Baron Blood (1972)

Peter Kleist is taking a break from his studies in America to spend some time with relations in Austria. He is curious about the legend of Baron Otto von Kleist, a distant ancestor of his, who ruthlessly ruled the region and killed and tortured thousands. Making friends with castle restorer Eva Arnold (Elke Sommer), Peter reveals that he has an original parchment with an invocation that will raise the Baron back to life. Along with Eva, he heads to the castle on a stormy night to recite the incantation and unleashes the evil Baron, however, when the parchment burns in a fire, they lose the reverse spell and there seems to be no way to return the Baron to hell...

If the 1960s were marked by subtlety and suggestions, the 1970s was the decade of excess - the giallo genre would give Italian cinema a free license for some of the most sex and blood filled movies ever seen. Gothic horror rolled along in the background, gradually getting gorier and sexier with films like Lady Frankenstein (1972) packed full of nudity and violence. Mario Bava was a rather conservative director so his return to the gothic horror genre was considerably less expoitation themed. The story behind Baron Blood seems to be very similar to The Virgin of Nuremberg (1963) with a mystery man killing people in a castle - although while that film managed to build up some mystery over the identity of the killer, and whether or not he/she was human or ghostly monster, Baron Blood gives the game away early on with a shot of the Baron rising from the grave. In horror movie terms, the film is more similar to the later American slasher films with the Baron stalking and chasing the main characters, while killing off conveniently placed minor figures for no particular reason. The film would probably have worked better with a prologue showing the Baron's death (a la Black Sunday (1960)). The climax is nothing special and the plot is full of holes. 

Compared to his earlier gothic horrors, Bava's direction here seems very poor - gone are his wonderful lighting effects, replaced by some awkward, and often dizzlying hand-held camerawork. There are some nice camera-angles and the Baron's chase through a foggy street looks good, although generally the film is not very scary, a cheap fake scare early on destroys any tension. The production design starts off well, with the Baron Blood credit playing over shots of an airliner and the wonderful juxtaposition of a Coke machine in the middle of the castle, but soon gives way to a standard 'gothic castle' ambience. Composer Stelvio Cipriani gives a rather unimpressive score that does little to lift the film.
 

Joseph Cotten, briefly flirted with horror in the early 1970s, appearing in the afforementioned Lady Frankenstein (1972) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1972) - however, he is rather miscast here in a role that would have far better suited Vincent Price or Christopher Lee - maybe even Peter Cushing. Actress Elke Sommer (Lisa and the Devil (1973)) gets little to do but scream and the rest of the cast are rather unimpressive.

The last of Bava's gothic horror films was a dated entry even upon its initial release - lacking the gore and sex of many similar movies of the time - fortunately, the film performed well enough that producer Alfredo Leone let Bava have another shot at a completely self-penned project which became Lisa and the Devil (1973). With some unimpressive direction, and a plot that starts well but soon just becomes a typical stalking-monster story, this film is not recommended.

All text in this review written by Timothy Young - 9th August 2006.
Text from this review not to be used without authorization.

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