BARON BLOOD

Pitiful victim of Baron Blood

BARON BLOOD (aka Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga/1972). Director: Mario Bava. (This review is based on the American print.)

Peter Kleist (Antonio Cantafora) arrives in Austria to be reunited with his Uncle Karl (Massimo Girotti), as well as to investigate the castle of his 16th century ancestor, Baron von Kleist, said to be a monster known popularly as "Baron Blood." When Peter discovers a parchment with an incantation that can raise the baron from the dead, he stupidly reads the words aloud, to the consternation of Eva (Elke Sommer of Ten Little Indians), who is helping to restore the castle. It should be no surprise that they succeed in bringing Baron Blood back from the dead, and then the corpses start piling up.  

Antonio Cantafora and Massimo Girotti

After the hanging by Baron Blood of the man who was going to turn the castle into a hotel, it is auctioned off to the highest bidder, who turns out to be Alfred Becker (Joseph Cotten of The Survivor). The other characters know little about Becker, but the audience will have no problem figuring out who he really is. One has to deal with some leaps of logic, as Becker seems to refurbish the castle in a matter of days. The murder sequences are violent, but nothing over the top, and the best scene probably has to do with the poor caregiver Fritz (Luciano Pigozzi of Naked You Die) being placed in a variation of a sharply-spiked iron maiden. 

Joseph Cotten

The movie was filmed at an actual castle on the outskirts of Vienna, which certainly adds oodles of atmosphere to the production. In addition to the murders, there's a climax in a Chamber of Horrors, although this sequence is too brief to be as effective as intended. The actors, including Sommer, are good enough, and Joseph Cotten, who never chews the scenery but exudes quiet, charming menace, adds a touch of distinction to the proceedings. Umberto Raho (of Terror-Creatures from the Grave) appears briefly as a police inspector. Vincent Price and Ray Milland, both of whom had appeared in Poe adaptations, were considered for the title role but Cotten agreed to play the part when the others couldn't. 

Verdict: Despite some good scenes and eerie moments, the picture is a little disjointed -- perhaps due to post-production tampering -- and just misses being a really good horror film. **3/4.  

CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER

Goddess Caltiki goes in pursuit

CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (aka Caltiki, il mostro immortale/1959). Directors: Riccardo Freda; Mario Bava. Colorized. 

In Mexico an archeological expedition uncovers a tomb and an altar to the Mayan goddess Caltiki. While exploring an underground lake that contains many skeletons, the team are suddenly beset by a blob-like monster that rises to the surface and eats off the arm of Max Gunther (Gerard Herter). Team leader Prof Fielding (John Merivale) manages to stop the creature -- a huge unicellular organism that is twenty million years old -- with a fiery explosion and gets Max to a hospital in Mexico City. There Fielding is able to isolate a part of the creature surrounding Max's arm and brings it to the lab in his home where his wife Ellen (Did Sullivan) and child await. But poor Ellen finds herself beset with dual menaces: Caltiki, who begins to multiply and grow, and Max, who has become maddened by the infection, escapes from the hospital and tries to have his way with Ellen. 

Didi Sullivan, John Merivale, Gerard Herter

Caltiki is a highly interesting and influential Italian horror/sci fi film. An interesting aspect is that it tries to explain the disappearance of the Mayans by tying the appearance of the flesh-eating Caltiki to a radioactive comet that flies across the sky every few centuries, and is now endangering all of Mexico. The monster itself looks like a perambulating, expanding carpet but is still ghoulish in concept. The scenes in the underground tomb with its sinister lake are creepy and atmospheric, and the climax -- with Fielding and his family caught between one blob in the bedroom and another at the base of their escape ladder -- is exciting and suspenseful. The ending with the military and their flame throwers is a bit dragged out, but the film is generally absorbing. Caltiki is enough of a menace that throwing a crazy Max into the mix was actually unnecessary, particularly when you consider that the character is very badly dubbed. Caltiki has an international cast: Merivale was Canadian; Sullivan was Irish; and Herter was German. 

Verdict: Creepy stuff is even better in color. ***. 

THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED

Paul Hubschmid

THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED (aka La morte viene dallo spazio/1958.) Director: Paolo Heusch. 

An international team has been gathered together to put a man into space, and an American named John McLaren (Paul Hubschmid) is chosen for the first mission. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and while McLaren makes it back to earth he is unable to jettison an atomic engine, which ultimately creates a magnetic attraction that causes several meteors or asteroids to come together into a single gigantic mass. Worse, this mass is now heading towards Earth. Scientists hope that the mass will break apart as it approaches the moon ... 

missiles head for the deadly space mass

The Day the Sky Exploded is an early, Italian version of a premise later used in several movies, including Meteor, Asteroid, Deep Impact, and Armageddon. Only a few years after this was made, the British came out with the far superior doomsday picture, The Day the Earth Caught Fire. This film is not without interest, however, and moves quickly. As the meteors rush towards the earth there are animal migrations out of season, bizarre mirages of spheres surrounded by halos, balls of light -- and then lots of stock footage of floods and fires. The FX in this very low-budget production are pretty dismal, but there are some nifty missiles employed to destroy the meteor mass, although it takes the scientists in this forever to come up with the solution of using missiles, and even then it's an astronaut who finally hits upon the idea. 

Will the earth be saved? 

The lead actor, Paul Hubschmid, is better known as "Paul Christian," when he starred in the classic monster movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms earlier in the decade. He was Swiss, went to Germany where he made films during the Nazi regime, had a brief Hollywood career under his new name, then went back to Germany where he made a great many films under his real name. His best-known later film was Funeral in Berlin with Michael Caine. His excellent voice is dubbed in The Day the Sky Exploded, although it's a very professional dubbing job. Carlo Rustichelli contributed an evocative musical score, and Mario Bava, later a horror director, was the director of photography. 

Verdict: Fairly absorbing minor sci fi. **1/2.