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The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus
[Image Entertainment]
1962; color
Directed by Jesus Franco
Starring: Howard Vernon, Hugo Blanco, Gogó Rojo, Fernando Delgado & Paula Martel
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As you may have guessed from the title, the storyline of The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus centers around a sadistic baron; family name Von Klaus. The not so good Baron is already quite dead when the film opens, felled as legend has it by the swampy swamplands surrounding his family's estate. But, as is pretty much always the case when there's at least one adjective attached to a person's name, his legend lives on. In case you're wondering how he earned the adjective, apparently back in the day the evil Baron kidnapped and raped a young woman. Then she died. Or maybe he killed her; I wasn't a hundred percent clear on that. Either way the poor young lass' distraught father put a curse on the Baron and some of the townsfolk believe - mainly the dude who tells the story of the Baron to the viewer / the visiting doctor who is writing a series of articles about ghosts and his assistant - his spirit, doomed to wander the swampy swamplands in a ghostly fashion for all eternity, manifests itself into reality every 50 years to "kill sadistically." (Anyone want to guess how long it's been since the last series of murders?) Also according to said townsdude and his crony, a series of omens precede the killings including, but not limited to, an increase in wind and wild animal sightings. Interestingly Franco doesn't go as far as to follow this statement up with a shot of a flag flapping in the breeze or a deer running through the town square, he just has the blond woman who runs the joint come in and break up this impromptu storytelling session. But, sure enough, the very next day, after a bit if pointless dialogue (and there will be plenty of that before the film is over), we see the two men come across a woman's body in a snowy field and know the sadistic killing has begun. Enter another seemingly pointless character, a writer for "Maidens And Murderers Weekly Magazine." (Love that!) His boss informs him his next assignment will take him to Holfen, aka the town where the girl was found dead and the majority of the remainder of the Von Klaus family still lives. He also thoughtfully provides him with a photo of one of the Baron's descendants, played by Franco regular Howard Vernon, which in turn thoughtfully provides the perfect transition to the Von Klaus estate. Even though I've barely made it to the part where the youngest Von Klaus returns home with his fiancee to visit his ailing mother on her deathbed I have to stop detailing the plot, lest we be here all day. Suffice it to say, before the movie ends, more young ladies will meet an unfortunate fate and someone with the Von Klaus name will be to blame. Along the way you will be treated to some of the early standards of Franco's filmmaking - lovely ladies, a swinging soundtrack and scenes filmed too close or too far away. As much as I love Franco's more "psychedelic" films, I also love his early black and white period and this ranks right alongside Diabolical Doctor Z and The Awful Doctor Orlof as a favorite.
—Bunny
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