A young man, Peter, visiting Austria for the first time, learns that his great-grandfather was a sadistic killer who killed over 100 locals. He asks to visit the castle where his relative lived, and then he and a friend decide to read an incantation that, when read at midnight, could resurrect him from the dead. They don’t believe it could work. It does!

For God’s sake, if someone asks you to read an incantation (like in this film) or play a taped incantation (like in The Evil Dead), just say no!

Baron Blood looks great (again, Bava’s use of colour, lighting and framing is excellent), but too much of the film drags and feels like filler. It also lapses into more clichéd moments that made me roll my eyes.

Something else which I found disconcerting was the often overly exaggerated reaction to minor events. In other films (John Waters’ Polyester and Alice, Sweet, Alice), this can work well and if it’s done knowingly and sparingly. But within Baron Blood, it feels like it’s being done to try and amp up mediocre scares and substandard material.

Baron Blood could have been a lot better if the actual plot had been superior.

2.5 out of 5 stars