Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		1.5

Guru, the Mad Monk Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 5, 2021

Note: This film is available as part of The Dungeon of Andy Milligan.

Lovers of what might be charitably termed Grade Z Cinema have had a number of outstanding releases by a variety of labels over the past few years. Arrow has offered fans surprisingly deluxe-ified (that's a word, I insist) editions of The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast and Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection, among others, while Severin Films has gotten into exploring this decidedly odd nook and/or cranny with releases like Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection. Severin's back with more, um, "masterpieces" with this inventively packaged homage to the late Andy Milligan, a kinda sorta auteur whose professional life had more than its fair share of hurdles, and whose personal life unfortunately ended up not being much better. The 14 films (with one bonus film in HD, Toga Party) aggregated in this set are exploitation outings at their "finest" (?), which means those with more patrician tastes are probably well advised to steer completely clear of this release. Those with grittier sensibilities will find some at times oddly entertaining movies and Severin's usual supply of appealing supplements.

One assumes that Guru, the Mad Monk's title is deliberately meant to evoke the 1966 Hammer horror opus Rasputin: The Mad Monk, which makes the choice of that title all the odder. This is not a "historical" horror film, even in the sometimes questionably "accurate" context of Hammer Films, and is instead a really confounding tale of a 15th century "holy man" known as Father Guru (Neil Flanagan) who operates a church and/or dungeon that sees a number of other characters either wander through or end up as captives in.

Guru is a blatant sadist, and the film documents his torturing of various people. He's also in the business of providing dead bodies to aspiring doctors for research in another plot point which seems to harken back to The Body Snatcher. Three other main characters populate the story, with a witch like woman named Olga (Jacqueline Webb) involved with both Guru and this film's "couple in distress", Carl (Paul Lieber) and Nadja (Judith Israel). The writing here is simply unclear a lot of the time, and that haziness is only exacerbated by Milligan's tendency not to corral his actors very well.

Guru, the Mad Monk Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Guru, the Mad Monk is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.33:1 and 1.78:1. Severin's booklet included with this release has the following information on the transfer:

Guru, the Mad Monk has been scanned and restored in 2K from a 35mm release print held at the American Genre Film Archive. All pre-print materials are believed lost or destroyed. Due to Milligan's strange framing style, the film is presented in both 1.33:1 and 1.85:1 [sic]. It is unknown how he preferred the film to be screened.

I've included more or less duplicative screenshots from the 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 transfers included on this disc, and for me, anyway, the most interesting difference really isn't in the framing (since, as kind of hilariously mentioned above, Milligan was "strange" in that regard), but for the slight differences in brightness and palette, which can probably be gleaned by opening similar screenshots in full resolution and doing a side by side comparison. Those differences aside, both of these transfers show pretty bad damage at times, as can also be gleaned in some of the screenshots, with some massive (and again often green) scratches marring the frame. Both versions offer a fairly thick grain field and at times actually pretty decent detail levels, all things considered.

Guru, the Mad Monk Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Guru, the Mad Monk features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that delivers dialogue mostly intelligibly, though, this being a Milligan film, there are some curious passing deficiencies in recording acumen at times. There are no huge issues with regard to outright damage, and optional English subtitles can help those struggling to decipher individual moments.

Guru, the Mad Monk Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:21)


• Audio Commentary with Cinefear.com's Keith Crocker


• * Remembering Andy Milligan (SD; 12:49) features reminiscences by set photographer Tom Vozza.

*The Man with Two Heads and this film share one disc, and this more generalized supplement is therefore included in both reviews.

Guru, the Mad Monk Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Guru, the Mad Monk is one of the more confounding films in this set, with an at least occasionally unclear narrative and probably without enough traditional horror trappings to hook fans of that genre. Milligan fans will no doubt delight in being able to see the film in two different aspect ratios, and the commentary track offers some potentially provocative analysis, for those who are considering making a purchase.