Name: The Ninth
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Horror
Released: 2019-11-07T00:00:00+00:00
Cast: Evgeny Tsyganov, Daisy Head, Dmitry Lysenkov, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Jonathan Salway

The fog-choked streets of St. Petersburg, where gaslight flickers against the gloom, set the stage for Nikolay Khomeriki’s The Ninth (2019), a period thriller that trades in occult dread and ritualistic murder. Evgeny Tsyganov’s Detective Sergey Rostov stalks these shadows, his face a mask of weary determination as he hunts a killer who leaves mutilated bodies in the city’s underbelly. The film’s hook is simple but effective: a British medium, Olivia Reed (Daisy Head), arrives in town, drawing crowds with her spiritualist séances just as the murders escalate. Rostov turns to her, hoping her otherworldly abilities—genuine or not—might crack the case.

Khomeriki’s direction is atmospheric, leaning into the gothic undertones of the setting. The production design nails the late 19th-century aesthetic: dimly lit rooms draped in heavy fabrics, cobblestone streets slick with rain, and a pervasive sense of decay. The cinematography heightens this mood, with long takes that let tension build—like the scene where Rostov interrogates Reed in her dimly lit parlor, the camera lingering on their faces as suspicion simmers between them. The score, meanwhile, is restrained but effective, weaving unease into every frame without resorting to cheap jump scares.

Where The Ninth falters is in its pacing and character development. Tsyganov is solid as Rostov, but his arc feels thin, reduced to little more than a conduit for the mystery. Head’s Olivia Reed is intriguing—a woman caught between exploitation (as a sideshow act) and genuine power—but her backstory remains frustratingly opaque. The film’s reliance on occult tropes also borders on cliché at times, with too many scenes of eerie séances and cryptic warnings that don’t pay off until the final act.

The mystery itself is the weakest link. Khomeriki teases a grand conspiracy involving a cabal of occultists (led by Yuri Kolokolnikov’s Vasiliy Golitsyn), but the payoff feels underwhelming, as if the film couldn’t decide whether to be a psychological thriller or a supernatural horror. The climax, while visually striking—a chase through the city’s catacombs—lacks the emotional weight needed to justify the buildup.

The Ninth is a flawed but occasionally compelling watch, saved by its strong visuals and Khomeriki’s confidence in letting scenes breathe.