Forbidden Empire

2014

2h 7m

Adventure

Fantasy

Mystery & Thriller

List

Reviews

34%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

In the 18th century, cartographer Jonathan Green sets out to map the uncharted parts of Transylvania, and discovers dark secrets and dangerous creatures hidden in a cursed forest.

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Premiered Aug 15

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Cody Ray Shafer

Under the Radar

There are some thrilling sequences, and the monsters are great, especially for low-budget CGI.

Rated: 5.5/10

Jun 8, 2015

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Matt Donato

We Got This Covered

Forbidden Empire strives so hard to be a fantastical epic, but muddied storytelling can't be saved by the horrors of Viy.

Rated: 5/10

May 25, 2015

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Rob Hunter

Film School Rejects

The visuals are enough of a reason to give it a watch, but the film as a whole becomes a mostly forgettable mash of entertaining effects and dull interactions.

Rated: C+

May 25, 2015

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Meredith Borders

Birth.Movies.Death.

FORBIDDEN EMPIRE is wild and colorful and exciting and funny; it's neck-deep in witches and monsters and magic and devilry. It's a bit of a mess, but it's the sort of mess more movies should make of themselves.

May 21, 2015

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Nacho R

bad. pacing was horrible and story was just nonsense. honeslty one of the worst movies ive ever seen

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

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Matthew D

Ah yes, the magical fantasy realm of a Russian forest! This looks like a Russian fan film of Age of Empires with ugly visuals, cheap CGI, and amateurish acting. It's actually closer to a Russian bargain bin version of Eragon. Total slop dumped on Amazon Prime and a waste of time. That Jeff Bridges fantasy movie Seventh Son was better and that's one of the worst movies ever made.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

06/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A mildly entertaining fantasy/monster mystery, kind of in the vein of a Scooby-Doo adventure. The CGI is only slightly better than the cartoon quality. I think a lot is lost in the translation of the language, as the dialogue comes off as very basic and without any real substance. The collision between superstition and science, which is at the heart of the movie, gets lost in the CGI gimmicks.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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camille l

Viy est un film fantastique russe au budget relativement moyen co-produit par Uwe Boll avec Jason Flemyng et Charles Dance dans des rôles importants tiré d'un roman de Nikolai Gogol. A partir de ce postulat tout à fait singulier, Oleg Stepchenko en tire un fatras aux ruptures de ton aussi étranges que la direction artistique dont le film fait preuve. La première heure, pleine d'exposition, est aussi ennuyeuse que son troisième acte est chaotique (dans le bon sens du terme) avec des setpieces impressionnantes et aux résolutions aussi stupides que réjouissantes. Viy n'est clairement pas pour tout le monde mais c'est un film assez unique en son genre et qui vaut le coup d'oeil pour les plus aventureux d'entre nous.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

This movie doesn't make sense. The plot is so freaking stupid, the fantasy part was even worse, the ending is I think the worst shit I've never wanted to see. All I got from the movie was that the British are smart, scientists, rich, and the Slavic are stupid little savages. I thought that the fantasy part of the movie would be important and it turned out that the Orthodox priest was the one who was the bad guy. OMG i can't even. You should watch and see how stupid this movie is.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Audience Member

Entertaining. A huge success in Russia.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

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Oleg Stepchenko

Director

Jason Flemyng

Dzhonatan Grin

Andrey Smolyakov

Otets Paisiy

Aleksey Chadov

Petrus

Agniya Ditkovskite

Nastusya

Yuriy Tsurilo

Sotnik

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Synopsis

In the 18th century, cartographer Jonathan Green sets out to map the uncharted parts of Transylvania, and discovers dark secrets and dangerous creatures hidden in a cursed forest.

Director: Oleg Stepchenko
Producer: Uwe Boll, Michael Roesch, Oleg Stepchenko
Screenwriter: Aleksandr Karpov, Oleg Stepchenko
Production Co: Ankor-Film, Marins Group Entertaiment, Galaxy Vision
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Russian
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 7, 2017
Runtime: 2h 7m

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