Rasputin The Mad Monk (1966)

If not for Christopher Lee in the lead role of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, Hammer's period movie would be little more than a standard story about a man undone by his own ambition and greed. Lee's stick-on beard makes him look like an ancestor of author Alan Moore, but his astonishing screen presence and powerful gaze are as strong as ever - the latter is even used as a defining trait of the 'mad monk', whose hypnotic gaze and fierce unyielding will aid him in influencing his way into a Russian ruler's confidence.
Despite the setting it's fully in English. Lee doesn't attempt any kind of Eastern European accent, it's simply the actor doing what he did better than anyone.

3 complimentary sweets out of 5

The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

Undeterred that both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing had (temporarily) left the franchise, Hammer made a third vampire flick. It doesn't advance the formula much, but it’s still entertaining in a limited way.
A pair of naïve newlywed Brits abroad get stranded in an area that has a shady doctor and a weird guy who patrols the local graveyard at night. It’s not hard to guess which is the villain and which the saviour.
As always, it looks beautiful; the blood red gowns and candlesticks do their job. Also of note is the excellent use of music that doesn't hide in the background. It’s enough to make me forgive the rubber bats on strings.
Wiki mentions that a bloodless US version retitled Kiss of Evil once again disrespects the Studio by making cuts and adding nonsense. I've not seen it, nor do I care to, because the chances are high that it's inferior.

3 superheroine masks for the ladies out of 5

The Curse of the Fly (1965)

Let me cut straight to the chase: There’s only one thing I expect from sequels, and that’s continuity. If you have “The Fly” in your title, is it so hard to remain consistent within the rest of the series? Yeah, the Evil Dead movies fucked with continuity all the time, but here it’s just unforgivable. And without Vincent Price thrown in the mix it becomes unwatchable. The plot has something to do with the third generation of scientists; apparently they’ve implemented the re-integrator machines around the world and—what a surprise—they still haven’t worked out all the kinks yet. It’s essentially the same movie as before, it’s just all done in a very incompetent and vapid way. Meh to the third power.

½ what the hell am I watching? out of 5