Baron Blood 
Directed by Mario Bava 
Released: 1972 
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Elke Sommer, Massimo Girotti, Antonio Cantafora, and Rada Rassimov 

Peter Kleist (Cantafora) has returned to his ancestral home of Austria. He comes to put the castle of the sadistic Baron Otto von Kleist (a distant relative) up for auction. While the castle is being prepared for auction, Peter and Eva (Elke Sommer) read from a parchment that can bring the Baron back to life. The Baron returns from Hell and picks up right where he left off; slaughtering innocent people left and right. What Peter and Eva don’t know is that Baron Blood (as he is known in their small Austrian village) has something even more diabolical in store for them. 

Mario Bava does it again with this sweet little slice of gothic horror. There are enough wildly zooming camera angles and elaborate lighting schemes in the cinematography of Baron Blood to dazzle the senses. The séance sequence alone is worth checking the movie out for. The lounge music is extremely dated but shouldn’t offend the ears of fans of European film of the 70s. One problem with the film is that it runs a little long for such a simple story. Five or ten minutes could have easily ended up on the cutting room floor without harming the film's integrity.

Elke Sommer (Lisa and the Devil) puts in yet another fine performance as Eva. Her ability to portray absolute terror is simply awesome. Rada Rassimov (Dario Argento’s The Cat ‘O Nine Tails) is excellent as Christina, the witch who knows how to send the Baron back to Hell. Euro horror and crime aficionados will have a good time picking out all the actors with smaller parts from any number of Italian flicks. There’s even a small part for young Nicoletta Elmi (Who Saw Her Die?, Deep Red, Demons, etc.) as Gretchen. 

My issue with the acting is with many of the male characters who come off as flat here. Joseph Cotten does a reasonable job with his part as the Baron but needed to put more malignance in his portrayal. Antonio Cantafora is a decent leading man but doesn’t do much to stand out. 

Even though it runs a little long, Baron Blood is still an enjoyable watch but it isn’t a good starting place for those looking to get into the films of Mario Bava. It doesn’t have enough of the wild and weird panache that marks Bava’s other films such as Blood and Black Lace or Lisa and the Devil and it isn’t nearly as graphic as his classic, Twitch of the Death Nerve. It’s too bad the rest of the cast weren’t as suited for their parts as Elke Sommer, otherwise, this movie would have been top notch.