By DR. BENNY GRAVES
Starring Joseph Cotten, Elke Sommer and Antonio Cantafora
Directed by Mario Bava
Written by Vincent G. Fotre, Willibald Eser and Mario Bava
Available on Region B Blu-ray from Arrow Video OOP
When you think of great Italian artists, who come to mind? Father Guido Sarducci? Wario? Chef Boyardee? No, you simple fools! (Though I’ve heard the Chef has an impeccable ravioli recipe). I think of the Italian horror maestros: Fulci, Argento and the man to whom they owe it all, Mario Bava! Bava is the icon responsible for the innovative Italian horror, bringing the nation’s fright films international recognition as a sub-genre. His work was brutal,and often borrowed gothic horror elements from the past while integrating unique stylistic touches, including dynamic use of lighting gels and flashes of hyper-violence.
For horror fans, his movies have the feel of sinking into a warm bath. There’s a comfort to Bava’s tales of ruined castles and splintered minds. They seem pulled from yellowed paperbacks and thrust into reality with vivid color. When it comes to Mario Bava’s work, Black Sunday, the witchy classic starring Barbara Steele, was my first love. I was equally enraptured by his anthology masterwork, Black Sabbath, which was also the inspiration for the seminal metal band’s name. (Requiescat in pace, Ozzy!) However, one Bava film that I return to often is BARON BLOOD.
American Peter Kleist (Antonio Cantafora) is taking a break from college to satisfy his wanderlust and a curiosity about his lineage. Upon arriving in Germany, his uncle Karl (Massimo Girotti) reveals that the bloodline is far from banal. Peter is the great-grandson of Baron Otto Von Kleist, a vicious sadist whose reign of terror originated in an impressively ominous nearby castle. The Baron, appropriately christened “Baron Blood,” is essentially a composite of Dracula and the Marquis De Sade. If you like gothic horror, and that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then you’re in the wrong sub-genre baby! It turns out the Baron wasn’t well-loved. Naturally, he was cursed by a witch he had executed. The spell forces his resurrection, allowing his suffering to continue after death. Of course, Peter isn’t satisfied with a fun vacation or a meet-cute, and convinces gorgeous college student Eva (Elke Sommer) to unleash the curse within him on a dark and stormy night. Now, the Baron is back! And if he is to suffer, so will all those around him. (Peter, you handsome rube!)
This is pitch-perfect comfort food for fans of Italian gothic horror: haunted castles; trippy seances; mangled, sadistic ghouls; iron maiden torture (Bava loves an impalement), all conjured by the skilled hands of a binematic genius. A scene where Eva evades the Baron through village streets is a disorienting maze of fog-shrouded cobblestones and eerie blue twilight. The conjuring of the vengeful witch Elizabeth Hölle feels like a uniquely Italian take on a scene from The Devil Rides Out, filtered through the lens of a doom metal album. Hell, even the Baron is a hideous feast for the eyes – a flesh-melted ghoul in a cloak that’s black as pitch. With BARON BLOOD, Bava hit the nail through the skull, defining 1970s gothic horror aesthetic. And for that, we honor him. (The jury is still out on his ravioli recipe, though…)
Death to false horror,
Dr. Benny Graves
