Rasputin The Mad Monk Blu-ray Review

• 15th Oct 2012

Following on the back of other recent Hammer film releases on dual format DVD and Blu-ray, comes a bunch of others all of which all of which have undergone restoration. The overhaul makes them look very dazzling indeed. The earliest of the three latest releases is a film which could be loosely labeled a Hammer costumer, Rasputin – the Mad Monk; one of the extras is a documentary on the Hammer costumer. Having always been a fan of Hammer films the company’s costumers bear little distinction from their horror films. None less so than Rasputin. Christopher Lee always boasted that this was his favourite role and he believes his best. The jury is out on this one; although he does play the role rather menacingly and certainly looks the part using his height to even better advantage than that as Dracula (Lee is some 6’7″ in height). In fact Lee plays Rasputin like a more vocal and malevolent Dracula with his hypnotic mesmeric stare and even bloodshot eyes, using his powers for nefarious purposes. Visually Lee’s Rasputin is a not too dissimilar an incarnation to John Barrymore’s 1932 incarnation of the Machiavellian monk with his tall physique, long greasy hair, straggly beard and thin features.

One of the big criticisms for the film apart from its horror pretensions were its lack of any historical fact apart from the nature of Rasputin’s demise. Grigory Rasputin of course is a real-life figure as well as one bound in mythology. Hammer takes this to the enth degree with Rasputin as a flawed over sexed degenerate monk who works his way into the Romanov court. Of course all this is based in fact but Hammer makes this into grand guignol gothic horror – Hammer style. Francis Matthews character of Ivan as the hero who finally defeats the beastly Rasputin plays his role in a very English manner (something that is very typical of the studio). Even his character is loosely based in fact with Matthews resembling Felix Yuspurov, a British spy who allegedly disposed of Rasputin and built his myth. Indeed many of the characters are composites of real-life figures.

Rasputin was filmed back to back with Dracula, Prince of Darkness (also recently released by Studiocanal) along with slightly later releases The Reptile and Plague of the Zombies (also recently released by Studiocanal). With the Dracula film there are clear parallels and uses of the same sets: the Romanov’s summer palace doubling as Dracula’s castle. Even the so-called Russian drinking tavern looks straight out of its central European counterpart. The same fate also befalls Lee’s villains in both films. Not only this, but as with other Hammer films in order that things are done on the cheap many of the same actors are also in both films including Barbara Shelley, Suzan Farmer and Matthews, the very same actors who supply the commentary along with Lee (as they also did with the recent release of Dracula, Prince of Darkness). On the commentary the actor’s reminisce a great deal but often go off on huge tangents and don’t discuss the filming or the film in question.

Lee considered this to be one of his best performances and a film it is unfortunately one of those films which falls between two stools. Hammer churned out many horror films – of course some are better than others but when they turned to historical costumer or comedy they often fell flat and came across as B movies. It does pass the time well and stands out as Hammer’s best costumer. The extras on both films are plentiful including documentaries on the costumer in Hammer films (if this is a costumer then you could also include the horror films), as well as commentaries by Lee, Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews and Suzan Farmer all of who had also appeared in Dracula, Prince of Darkness. The former is an episode from a 1990 documentary series on Hammer narrated by the late Oliver Reed in which he talks of the several Hammer costumers that were made from adaptations of Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, pirate stories, an English Civil War actioner and the odd Empire set film. As well as a rounded and thorough making of documentary and a good stills gallery there is also an interesting documentary about Hammer tie-ins and novels with many examples of the books artwork. Included on the documentary are commentaries by Horror film historian and Chris Lee biographer Jonathan Rigby, a passionate and knowledgeable writer on horror and writer and comedian Mark Gatiss of ‘League of Gentlemen’ fame and an avid fan of classic horror films. Overall, with the support of the extras this is a good package and the first time that I ever really considered Rasputin – the Mad Monk.

Chris Hick