I was born on a small island in the Black Sea.
Most people here live right from the land.
It's how we've always survived.
For a long time, nothing much changed here.
But things are starting to feel different.
People say it's a dangerous place.
There are bears,
and wolves...
and something else...
Something people fear is much worse.
For as long as I know, we've fought them.
I've never seen one myself.
But I've heard them, at night...
...echoing down from the mountains.
I still don't know the whole story.
But since I was four years old...
the one thing I've known for sure...
is they destroyed my family.
On foot, boys.
Hi, possum.
Are we going to see one?
Put out your hand.
Papa gave me that on my first hunt.
It's sharp.
Yeah, it's a killer.
Stick to the high ground.
Boris!
The trees!
Stay down!
Let's go!
Right there!
Last night...
was marvelous, my little chub-chicks.
We saw the devil dancing in the goblin's eyes!
But did we fell a single one?
No.
No, we did not.
Was there a fair amount of piss-shit scatter-shots
and gutless dawdling?
Yes. Yes, there was.
Pavel!
This week, your father's best stud was bit, bled dry.
Oleg!
Your Uncle Belka, won't stay on the hill with his herd.
Now he sits at home and drinks!
Ivan! Your father and his timber crew
have fled the camp.
Your mother feeds the dog on hog-shit.
Gleb!
On your farm,
five geese and three cats are yet found!
We are cursed with a wickedness!
Your parents have offered you to this cause.
They say, "Here! Make something of my boy!
"Protect us. Save us!"
When Petro here was 14,
just a reedy twig as you are,
he was orphaned and left in my care.
Now look at him!
You may think me nasty and grim.
But remember, my dears,
I know your pain.
The Ochi took my wife.
And for that, I have no son
to call my own.
But if you give your little hearts to this cause,
as true as I live,
you are all my sons.
...The Long and Lonely Night.
You hear that?
♪ In morning's quiet fire
♪ My love has held it's heat
♪ For a long and lonely night ♪
Amazing.
You act like it's a torture.
Like a turtle with its head in the shell.
It's stupid.
That was our song.
Your mom and me.
In school, we learned there's a kind of bird,
it's called a Pine Warbler.
It's weird, because, basically,
the dad sits on the eggs instead of mom.
But when it turns a bigger age,
it leaves the nest,
and the mom teaches it how to fly and get bugs.
I think it's cool.
I wish you could see her, Yuri.
I do.
-You said I... -How many times
do I have to tell you? She left us.
I'm gonna see her.
She doesn't want you.
Have you checked the traps?
I won't hurt you.
It's okay.
I'm not gonna hurt you.
The whistle, the call of death.
There.
Better.
No. Not for eating.
No!
You're not like they say.
You hear that?
I need my sleeping bag!
Yuri, what is this?
I'll be fine on my own.
You won't make it in the woods.
Don't be a drama queen.
Look, you can talk to me.
You're only nice if no one's looking.
I'm taking him home.
Please feed my caterpillars.
Where is she?
When did you last see her?
Uh, at dinner, last night, with you.
"I want you to have it back because it is dumb.
"P.S. I am strong and cool.
"I don't believe what you say about anything.
"And don't look for me, okay? Thanks, bye."
Oh, God.
She's been kidnapped!
Strap it in, assbags!
Let's go!
A father's greatest treasure is his daughter!
Under the bridge!
- Where? - Over there.
Are you hungry?
That sounded like a yes.
Promise to be quiet.
We have strong bones and teeth.
Minced meat stew seven days a week.
Dad never let me come here.
We only drink from the sheep.
Excuse me, miss.
Be quiet. Be quiet.
Animals!
-Hey! Hey! -This isn't...
Not moving! It's not moving!
It's not moving.
I command you to move!
It's not your fault.
We don't belong here.
And thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
For the Lord had comforted His people.
Shall the prey be taken from the mighty...
But thus saith the Lord.
Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken...
...and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.
For I will contend with him that contendeth with thee...
Oh!
...and I will save thy children.
Whoa.
Hey, Dina! Check it out!
And they shall be drunken with their own blood,
as with sweet wine,
and all flesh shall know that I, the...
I don't think it's working.
Gross.
I never made that sound.
I didn't know I could.
I can talk to you!
I can talk to you! I can talk to you!
Yuri!
Mom.
Where is he?
As you may know, there's such a thing
as a Carpathian brown bat,
common in these highlands.
Can drain a sheep dry.
But this bat,
it has a taste for any warm-blooded creature
it can find.
Ochi, too.
Oh, yes, it's very fond of Ochi.
