The story of the monk that rose through Russia's hierarchy to become, arguably, more powerful than the Tsar and Tsarina seems, to me anyway, to be a rather strange choice of film for Hammer to take on. Of course, there are definite horror elements in the tale, but of all the stories in the world, this one is a rather odd choice in spite of this. However, Hammer are known for being innovative and doing things that most studios wouldn't even dream of, and I for one am very glad they did do a take on this tale; as it's actually a very good film. As you might expect, the film follows the story of Grigori Rasputin; a Russian monk with the power to heal. However, Rasputin is also a blasphemer; and the film follows his tribulations after he is thrown out of the monetary, as he drinks, sleeps and hypnotises his way across Russia, until he eventually falls in with Sonia; lady in waiting to the Tsarina. The rest, as they say, is history. Well, sort of.
As you might expect, the film isn't very historically accurate and Don Sharp appears to be more keen to focus on Rasputin himself than his place in history, which is no bad thing in my opinion as it makes for better horror. This film is a very different kind of horror to what we're used to from Hammer, as it's very character based and doesn't rely on blood and monsters to tell its story. Now don't get me wrong, I like blood and monsters as much as the next Hammer fan; but this film is a welcome departure in my opinion. The history surrounding Rasputin (SOME of which is shown in the film) is, actually, quite scary; how a blaspheming, crazy monk can rise through Russia's hierarchy like he did is surreal, and is made more so by the fact that it is actually true. The excellent Christopher Lee brings the monk himself to life. Who else but Christopher Lee could have played Rasputin? I wager that nobody else could have, and Lee is awesome in this role. His screen presence and charisma combine with what we expect Rasputin would have been like to great effect and although this is a campy horror film and cant really be taken seriously as a historical study; I think Lee has captured the essence of Russia's finest love machine to a tee, and I doubt it will ever be done to the same standard again.
