Blu-ray

Rasputin the Mad Monk: Special Edition

Anton van Beek  |  Jan 21, 2013

Ra-Ra-Rasputin, Russia's greatest love machine. It was a shame how he carried on...

Shot back-to-back with Dracula: Prince of Darkness, this account of the infamous Russian mystic plays fast and loose with facts, but gives Christopher Lee yet another mesmerising lead role. As well as the lovingly restored AVC 2.35:1 1080p Cinemascope presentation, this Blu-ray also offers up a hi-def open-gate version framed at 2.55:1 (complete with inherent concave warping of the image at the edge of the screen).

Other extras included on the disc a chat-track featuring actors Christopher Lee, Suzan Farmer, Francis Matthews and Barbara Shelley, a 24-min retrospective documentary, a 15-min featurette about novelisations of Hammer movies, the 25-min 'Costumes' episode of World of Hammer and a stills gallery. As with all of these Hammer Special Editions, the set also includes a DVD copy of the film.

StudioCanal, Region B BD/R2 DVD, £25 Approx, On sale now
HCC VERDICT: 4/5

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