Nachalo) is a 2017 Russian fantasy-horror film directed by Yegor Baranov loosely based on works by Nikolai Gogol from the 1832 collection Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.

Young Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, a judicial clerk in the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery in St. Petersburg, suffers seizures on the job, falling into a semi-conscious state in which he is pursued by strange visions and writes seemingly meaningless words.

That same evening, the insecure Gogol, brought to tears and impotent rage by the harsh criticism of his first work, Hans Küchelgarten, buys up all the copies of the book and burns them.

The next morning Gogol is visited by Guro, who warmly supports him and advises him not to lose heart after his first failed attempt at writing.

Guro also expresses his gratitude for Gogol's cooperation, adding that he is going to investigate the mysterious murders of girls in the Poltava province near the small village of Dikanka.

Gogol meets the wife of landowner Danishevsky, Elisabeth, who admires his creativity and toward whom he begins to feel (as he tries to convince himself) platonic emotions.

He also gets acquainted with the landowner Danishevsky himself, a strange and mysterious man who, along with Elisabeth, lives in isolation, despite being so close to the village of Dikanka.

In exchange for Gogol's help identifying which of the rusalka is actually a witch, who drains her strength from drowned women, Oksana promises to help him in the investigation.

He raves about a pig's head and a red scroll, the symbol of conjugal infidelity, which, according to the folk lore, the devil throws on the threshold.

Gogol once again is tormented by visions about Oksana and Elizabeth: according to the former, in order to learn how to manage his gift, he must give up worldly attachments and, first and foremost, his feelings for Liza.

Realizing that the murderer is Paraska, who staged the devil's attack so that her stepmother would not stop her from getting married, Gogol exposes her, but she escapes into the forest.

But they do not have time to contemplate: Paraska is found dead in a boat by the river bank, and on the ground gleams the terrible symbol of the Dark Horseman.

The next morning at the inn, Gogol gathers Dr. Bomgart, the blacksmith Vakula and his servant Yakim, the only people in all of Dikanka he can trust.

It turns out that among the things of Yakov Petrovich Guro there was a trunk, which he ordered to give to Gogol in case of unforeseen circumstances.

The chapter and the first film ends with Yakov Petrovich Guro, who supposedly died in the barn fire, observing the village of Dikanka from the top of a cliff.