Rating: 3/5
Hooptober 3.0 | 18/31 | Mario Bava | Decades 5/5 | 70s
We open on a beautiful commercial for Pan Am Airlines, scored in Stelvio Cipriani’s cheerful bossa nova. Peter Kleist’s plane lands in Austria, where he meets his uncle, Karl Hummel. Peter is interested in a ghoulish baron on his father’s side, Otto Von Kleist, AKA Baron Blood.
An entrepreneur named Herr Dortmundt purchased the baron’s old castle, Schloss des Teufels, to remodel into a hotel. Eva oversees the castle renovation, ensuring Dortmundt does not illegally change the castle’s architecture. Eva joins Peter and Karl at Karl’s home for dinner, along with Karl’s wife Martha and daughter Gretchen (played by Giallo regular Nicoletta Elmi). Gretchen describes Baron Blood, claiming to have seen him at the castle.
After Gretchen goes to bed, they discuss Elizabeth Hölle, who cursed the baron with a spell that allows him to rise from the dead so that she can punish him. Peter produces a document containing the spell he found at his grandfather’s place. The legend goes that when read in the room where Hölle killed the baron, he will return to life.
We live in an enlightened age, Peter, where science not only reveals the old mysteries as mere superstitions but, little by little, discovers the true mysteries of the universe. However, I would not play with the occult if I were you.
So, of course, Peter and Eva play with the occult. They travel to the castle and read the spell. A strange wind blows, and noises fill the castle. Eva begs Peter to read the reversal spell, but a gust of wind blows the paper into the fireplace. Then, from the castle’s woods emerges the bloodthirsty baron.
If you’ve seen enough of these movies, the rest of the plot will play before your eyes. The film introduces a trillion more trinkets and artifacts that do something for or against the baron. Meanwhile, the baron runs around torturing and killing folks.
The castle has great Gothic vibes. It’s a shame more of the movie doesn’t take place there. We also get splashes of Bava’s colorful style, but nowhere near enough. At this point in his career, his cinematography is precise and we get some elegant shots. One sequence stands out where Eva is on the run — fog and lights out the wazoo.
Somewhere in the text is a critique of greed or consumer culture — a group of wealthy bidders show up at the baron’s castle to purchase a bunch of big-screen TVs. I won’t pretend to understand it.
Overall, I’d call this movie cozy more than brilliant, but I dig it.