AllMovie

The legend of Rasputin has always held elements of the bizarre and supernatural, but this Hammer Films script -- by Anthony Hinds under his pseudonym of "John Elder" -- reinvents the tale as a full-blown horror story. Christopher Lee gives a smashingly over-the-top performance as the crazed monk, who uses his mystic healing ability and powers of hypnosis to worm his way into the confidence of the Russian Czarina (Renee Asherson), destroying anyone who stands in his way. Lee gets to scream, bellow, rape women, chop a guy's hand off with an adze, throw acid in another man's face, and command a former bedmate to kill herself. As if that's not enough fun for one actor to have, he gets to hypnotize several people, drink poison, dance a wicked two-step, and get a syringe stuck in his neck before being thrown out a window. Made on the same sets as Terence Fisher's Dracula: Prince of Darkness, with much of the same cast, this is a much more flamboyant and energetic film. Perhaps it's a bit too flamboyant and energetic, for between Lee's hammy tooth-gnashing mime and Don Banks' thunderous musical score, the film feels like a particularly overwrought 1920s silent melodrama to which some mad editor has added unnecessary dialogue. It's still a real hoot, though, as long as one doesn't take it to be a serious representation of historical fact.