Evil Boy - weaving Slavic folklore, religion and philosophy

Greetings, commies!

Another foreign horror film to get your blood pumping (or chilling). Evil Boy capitalizes on every parent's greatest nightmare - the unexplained disappearance of a child. How far would you go to bring back the kid you lost? What lies are you willing to tell yourself?

Synopsis:

Several years after their son's disappearance, a grieving couple adopts a feral boy, who begins to eerily resemble their child more with each passing day. While the mother believes they have found their son, her husband is certain he died. As strange accidents begin happening around the boy, the pair soon wonders whether they've adopted something not entirely...human.

My thoughts:

Russian generally doesn't generate a ton of horror movies, but the ones that do come out tend to be potent and well-plotted. I wish the original title had been kept -  it translates like "spawn" or "castaway". "Evil Boy" just sounds too campy, almost grindhouse. The movie is anything but grindhouse. It weaves the elements of Slavic folklore, Eastern Orthodox mysticism, sci-fi and psychology. Of course, most horror movies employ the same universal message: don't mess with nature, don't try to bring back the dead, accept loss/defeat. The theme is not necessarily unique, but the execution is extremely effective.