty much anything depending on shaking handheld cameras.
The first 15 minutes or so was therefore quite challenging.
The Movie is not the gore/slasher/evil type of horror, it is simply creepy. The buildup, the characters, the atmosphere: great!
I do believe this movie is under-rated, 3.9? I give it an easy 7.
In fact, it is probably better but I started of expecting crap and the first section lived up to the expectation.
On the second viewing, the annoyance was gone, and the creep factor was pure entertainment. My spawn got all wrapped up and ranted in monologues about how things are not supposed to be like that! Fun, fun, Fun!
The first 15 minutes or so was therefore quite challenging.
The Movie is not the gore/slasher/evil type of horror, it is simply creepy. The buildup, the characters, the atmosphere: great!
I do believe this movie is under-rated, 3.9? I give it an easy 7.
In fact, it is probably better but I started of expecting crap and the first section lived up to the expectation.
On the second viewing, the annoyance was gone, and the creep factor was pure entertainment. My spawn got all wrapped up and ranted in monologues about how things are not supposed to be like that! Fun, fun, Fun!
pretty weak
phenomynouss20 March 2022
I was forced to watch it dubbed, as AmazonPrime only had dubbed version. The dubbing was anime-quality, absolutely atrocious.
The story itself took much longer to get to its central hook than I expected, and once it did get there, it proceeded to do very little. Pretty much almost nothing actually happened apart from the finding of the old woman naked in the woods, Zoya. It's from her repeated ramblings that we pretty much get all the real exposition.
Beyond that, nothing that actually happened seemed in any way connected to the "The Widow" concept at all. We barely even see much of anything beyond some musical stings, people acting strangely, and eyes going black.
The image on the poster is essentially a lie, as nothing appears in the film that looks like that. This whole thing has elements of The Blair Witch Project, but with somehow even less actual stuff going on.
The story itself took much longer to get to its central hook than I expected, and once it did get there, it proceeded to do very little. Pretty much almost nothing actually happened apart from the finding of the old woman naked in the woods, Zoya. It's from her repeated ramblings that we pretty much get all the real exposition.
Beyond that, nothing that actually happened seemed in any way connected to the "The Widow" concept at all. We barely even see much of anything beyond some musical stings, people acting strangely, and eyes going black.
The image on the poster is essentially a lie, as nothing appears in the film that looks like that. This whole thing has elements of The Blair Witch Project, but with somehow even less actual stuff going on.
It's a no
faytr-2203210 April 2022
piece of garbage
FeastMode19 July 2021
I really need to start listening to myself when i repeatedly tell myself to turn it off. I just need to see the ending to everything. And even at very fast speeds, it wasn't worth it. I didn't care about anything.
This movie is student-film-level quality. It's 100% boring, 100% useless, 100% pointless. It's a shameless ripoff of the blair witch project, but 1000 times more boring. Which is saying a lot since i gave the blair witch project 1 star because it was unbearably boring.
The majority of this movie falls into two categories. Forest wandering. And the characters telling stories about past events or explaining what the widow is doing. Exposition at its finest (1 viewing, 7/18/2021)
This movie is student-film-level quality. It's 100% boring, 100% useless, 100% pointless. It's a shameless ripoff of the blair witch project, but 1000 times more boring. Which is saying a lot since i gave the blair witch project 1 star because it was unbearably boring.
The majority of this movie falls into two categories. Forest wandering. And the characters telling stories about past events or explaining what the widow is doing. Exposition at its finest (1 viewing, 7/18/2021)
Russian riff on "Blair Witch": good pacing....
MunkyMovie30 March 2021
Something at least remotely interesting happened every five minutes. There are lots of ideas too, though they don't fully gel -- like a mini-series distilled to its best bits. I saw a dubbed version, and in this form, the dialogue was a little sub-par (e.g., characters blurting out the obvious). The ending was the highlight, so skip ahead if you must.
Okay movie
duckman_0794 August 2021
Good movie
gab-6759927 March 2021
I came into this movie with low expectations and was happily surprised. One review said it was like Blair With Project, which I have owned both movies so I would know. This was better then Blair Witch. I would not say it was scary, the word creepy kept jumping into my head when something bad would happen. It was a perfect amount of creepy to make it a good, just not a great movie. I love to be scared and although I didn't jump, I was definitely creeped out. This movie was a bit slow for my pace but enjoyable all the same if you like scary movies that creep you out. Any movie that can make a creepy haystack disappear has got my vote. Also one person mentioned Trump in the background, obviously only watched the first and then threw in a towel. Let's get reviews from people that watch the movie the whole way through please!
Good folk horror.
jp_9111 March 2021
"Vdova" is an atmospheric folk horror film with creepy filming locations, an excellent cinematography, a suspenseful script, good performances and a cool music score. The film has some influences to "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Witch", not the same quality but "Vdova" is an entertaining film.
BAD Fakeumentary
gcm-344164 June 2022
No spoilers as there iis nothing to spoil.
The writing is bad and the acting is terrible! A rescue crew in which one person has been on at least 100 missions and he can't even drive the four-wheel drive vehicle properly. They haphazardly store their gear, unsecured, within the vehicle. Do not follow their first rule: which we learned early; always secure the first victim found. They don't recognize that the dog they run into isn't even their dog; easily recognized by his flashing collar beacon and its first reaction to them is to growl when his name is said. They apparently didn't carry GPS as they don't give their coordinates to another team when asked for it. It just continues to go downhill from this point... a half hour into the film!