But the Ochi bites it back.
So, after some thousands of years,
this bat...
has developed a resistance,
an immunity.
Its blood is the only cure for you.
This may cause a strong sensation.
I don't want it.
-Nonsense. -The bite gives me power.
I can talk to him.
You really are my daughter.
In the beginning, you were just a little grub on my back.
I gave you words. Things to say.
It's not the bite.
I taught it to you.
Why did you leave me?
He kept me from you.
In Carpathia,
the laws catch flies and let the hornets go free.
So, I've been waiting.
How does a pea weevil, hatched inside a pea,
know to climb out when it's never seen the world?
How does an Arctic tern...
know to follow the same small patch of sky
for three months and 12,000 miles,
only to land on the other side of the world
on the same small rock every year?
It's an inborn melody.
I know this.
Dad said it was your song.
This song comes from the trees, Yuri.
Ochi song.
Their language is unlike ours.
It's more musical, more emotional.
Yes. They have simple calls.
Names for things.
This much you know. I taught you this.
But this is just the surface.
Ochi communicate not in words, but in sensations.
Joy, excitement, pain, fear.
When they sing together,
weaving their feelings through each other,
a kind of miracle happens.
It's really quite beautiful.
I want that.
Yes, of course. But, uh, it's not for us.
Ochi sing only to each other within family groups.
So, it's simply not possible.
But he's my friend.
We can't be friends with them.
They can't be our pets.
We have turned the wolf into a lapdog.
What is that?
Is that his home?
That's where I'm taking him.
My dear, that would lead to certain and unpleasant death.
-But when I take him... -If you return a baby bird
to the nest, it has the stink of man,
and the mother tosses it straight out.
I'm not going to abandon him.
Speak up. I can't hear you.
I think a baby's first scream
is the purest expression it makes.
It comes from deep within.
No teaching, just pure instinct.
But then she learns that screaming gets you things,
like milk and candies.
Yuri!
It's time to come home, Yuri.
Sit.
Have some tea.
Where is she?
I got to her in time.
I have medicine now.
O Lord, O Lord,
thy kingdom holds a cure for all things.
I never stopped loving you.
Before you left, she was a real little chatterbox.
I'd like to see her.
Yuri?
Why don't you invite your toy soldiers in for a cup?
We're going home, Yuri!
She left this morning.
What? Are you insane?
Of course, you're insane!
You know very well that it's not good for my constitution
to hear your voice at such a volume.
You're a plague of locusts!
You're a serpent hiding in the rocks!
You live where the throne of Satan sits,
and you've been sent up only to ruin my life!
-You cut off my hand! -I saved your life!
Sir! I think we found something!
- Look how you raised her! - Deaf to her own voice!
It's you who left! It's you who gave up!
And for what? Those stupid goblins!
Where's my daughter, you witch?
Sir!
Well...
Well, well, well.
For years, I've searched.
But the answer, my boys, is right here!
Ha! The caves.
They hide in the dog-damn dark!
You'll be torn apart.
Possum.
If you return a bird to the nest...
it has the stench of man.
The mother tosses it straight out.
Petro, let me tell you something.
And I want you to remember every word
like it was the last drop of your mother's milk.
Only a fool looks for comfort in another's heart.
If an oak grows, leaned on a birch,
and that birch goes to rot, the oak will fall.
So, grow straight upwards and sturdy.
Do not lean, and you will not fall.
And on you, my boy,
I lean well upon.
Thank you, sir.
They don't like me.
There's a way down here!
Ochi!
Hold on!
I'm coming for you!
I read your letter!
Yuri, we're your family!
I listened to Hell Throne!
It's good!
Holy shit.
Boys!
Don't go soft on me!
She left because of you.
What?
She wasn't kidnapped.
-I let her go! -Shut up!
You made an oath!
I won't stand to put you all in peril.
Chin up, boys.
Hold the line.
Yuri!
Let's go home!
Use my axe.
Push! Push!
I'm pushing!
-Harder! -I'm trying!
Choke up on it!
It's too heavy!
Listen to me!
Oh!
I'm not asking you to understand.
Just trust me.
I'm sorry what I said about Grandpa's knife.
I know what it meant to you.
It's not dumb.
I made it all up.
I bought it at a gas station.
I thought it looked cool.
I wanted it to be something special...
For us.
Dad...
that's so stupid.
Can you walk on it?
Stay close by my side.
Yuri!
Stop!
Wait!
Hold your fire!
When they sing together...
weaving their feelings through each other...
a kind of miracle happens.