Peter Kleist (Antonio Cantafora), descendant of cruel tyrant Baron Otto von Kleist (Joseph Cotten), travels to Austria, where he visits the home of his ancestors, a grand castle being converted into a hotel. Together with beautiful architecture student Eva (Elke Sommer), Peter sneaks into the castle late at night where he stupidly reads aloud an incantation that brings the sadistic Otto (known as Baron Blood by the locals) back to life.
To date, I have only seen a handful of Mario Bava's movies (I've actually watched more films directed by his son Lamberto), but, based on those, I cannot see what all the fuss is about: I found A Bay of Blood, Five Dolls for an August Moon, and The Whip and the Body reasonably entertaining, and Black Sunday was passable, but I hated Lisa and the Devil (as well as the re-edited version, The House of Exorcism). Nothing I've seen thus far stands out to me as being the work of a genius, and Baron Blood doesn't change this fact.
Bava's direction is undeniably stylish, with inventive camera placement and movement, plenty of atmosphere, and strong use of lighting (a chase scene through fog-shrouded streets providing the film's most impressive visuals), but his storytelling is weak, the pacing is dull and he is unable to coax a decent performance from lovely leading lady Elke Sommer, whose overacting undermines any of the director's more effective touches. If Bava had dialled up the craziness with some outrageous gore and a spot of nudity, it would be easier to forgive the tired and rather silly plot (would someone willingly bring a murderous ancestor back from the dead out of curiosity?); as it stands, this is yet another disappointment from the so-called master of Italian gothic horror.
To date, I have only seen a handful of Mario Bava's movies (I've actually watched more films directed by his son Lamberto), but, based on those, I cannot see what all the fuss is about: I found A Bay of Blood, Five Dolls for an August Moon, and The Whip and the Body reasonably entertaining, and Black Sunday was passable, but I hated Lisa and the Devil (as well as the re-edited version, The House of Exorcism). Nothing I've seen thus far stands out to me as being the work of a genius, and Baron Blood doesn't change this fact.
Bava's direction is undeniably stylish, with inventive camera placement and movement, plenty of atmosphere, and strong use of lighting (a chase scene through fog-shrouded streets providing the film's most impressive visuals), but his storytelling is weak, the pacing is dull and he is unable to coax a decent performance from lovely leading lady Elke Sommer, whose overacting undermines any of the director's more effective touches. If Bava had dialled up the craziness with some outrageous gore and a spot of nudity, it would be easier to forgive the tired and rather silly plot (would someone willingly bring a murderous ancestor back from the dead out of curiosity?); as it stands, this is yet another disappointment from the so-called master of Italian gothic horror.