A mystical drama based on a story by V. Korotkevich. The film is set in out-of-the-way Belarusian woodlands at the end of the 19th century. A young ethnographer, Andrej Bielarecki, comes here to research local folk legends... A film that justly claims to be the first Soviet mystical thriller. A gripping, suspenseful plot. Terrifying medieval legends turning to real horror. "â??Stachâ?'s been assigned a most honorable place in history, next to â??Cat's Eye', â??Night of the Living Dead', and a masterpiece of the national sub-horror, the animation â??Hazelnut Twig'.â? (Denis Gorelov, "Izvestiyaâ?)