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By Scott Brown
Scott Brown
Scott Brown
Scott Brown is a senior writer for EW and a frequent contributor to National Public Radio -- he has the tote bag to prove it

Like The Matrix but hate all that pesky English? Get into Night Watch(in theaters now), a superstylized Russian epic about warring clans of immortals duking it out in Moscow. Herewith, notes on the Russian Underworld.

1 In the motherland, it's called Nochnoi Dozor. It's also — sorry, hobbits — the highest-grossing film in Russian history ($16 million). Or it was, until its sequel Day Watch took in $33 million.

2 It's a trilogy. Night opened in 2004, Day in 2006. The third — a retelling of the first two — will be in production soon, and filmed in English.

3 The gist: Light versus Dark. It also features vampirism, invisibility, big yellow trucks, and lots of nifty, culturally specific details you won't grasp unless you have a Moscow area code.


Posted Feb 24, 2006 | Published in issue #866 Mar 03, 2006 | Order Article Reprints