Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

gavin6942 When women are found knifed and gouged in the tiny hamlet of Holfen, everyone suspects the distantly related heir of Baron Von Klaus, a sadistic 17th century baron who cursed the village.There are some good themes here: the small village, the wealthy but evil baron, and the idea of a family curse. At one point the heir wonders if at some point he will become a killer like von Klaus was. The film does not play into the emotional or psychological very deeply, but it raises that age old question: can you escape your destiny? I would need to see this film again to give it my full attention and a more thoughtful review. I was not ready for subtitles and could not follow along the whole time. Shame on me.

lonchaney20 Decent early offering from Jess Franco. This is easily the smoothest, least flawed Franco film I've seen, yet it's also the least interesting. The production and photography are of a higher quality than his later works, yet the story feels less ambitious and more generic. Though somewhat disappointing, the overall aesthetic is certainly less frustrating than latter day Franco, and has some intriguing similarities to some later Italian horrors. I'd bet that Bloody Pit of Horror and Baron Blood were both more than a little inspired by this film, though each take their similar premise in radically different directions.Though the characters often refer to supernatural phenomena, Franco eschews much of that Gothic imagery for some suspense and murder sequences straight out of a giallo (viewers wanting to see something of that ilk should check out Bava's Baron Blood). The murder mystery is fairly engaging and managed to keep me off the scent with a fair share of red herrings, but I can't say it was up there with the best of them.The ending, though, was curiously reminiscent of the later A Virgin Among the Living Dead, both visually and thematically. It occurred to me as I watched that all of the three Franco films I've watched recently (this, A Virgin Among the Living Dead, and Female Vampire) share some strong thematic connections, strengthening the reading of Franco as an auteur. Most significant is the cursed family and tragic killer. I plan to watch more Franco films now to see if any more connections occur to me. I have seen The Bloody Judge but barely remember a thing about it. In the meantime, my final word on this film is that it's decent but lacks the artistic ambition of a later work like A Virgin Among the Living Dead that would warrant repeat viewing.

Witchfinder General 666 Too often is the prolific Spanish Exploitation-deity Jess Franco dismissed as a producer of nothing but sleazy trash. Fact is that the man's impressive repertoire of over 190 films, especially his earlier work, includes several creepy, elegant and downright brilliant films, such as "Gritos En La Noche" ("The Awful Dr. Orloff", 1962) and "Miss Muerte" ("The Diabolical Dr. Z.", 1966), just to name the two most outstanding examples. While "La Mano De Un Hombre Muerto" aka. "The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus" of 1962 is not nearly as great as the aforementioned two film, it is yet another good example for the stylish creepiness of Franco's early Horror films, and the man's well-deserved status as a pioneer of European Exploitation cinema."The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus" is set in a German village the residents of which are still haunted by its past. Once, their ancestors had suffered from the evil deeds of a sadistic Baron, who terrorized the area. When a young girl gets brutally murdered, the first suspect is the Baron's descendant (Howard Vernon), who happens to be the spitting image of his murderous ancestor...Franco creates a morbid and creepy atmosphere by employing the typically elegant black-and-white cinematography, eerie settings and macabre set-pieces of his early films. Most of the film is set in gloomy alleys, a dark forest, Gothic castles, tombs and other eerie places. Franco also delivers pioneering Sleaze - the film features female nudity as well as sadistic sexual perversions, which was not exactly the norm in 1962. Franco once again employs the great Howard Vernon, the most regular leading-man of his early films and a true master of sinister roles. The film drags a tiny bit in the middle, but the second half is truly intense. Overall, Franco's second Horror film is not as essential as the masterpiece "The Awful Dr. Orloff", which was released shortly before, but definitely a very good Horror film and early Euro-Exploitation effort that my fellow Franco-fans can not afford to miss. 7.5/10.

bensonmum2 A series of murders of young women have the townspeople believing that a centuries old killer, Baron Von Klaus, has returned from the dead. Many of the locals claim to have seen his shadowy figure rising from the nearby swamp. Is it really the dead Baron come back to claim more victims or is it one of his descendants? The biggest reason I don't rate this movie any higher is that I found the first 3/4 of the movie to be incredibly boring. There's little suspense, little action, and little drama. I generally don't mind a slow moving movie as long as there is plenty of atmosphere and a sense of dread. But, Franco doesn't seem to be one of those directors who excels at atmosphere. Usually, he doesn't seem patient enough, but here he just seems to have no idea of how to do it.The final fourth of this movie, however, is quite well done. The ritualistic murder is both frightful and erotic at the same time. And there is some real suspense in the chase scene leading up to the murderer's capture.The more Franco movies I see, the more I'm growing to enjoy his choice of music. The snappy jazz scores are now one of the things I look forward to.