Let’s start the week with a nod to the season of the supernatural. Sometimes real life is way more whacked-out than any horror tale, and who felt more horror in the 20th Century than the Russians who lived through their revolution?

The rise of Trump has put a spotlight on what is feeling like the beginning of a new Cold War with the East. Without getting too much into the actual politics and economics at play, now is certainly a good time to brush up on the history of modern Russia.

Assassination Of The Tsar is a great flick that subverts the tropes of the period film in order to create an immediate, realistic re-enactment of the killing of the Romanovs. This is a timely history lesson as well as a perfect tale for this goriest of holidays. It stars the legendary Malcolm McDowell as a mental patient who claims to be a famous assassin in a film that treats history as its main character. In this film two characters find themselves irreversibly trapped in the events of the past, as they hurtle towards a future that forever points back to a legendary assassination that changed the course of the world.

Anastasia screamed in vain…

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