The film art of the Russian Empire, in the light of the current state of research, may not be completely terra incognita, and yet a number of issues on this topic still need to be elaborated and saved from oblivion. The subject of the present research are the lost or only partially preserved horror movies filmed in the country of the last tsar of Russia – Nicholas II. The author recalls the circumstances of the creation of specific films, as well as the critical reception of such productions as Vasily Goncharov’s Viy (1909), At Midnight in the Graveyard (1909/1910) by the same director, The Vampire Woman (1915) by Viatcheslav (Victor) Tourjansky or two films by Ladislas Starevich: The Portrait (1915) and another screen adaptation of Viy (1916?).