The writing is bad and the acting is terrible! A rescue crew in which one person has been on at least 100 missions and he can't even drive the four-wheel drive vehicle properly. They haphazardly store their gear, unsecured, within the vehicle. Do not follow their first rule: which we learned early; always secure the first victim found. They don't recognize that the dog they run into isn't even their dog; easily recognized by his flashing collar beacon and its first reaction to them is to growl when his name is said. They apparently didn't carry GPS as they don't give their coordinates to another team when asked for it. It just continues to go downhill from this point... a half hour into the film!
Awesome Setting, solid acting, horrific voice dubs, and not much happens.
joshualeldred3 April 2022
That about sums it up. The setting is an awesome dark forest full of creepy shadows, odd noises, rickety bridges over dark waters, and old folk legends. It captures a creepy vibe quite well. After that this film does not offer much. I would guess most watchers will feel like nothing ever really happened. The voice overdubs are a deal breaker, I can't believe I finished it. Yes it does have a heavy Blair Witch Vibe. It's Meh.
The Rescue Team
claudio_carvalho2 January 2023
In Saint Petersburg, the journalist Kristina (Anastasiya Gribova) is interviewing the rescue team composed by Ilya (Ilya Agapov); Andrey (Konstantin Nesterko); Lyosha (Aleksey Aniskin) and the newcomer Viktoria "Vika" (Viktotiya Potemina). They show their van, equipment and rescue dog. On the afternoon, they are summoned to rescue the boy Nikita that was seen wandering in the woods and Kristina goes with them. They drive to the wilderness to seek out the boy and they walk through the creepy forest that has many dark amulets. Out of the blue, they find a naked woman in a haystack and they bring her to the van on a stretcher. They withdraw a weird thing from her throat and she says that her name is Zoya (Margarita Bychkova). Further, she tells to them that she was the chosen by The Widow, and now they will all die. Meanwhile, Andrey drives the van trying to find the way back to their base.
"Vdova" (2020), a.k.a. "The Widow", is a creepy and atmospheric Russian horror movie. The plot combines a possible Russian legend with a rescue team looking for a boy. There is a part that is confused, when Viktoria finds the house and pieces of newspaper that I believe has not been well-translated, but the story is not bad. The director was able to transmit the fear and the tension of the characters. I saw the film is Russian audio and Portuguese subtitle. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "A Viúva das Sombras" ("The Widow from the Shadows")
"Vdova" (2020), a.k.a. "The Widow", is a creepy and atmospheric Russian horror movie. The plot combines a possible Russian legend with a rescue team looking for a boy. There is a part that is confused, when Viktoria finds the house and pieces of newspaper that I believe has not been well-translated, but the story is not bad. The director was able to transmit the fear and the tension of the characters. I saw the film is Russian audio and Portuguese subtitle. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "A Viúva das Sombras" ("The Widow from the Shadows")
Not terrible, not great, just rather middling
I_Ailurophile15 October 2022
It's extremely difficult if not impossible, but one can try to overlook incredibly poor dubbing if one unfortunately and unwittingly stumbles onto it. I like the premise, and the gorgeous filming locations; Nick Skachkov's excellent score lends uneasy atmosphere. From there 'The widow' becomes a little less interesting as dialogue becomes repetitive (the script includes much yelling of one another's names, and other repeated phrases), the narrative and scene writing falls back on a few particular tropes, and the picture generally recalls 'The Blair witch project' (lost in the woods, strange discoveries) but with more characters and preparedness, (slightly) more eventfulness, and less "found footage."
It's not that this is bad, only that there's not really anything about the production that's so noteworthy as to help it stand out in any major way. Writing and direction is suitable; acting varies but is generally adequate; the effects look and sound good (though I could have done with more). The very last instant is plainly excessive, but I do like the ending, even as it comes across as incompletely realized. Yet at no time does 'The widow' really make any big impression; it simply is. Watch this, or watch anything else - what's the difference?
As it stands I wonder if I'm not being too generous in my assessment; while usually I would also suggest "maybe I'm being too harsh," in this instance I know to a certainty that's not true. I don't outright dislike this, but even at its best it fails to inspire any meager reaction, the last thing a filmmaker should ever want to be said of their genre flick. Watch 'The widow' if you like; it's baseline entertaining for a very lazy day - just don't expect too much, and just try to enjoy it for what it is.
Whatever.
It's not that this is bad, only that there's not really anything about the production that's so noteworthy as to help it stand out in any major way. Writing and direction is suitable; acting varies but is generally adequate; the effects look and sound good (though I could have done with more). The very last instant is plainly excessive, but I do like the ending, even as it comes across as incompletely realized. Yet at no time does 'The widow' really make any big impression; it simply is. Watch this, or watch anything else - what's the difference?
As it stands I wonder if I'm not being too generous in my assessment; while usually I would also suggest "maybe I'm being too harsh," in this instance I know to a certainty that's not true. I don't outright dislike this, but even at its best it fails to inspire any meager reaction, the last thing a filmmaker should ever want to be said of their genre flick. Watch 'The widow' if you like; it's baseline entertaining for a very lazy day - just don't expect too much, and just try to enjoy it for what it is.
Whatever.
Little hard too follow
tonyamick31 October 2022
Watched this movie over the weekend it reminds me as others have eluded to like a spinoff of The Blair Witch Project. Dubbing was a little hard to get used to and some of the scenes were very jerky and fast moving so made it a little tough to follow and stay on top of things. What I liked most is it was set in a colder environment and when characters spoke you knew it wasn't a fake setting as you actually seen their breath when speaking unlike so many other movies set in "winter settings" where you see no breath and know those fake setting players are probably actually baking in their attire. With that being said I'm hoping someone with a question I have,,,,,,who makes the blue ski/snowboard jacket that Viktoria is wearing through the movie and when she ultimately gets dragged away. Any help would be great hoping someone recognizes the symbol on shoulder of the jacket as name seems to be covered most of the time which is on right chest and covered by her hair.
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