 |
 VIDEO/DVD |
||||||||
|
Baron
Blood review by Lee Peterson
Following his classic A Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve, which invented the "body count" genre that was, umm.popularized by Friday the 13th), Italian horror master Mario Bava returned to the Gothic horror he had mined in The Mask of Satan (aka Black Sunday), with the added luxury of a larger budget and a Technicolor palette. Funded by the Austrian Wien Film company and produced by American Alfred Leone, the film was shot entirely on location in Vienna. American student Peter Kleist (Antonio Cantafora) travels to his Austrian homeland to research his family history, which involves his sadistic, 16th Century ancestor Baron von Kleist (an Austrian Vlad the Impaler!). Peter and the beautiful young Eva (Elke Sommer, star of Bavas next project, Lisa and the Devil) ) inadvertently bring the Baron back to life by reading aloud the incantation found on a parchment (which accidentally burns before the spell can be reversed, leaving our protagonists helpless as the bloodthirsty Baron roams the countryside slaughtering locals). The sinister, wheelchair-bound Alfred Becker (Citizen Kanes Joseph Cotton, in a role that was turned down by Vincent Price and Ray Milland), shows up, announcing that he is the new owner of the castle. Though he seems a pleasant host at first, he soon reveals his true intentions (he never does explain that Coca-Cola machine in the castle, though!). The screenplay by Vincent G. Fotre (Missile to the Moon) may be skimpy on plot and character development, but thanks to Bava's rich visual sense manages to create many creepy set-pieces. AIPs version replaced Stelvio Ciprianis haunting original score with a more overtly "scary" score by Les Baxter (who also re-scored Black Sunday and Black Sabbath for AIP), deleted several minor dialogue scenes and featured an alternate take (minus the blood) of one murder. This uncut, letterboxed print of Baron Blood was previously available on a double feature laserdisc (paired with Lisa and the Devil and sporting a really shitty cover) by Elite Entertainment. Images DVD looks brighter with more vibrant colors. A (murky) theatrical trailer is included, along with a nice photo and poster gallery and extensive liner notes by Video Watchdogs Tim Lucas. A superb package all around, Baron Blood kicks off Image's line of Bava titles with style and will certainly find its way into every upstanding Eurohorror fans DVD collection. OFFICIAL WEB SITE:
|
|
||||||||
|
Originally released in the U.S. by American International Pictures
(as The Torture Chamber of Baron Blood ) in a heavily-truncated,
90-minute version, Image Entertainments Baron Blood DVD
(the first in "The Mario Bava Collection"), presents the film in
all its 94 minute, uncut and letterboxed glory. 