The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee

Director - Jon Spira (Lexx, Dust)

Starring - Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy, John Wick: Chapter 2), Harriet Walter (The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, Doctor Who), and Juan Aneiros 

Release Date - 2024

Genre - Documentary

Tagline - "Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time... the trick is never be terrible in them"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I love the documentaries that many of the Severin box sets contain.  They are often insightful, very well put together, and really bring a new layer to these sets that Severin puts a lot of time and energy into.  I recently worked through the Exorcismo set and the documentary that accompanied that release really set the stage for what I was about to see.  I was really looking forward to the Christopher Lee documentary that was included in the Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Volume 3.  I'm a huge fan of Lee's and was really looking forward to learning more about his life and legendary career.  

     The documentary follows the early life and career of Lee from his noble bloodline to struggling finding work on the stage.  We see all this through film historians, relatives, and those that were lucky enough to work with him during his lengthy and legendary career.  

     I went into this one very excited to check it out but found myself really struggling with the way it was shot.  Documentaries are a powerful form of cinema when done correctly but some filmmakers want to experiment in ways that makes their documentaries stand out while still delivering on the topic at hand.  The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee is a unique documentary that had some things I liked but a lot that I didn't.  The interviews in this one features a wide range of people from different backgrounds.  We have legendary filmmakers, actors, producers, long time friends, relatives, and so on that give a great deal of insight into his life and career.  The topics discussed was very informative and enlightening at first but as the film progressed we started getting into the more common knowledge about Lee.  Finally, the documentary is very well put together but I absolutely hated the narration.  The voice actor did not sound anything like Christopher Lee and the puppet randomly cutting into each scene was extremely nerve wracking.  I have no idea why this was added but it absolutely ruined what could have been a fantastic doc about a true icon.  Overall, The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee is a documentary that has great interviews and discuses a great deal of Lee's personal and professional life.  Sadly, the narration and puppet/animation was a scene killer in my opinion.  It took away from what would have been a fantastic documentary.  Skip it.