Outlandish , sick Mario Bava terror flick , it contains thrills, chills, gory effects, scary happenings and high body-count . A young man called Peter (Antonio Cantafora or Michael Coby) goes back to Austria , there he is greeted by his uncle , Karl Hummel (Massimo Girotti), who invites him to stay at his house . After that , both of them visiting the castle of a murderous ancestor , he was the Baron Otto Van Kleist (Joseph Cotten , though at the beginning Vincent Price was approached to play him but he turned down) , a sadistic Baron who was cursed to a horrible death by a witch whom the Baron had burned at the stake . Shortly after , Peter befriends Eva (Elke Sommer) , a history scholar , both of whom go to the eerie castle and read aloud an ancient incantation inside the bell tower . It accidentally brings his dead relative back to life and searching for new victims . Later on , the impressive castle is offered in auction being bought by the cripple Alfred Becker (Joseph Cotten) and then things go wrong when appearing the horrible Baron while continuing his murderous tortures . The movie advert contains sympathetic gimmicks : ¨Special notice : The management disclaims any responsibility for patrons who suffer (A) apopletic strokes , (B) hemorrahages , (C), or (D) Fainting spells during the shockingly gruesome scenes in this film¨. Your Blood Will Run Cold and BoxOffice Hot when "BAR0N BLOOD" comes to town! Positively the most horrifying film ever made...He sought the ultimate in Human Agony ... with instruments of Torture ghastly beyond belief!
Thrilling Italian horror with Mario Bava typical characteristics displaying chills , shocks , violence and torture . Nice terror movie revolving around a haunted castle plot with plenty of murders , eerie appearance by a preternatural being , creepy torture and ghastly events . Set at a ghastly castle where happens scabrous and horrifying events . In spite of a few escenarios and its medium budget the picture is decent , thanks to the adequate filmmaking , stunning cinematography taking great use of lights and shades as well as camera positioning to complement appropriate horror set pieces . This Italian production has Joseph Cotten as a baron who lures his victims at his foreboding castle in order to go on a criminal spree , his makeup was created by the subsequently very popular Carlo Rambaldi , ¨ET's creator¨. Stars the unknown actor Antonio Cantafora who used to use pseudonym Michael Coby , starring some lousy Spaghetti Western . And the gorgeous Elke Sommer shining in her strident mini-shorts , here she became a Scream Queen along with ¨Lisa and the Devil¨ also directed by Mario Bava . This is an acceptable and passable terror film , but no extraordinary ; in fact , Mario Bava directed much better other terror classics . Although packing some good shock images , this Baron Blood doesn't live to its source material .
It packs a colorful cinematography by Antonio Rinaldi as director of photography and Mario Bava himself , though uncredited , shot between september and noviembre 1971 in Burg Kreuzenstein , Austria , at a fairy-tale fortress , near valley of Danube . As well as frightening and suspenseful musical score by Stelvio Cippriani , though the American version was composed by Lex Baxter . The picture was professionally directed by Mario Bava in his usual style , but it has some flaws and gaps . Bava uses his ordinary visual tricks, sustaining interest enough through the fantastic and well-designed scenarios and when there shows up the creepy and scarred Baron who definitively steals the show . Bava was an expert on terror movies, such as : "I vampiri" codirected by Riccardo Freda , "Black Sunday" with horror myth Barbara Steele, "The Whip and the Body" with Christopher Lee, "The girl who knew too much" considered to be the first Giallo, "Black Sabbath" with Boris Karloff, "Planet of Vampires" with Barry Sullivan , "Kill baby kill" , "Hatchet for the honeymoon" , "5 dolls for an August Moon" , "Torture of chamber of baron blood" with "Lisa and the Devil" with Telly Savalas and his last one "Schock" . Though Bava also made other genres as Peplum : "Hercules in the haunted world" , sex comedy : "Four times that night", Viking movie : "Knives of the avenger" and Oriental fantasy : "The wonders of Aladdin" . The picture will appeal to terror genre buffs. Rating 6.5/10.
