BARON BLOOD (1972)

Director: Mario Bava

Writers: Vincente Fotre, adapted for the screen by William A. Bairn

Producer: Alfredo Leone

Cast: Joseph Cotton, Elke Sommer, Massimo Girotti, Alan Collins aka Luciano Pigozzi, Antonio Cantafora, Nicoletta Elmi, Rada Rasimov, Dieter Tressler, Humi Raho, Rolf Halwich, Gustavo De Nardo, Valeria Sabel, Irio Fantini 

American college student Peter Kleist (Antonio Cantafora) goes to Austria to visit his uncle Professor Karl Hummel (Massimo Girotti) and research his roots. Peter is the descendant of the notorious seventeenth century nobleman Baron Otto Von Kleist. In his day, the terrorized locals knew the sadistic Baron as "Baron Blood." The Baron was supposed to have been destroyed by the curse of Elizabeth Holly, a woman he had put to death as a witch. Peter meets up with Eva Arnold (Elke Sommer), who is assisting on a renovation of the Baron’s castle. The two of them try using an incantation from an old Kleist family parchment to try raising the spirit of Baron Von Kleist.  The incantation seems to work, but they are unable to send the Baron back to his grave.

The Flashback Fanatic movie review

Baron Blood was the first film of that Italian maestro of horror cinema Mario Bava that I had seen. I think it is one of his most accessible films to the average viewer, and it is still a favorite for this flashback fanatic. It seems that it is not as revered as many of director Bava’s other works. Some may see it as a retread of familiar images and themes from his earlier efforts, but Bava still manages real gusto with his visuals and has the terrific asset of the castle shooting location in Vienna, Austria.

 

Perhaps the been-there-done-that reaction some have to this film is due to the influences that Bava was channeling into this. Gothic horror had been done to death by Hammer films in England for over a decade at this time, and Bava had already done his own gothic horror projects in the '60s. Bava also seems to be referencing scenes from a few other horror films such as The Leopard Man (1943), The Haunting (1963), and House of Wax (1953).

The story has both the visceral and ethereal aspects of horror that make for a very satisfying mix. This is quite important to lend a bit of dimension to what is a pretty simple story. That is not any sort of criticism, for I think that a simple story well told is often the most effective. As the story plays out in the end, it has a lingering sense of unease due to the supernatural resolution that is accidentally triggered by a potential victim, after a more deliberate attempt to stop the menace fails. The protagonists and the audience are given some knowledge of how to defeat the evil Baron, but implementing that knowledge effectively is still uncertain. Good horror of the supernatural variety has to walk a fine line between the rational and irrational. If the rules are all spelled out, that may be playing fair with the audience, but a little ambiguity goes a long way toward making the audience react at a deeper level to the supernatural. That sense of the unknown and the unfathomable is how most of us relate to the subject.

The other aspect of the story that I really like is the heavy gothic atmosphere infesting the modern day setting. Some have speculated that the Baron (and Bava?) seems to be retaliating against contemporary encroachments upon the old and traditional. It seems fitting that an early kill by the Baron is of someone trying to buy a bottle of soda from a Coke vending machine installed in the Baron’s castle. I suppose I’d also be a bit cross if, after three hundred years with a treasure chest full of gold and pearls, I still didn’t have the correct change for a Fanta Orange.

Elke Sommer is proof positive that the mini-skirt is long overdue for a comeback. Despite being a one-dimensional character, as all the characters are in this film, she is likable and really sells the horror with her terrified reactions.

As Alfred Becker, the millionaire who buys the Baron’s castle during an auction, Joseph Cotton headlines the cast and seems to be relishing every scene that he is in. He made a few other Euro-horrors around this time, and this is probably my favorite role among them. Of course, he also starred in Shadow of a Doubt (1943); the film Alfred Hitchcock considered his favorite among his own works.

Early '70s Euro-horror creepy kid perennial Nicoletta Elmi plays Peter’s little cousin Gretchen. She rather conveniently seems tuned into the spiritual vibe necessary to help our heroes deal with the Baron. She was also in Bava’s previous film A Bay of Blood (1971), aka Twitch of the Death Nerve. 

Another perennial Euro-horror creepy actor is Luciano Pigozzi, aka Alan Collins. He portrays the castle caretaker Fritz as such an obnoxious, cackling cretin that we figure he is deserving of nothing more than adding to the body count. He provides a few surprises.

Rada Rassimov plays the pivotal role of Christine, the psychic and medium that learns how the Baron can be destroyed again from the spirit of the witch that cursed him. Rassimov was also memorable in giallo king Dario Argento’s second film The Cat O’ Nine Tails (1970).

Baron Blood gives this horror hound the grisly gristle that I never tire of gnawing on. It is a favorite course of grue that can be served again and again as prepared by that gothic gourmet Mario Bava.