On Monday, October 12, a new multi-part mystical thriller with elements of a road movie "Territory" was released on the TNT TV channel and the PREMIER video platform.

The project was directed by Igor Tverdokhlebov.

Previously, he worked on such tapes as "Major 3" and "The Fifth Guard".

According to the plot, a married couple of ethnologists Chudinovs, who went on an expedition to the burial ground, disappears in the Perm Territory.

Their son Yegor (Gleb Kalyuzhny) and his uncle Nikolai (Andrei Merzlikin) set out in search of the missing.

The trail of the Chudinov couple is either lost or found again, which means that the heroes have a long and difficult path ahead of them.

In the very first scene, in which Yegor and Nikolai are going by bus to the district police officer, the tone for further on-screen action is set.

An old PAZ moves along a bumpy dirt road against the backdrop of a huge forest.

Immediately there is a feeling that in these places it is difficult for people to establish their life.

Then it turns out that the locals, in principle, prefer traditions to the blessings of civilization: for example, the bus driver does not want to treat psoriasis with a doctor and, in the old-fashioned way, turns to the old woman-medicine woman.

  • © Press service of TNT TV channel

At first, Yegor and Nikolai do not have to wait for help from the district police officer: police officer Murzin (Alexei Rozin), it seems, is not at all interested in finding ethnologists - although five days have passed since the last time the disappeared got in touch.

In the hope of learning at least something from the locals, as well as forest hermits and sectarians, the heroes set off on foot.

They are accompanied by students of philology Tanya (Ksenia Otinova) and Nadia (Anastasia Chistyakova).

They finish their practice in the village, where they recorded folklore works, but due to a bus breakdown, they cannot leave.

Not knowing the local order, the main characters unintentionally disturb the local residents and find themselves in mortal danger. 

The basis for the plot of "Territory" was the folklore of the Perm region.

Every now and then a variety of sinister characters appear in the series, any words of which, especially wishes for failure, can be regarded as prophecies.

Almost every village has its own sorcerer.

This "Territory" resembles the mystical works of Gogol - such as "Viy" or "Terrible revenge". 

The impression is enhanced by the images of isolated villages in which the inhabitants adhere to the old order.

They meet strangers with prejudice and create families only among themselves - and people with health problems are inevitably born in incestuous marriages. 

Villagers are concerned about problems such as fires or porpoises, which are rarely thought of by urban residents.

In everyday life, telephones with a switch and cassette players are used. 

Also in some scenes you can hear the Permian Komi language.

Some words in it coincide with Russian, but most of them sound completely unusual.

The Permian Komi speech became the finishing touch to create a mystical atmosphere at the moments when the heroes communicate with hermits and sorcerers.

Thanks to all this, the viewer gets the impression that there is a special civilization on the territory he is observing, which has little to do with the outside world. 

Perhaps, "Territory" fits well the mood of the October evenings.

Filming took place from August to November last year, and the dark narration of the tape organically complements the landscapes: it is almost always cloudy or rainy in the frame.

The views of forests, lakes and rivers without a trace of human presence are impressive.

The mood is also created by shots of villages with rickety houses and blurred roads.

  • © Press service of TNT TV channel

When writing the script for the tape, a plot was used, typical for horror films: the curiosity of the characters now and then prevails over the sense of self-preservation (or the rules of decency).

Interestingly, the canonical role of the skeptic moves from one character to another.

First, it's Nikolai - he, a pathologist, is not used to believing in the supernatural.

Then Yegor proposes to walk a kilometer through an unfamiliar dense forest in order to shorten the path, and does not see a great danger in this.

In a particularly original way, a penchant for superstition and curiosity are combined in Nadia.

She tries to appease the forest spirits and baptizes food.

At the same time, the heroine is not afraid to spy on sorcerers, show excessive curiosity and give out important secrets to the first comers.

Because of this, her image does not look completely complete.

So far, only Tanya remains consistent.

However, in the first episodes, a good foundation was laid for the further development of images.

So, viewers will gradually learn the story of Tanya who was left without parents.

Little by little, details about the hermit Shura, who is on the wanted list, are being clarified.

It is also interesting to watch the district policeman Murzin, who speaks Permian Komi and with ostentatious calm watches supernatural events in the territory entrusted to him.

After watching the first two episodes, it is too early to draw conclusions about the success or failure of this tape.

Whether the filmmakers managed to surprise the Russian viewer, it will probably be possible to say for sure only by the end of next week, when all eight episodes of Territory will be released.

But the fact that another high-quality, interesting and (most joyful) original series has appeared on the domestic television horizon can already be asserted with full confidence.