DVD Collectors Online

Baron Blood, a review by Achim

Title: Gli Orrori del castello di Norimberga
Year: 1972
Director: Mario Bava
Rating: NR
Length: 98 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Joseph Cotten
Elke Sommer
Massimo Girotti
Rada Rassimov
Antonio Cantafora

Plot:
An American student's family curse, an ancient Austrian castle of torture and a demonic incantation that resurrects the infamous 16th Century sadist known as 'Baron Blood'. Director Mario Bava returns to his gothic roots -- albeit with a modern day Technicolor twist -- in this indelibly atmospheric thriller that pays tribute to the sumptuous horror classics of the '30s and '40s while delivering the black humor and grisly shocks of the drive-in '70s. Joseph Cotton, Elke Sommer and Massimo Girotti star in one of the most visually haunting films of Bava's later career, now presented in its uncut European Version featuring footage not seen in the original American release.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers
Radio Spots

After the previous film (Four Times That Night, produced the same year) Mario Bava goes back to the genre he fells much more at home in. While the look follows a lot what the Hammer films looked like, Bava very much makes it his own. The camera work is inventive, the atmosphere tense, the make up effects are top notch (for its time, obviously) and the story telling, while most of the time rather conventional, has some inspired moments.

Joseph Cotton is the token film star, mostly phoning in his performance in. It seems in those days it was common for aging film stars to appear in small horror films, supposedly to pair their bills (see also Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, heck even Christopher Lee did it for a while in the early 90s). Elke Sommer, who you may have seen in the Dr. Clouseau flick A Shot in the Dark, does her usual overacting. No complaints about the other members.



(From Mario Bava marathon on July 14th, 2009)

The Brides Wore Blood, a review by Jimmy

Title: The Brides Wore Blood
Year: 1972
Genre: Horror
Director: Bob Favorite (Indian Raid, Indian Made)         
Rating: Unrated
Length: 1h24
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: No Subtitle

Stars:
Dolores Heiser
Paul Everett
Bob Letizia
Chuck Faulkner
Jan Sherman   

Plot:
The 1970's are back in this hip hop and hapennin' of retro tale of drugs, vampires and exorcisms.
Girls are invited to a crappy mansion in Florida only to become blood-sucker bait for a centuries old demon who wants to be your daddy !

I got this one by error, because I've made a title error after I've seen the trailer for a movie that was looking interesting. Finally I got the good one (The Blood Spattered Bride), but not before another title error order (Blood Castle) it's something frequent with European movie since they are known under many different titles. I've keep the DVD, because it was my error and maybe the movie will be interesting.

The story looks promising : a vampire curse runs in a familly and for defeating it a girl must be made pregnant by the the older vampire son. When the child is born the curse is defeat. This is not really original, but it's enough to make something not so bad. The end result is not good at all, the problem start with the cast : everyone is untalented (nobody have done anything before or after that), they miss their line and most of the time doesn't know how to react. The story is confusing, they mix too many thing (vampires, an hunchback (that or a drunk guy, this is not really evident by the way he act), an hairy beast (why they had it in the basement is unclear), a medium woman (the majority of what she said make no sense),...

Don't waste your time with that. Even the vampire look is ridicule (just look at the screen capture that I've attach to my post)

Rating : 
Movie Trailer : No Trailer

(From The little known movie review depot on February 11th, 2008)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

4.12 Call of the Wild - Part 1 (1999-03-14)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Paul Gross (Writer), R.B. Carney (Writer)
Director: Steve DiMarco
Cast

(From "Due South" marathon on January 5th, 2011)