RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK
DVD /Blu-ray. Studio Canal.

Rasputin the Mad Monk has always been a bit of an oddity in the Hammer filmography, not quite fitting in with anything else. Although marketed (and generally reviewed) as a horror film, it really isn’t, despite vague hints as supernatural powers that seemingly come and go according to the requirements of the story and the suggestion that these powers may be a gift from Satan. Rather, this is a heavily fictionalised version of an already fictionalised true story, never allowing anything as inconvenient of a fact to spoil the proceedings.

In this version of the story, Grigori Rasputin (Christopher Lee, hidden behind a long wig, beard and swarthy make up) is a rebel monk with mysterious healing powers and a lusty appetite for wine, women and song. His lust for power takes him to St Petersburg, where a chance encounter in a tavern with the Tsarina’s lady in waiting Sonia (Barbara Shelley) gives the monk a food in the door to real power. Through hypnosis, he manipulates Sonia into allowing the Tsarina’s son to badly injure himself in a fall, and to then have Rasputin called to miraculously heal him. But as his influence grows, Rasputin makes enemies, and his ruthless lust for power, and disposal of those no longer of use to him, soon sees an alliance build against him.

Shot back-to-back with Dracula Prince of Darkness and released on a double bill with The Reptile, Rasputin the Mad Monk is always going to be doomed by association with those superior movies. In fact, this isn’t a bad film – it simply doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. It’s not a horror film and not a historical drama, instead sitting somewhat uncomfortably between the two. Don Sharp directs with solid efficiency and Lee gives one of his more enthusiastic performances, but the film never quite satisfies.
Interestingly, although the movie ramps up the villainous aspects of Rasputin, it’s still, in the end, a story of someone who is ruthless, power-hungry and ambitious (a description we can use for any politician), and who meets his downfall because he is not part of the power elite who believe they rule by divine will. In this film, his ruthlessness is absolute, but aside from one suicide that he ‘suggests’ (allowing him the ‘Charles Manson defence’ of not actually being involved), the only other killing is an act of self-defence.

This is a solid enough film, and fairly entertaining, but it will always be one of Hammer’s lesser movies. Still, checking out, and the new release has the now-expected excellent documentary amongst the extras as a sweetener.

DAVID FLINT

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