From Karen Shakhnazarov, director of ZEROGRAD, ASSASSIN OF THE TSAR is a mysterious and labyrinthine psychological drama in which the tormented chambers of a patient’s mind come to warp everything around him, even the folds of history itself. In one of his finest latter-day performances, the great Malcolm McDowell (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, TIME AFTER TIME) stars as Timofeyev, a severe schizophrenic in a dreary Soviet mental hospital who is convinced that, impossibly, he’s the killer of two Tsars: Alexander II in 1881 and Nicholas II in 1918. The thoughtful new head of the hospital, Dr. Smirnov (Oleg Yankovskiy) is determined to cure Timofeyev of his madness – but instead finds himself literally pulled back through time, inhabiting the ghosts of the past as they march towards their tragic destiny.

FEATURES:
Region A Blu-ray
New restoration from original 35mm elements by Mosfilm
New commentary track by film writer and historian Samm Deighan
New essay by film critic and historian Walter Chaw
New interview with star Malcolm McDowell
New interview with director Karen Shakhnazarov
Russian language version of film with different edit and score
Blu-ray mastering and authoring by David Mackenzie/Fidelity in Motion
English SDH subtitles