American reporter Evan Berkhoff (Valeri Nikolayev) works at a very American tabloid. His newest (last chance-, of course) job is to make up something interesting about a few deaths in the mysterious, very American town of Castleville (which must be situated next to Castle Rock and Castle-of-Death-on-the-Thames). In stark contrast to real tabloid writers, he actually has to go to Castleville for fact-gathering. After a chance meeting with a Catholic priest, he continues his way to the town. Suddenly the very-American-if-America-was-Estonia landscape gets hit by a dreadful rainstorm. Our intrepid journalist's car gets stuck in the mud. To show us his expert use of intelligence, Evan also locks himself out of his car. Fortunately he can make out an occupied house in the distance. Inside, an old woman welcomes him not warmly, but at least lets him stay the night. She even is so nice to let him take a warm bath.
When he is soaking, an attractive woman called Meryl (Yeygeniya Kryukova) tries to seduce him. Evan hasn't much of a problem with this, only when Meryl turns into an old woman and tries to attack him he suddenly changes his mind about a closer acquaintance with her, and drowns her in the bath tub.
She does not seem to be all that dead, though, and attacks him in the form of loud, watery special effects. He manages to flee in the car of the priest he had met earlier on, who turns out to be quite dead now.
This fits rather nicely when you are naked and in need of new clothes, so Evan steals the habit of the dead man and now makes a fetching Catholic priest.
He still can't drive a car very well though, as the collision with a nearby tree proves.
Back on foot again, he is picked up by a deputy whose assumption of his priesthood he doesn't contradict.
The next morning, the local Sheriff (Lembit Ulfsak) tells him of the last wish of a murdered woman named Meryl - the priest who would arrive the night after her death is to spend three nights in the chapel where she is laid out and pray for her. Nobody says it out loud, but the townspeople all know that Meryl was a witch and hope against better knowledge that the stranger will somehow be able to calm her spirit down. Or want to use him as a sacrifice for Meryl's wrath.
The next few days, Evan is more or less a prisoner by day, and fighting a hopeless battle against ever stronger supernatural manifestations by night. Only faith can save him.
Yes, this is another version of Gogol's Viy, with a different philosophical slant and of much inferior quality.
Vedma is not as bad a film as some reviewers say, though. It has considerable flaws, but also its effective moments and clever ideas.
Among said flaws is the slightly silly and completely unbelievable American setting - every part of the production screams Russia so loud that I soon forgot that the action is supposed to take place somewhere else.
Much more problematic is the ineffectiveness of most of the film's big scare scenes. Evan's nightly adventures in the church are the least interesting parts of the film, a sloppy and unoriginal mess of loud and un-scary effects that annoy more than they frighten. These scenes are mercifully short, though.
The last major flaw is the movie's ending one of those happy endings that talk about the renewed faith of a character without any believable attempt at showing the reason for his new faith. So, Evan's faith in Jesus is based on his fear of being eaten by a witch? My, how long will it last?
But there are also things to like about Vedma. When you can ignore that they are not filmed in America, you get to see some beautiful location shots of half-ruined buildings and will even see a lot of effective moodbuilding through weather and natural lighting.
Everything non-supernatural that is happening in town is also very good. The way the townspeople avoid talking about Meryl, the way they look at each other, the way they look at Evan - all this is expertly executed and much more creepy than the flying women and bats who assault Evan in Church.
The mood of the town as a place where something hasn't been right for many years is so strong you can sometimes nearly touch it.
In the end, these scenes are what make the film worth watching, if you don't expect too much from the rest.
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