Adapted from Alexeï Konstantinovitch Tolstoï’s La Famille du Vourdalak, the story written by Adrien Beau and Hadrien Bouvier kicks off as follows: "My children," implores old Gorcha before leaving, "wait six days for me. If I haven’t returned by the end of the sixth day, offer a prayer in my memory, for I will have been killed in combat... But if, God forbid, I should return af...