Baron Blood Blu-ray Review

• 2nd May 2013

Arrow Films have begun to re-issue the films of Italian giallo director Mario Bava. The first two films were the two which pretty much book ended his career: his first genre horror film and perhaps his best known film – Black Sunday (sometimes known as Mask of the Demon) which was made in 1960 on a low budget but filled with some wonderful gothic horror atmosphere. This release is complimented with one of his last cult classics, Lisa and the Devil in 1975 which starred Elke Sommer and Telly Savalas. Black Sunday set the tone for the modern Italian horror film with a new scream queen in the shape of Barbara Steele and a new more visceral kind of horror despite being shot in black and white. When Bava was given a project to work on he could have chosen any genre but he chose horror and became a major exponent of this genre over the next 15 years. Baron Blood comes towards the end of these golden years. Bava even references his first film with an iron maiden in the Baron’s torture chamber.

The film opens with Stelvio Cipriani’s wonderfully kitsch and very 70s soundtrack as a Pan Am plane (making this opener even more 70s) arrives at Vienna Airport carrying a US citizen, Peter Kleist (Antonio Cantafora) returning to his ancestral home in Austria where he will receive his inheritance from a deceased uncle, namely an old medieval castle. Even as he arrives he is warned that the locals may not like him as his ancestor from 300 years ago was the infamous sadist and occultist Baron Otto von Kleist, known as Baron Blood – images of pitchfork wielding peasants come to mind! There Kleist befriends a beautiful and sexy student (Elke Sommer). Foolishly on learning more of the Baron’s past the pair wake his spirit with a satanic incantation leading Baron Blood to once again curse and kill the locals. The result when he makes an appearance is a little disappointing, even laughable as he wanders in the fog with his fedora and cape.

Bava reputedly hated to travel outside of his native Italy but the film does benefit from its location shooting as it was filmed on location at castle in Berg Kreutenstein, Leobendorg, Lower Austria. Interestingly three released versions of the film are presented on the disc which include the Italian version (Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga), the English language exported version and the AIP release which had some 8 minutes shaved off it and a different score lacking the kitsch style of Cipriani’s score. Although I switched between the English export version and the Italian one I decided to stick with the English export. The burnt disfigured monster that is Baron Blood is a pretty poor rubberized mask while the blood looks more like thick red emulsion and the acting is overall very poor and stilted. Sommer appeared in lots of euro and international films in the 1970s (including a Carry On film) but to see former Hollywood star Joseph Cotton here is a rather sad end to a distinguished career but Cotton was not the first to go down this path as he appears as the wheelchair bound American buyer of the castle. Having said that, this is, as with most of Bava’s films worthy of being called cult classic. As one would expect there is plenty of style to the master’s direction even if the overall fare is standard euro shocker.

This is the first time this and the other release on its way to the shops from Arrow, Black Sabbath (1964) starring Boris Karloff have been released in the UK (I also own them in a Mario Bava imported boxset) have been released in any home entertainment format. The extras include an introduction by horror film historian Alan Jones, a photo gallery of Bava at work and an interview with Ruggero Deodato who talks about the giallo style of Bava’s films, despite never having worked with the master he pays homage to his work as well as the usual dose of trailers and commentaries.

Chris Hick