Here is a remarkably ridiculous and comically surreal entry into the Mexican horror film genre. In this atmospheric and charmingly clumsy 1961 movie, producer Abel Salazar and director Chano Urveta have expanded the vampiric need for blood to include brain matter, as their 300 year old Baron goes on a brain-sucking rampage after a papier mache comet brings him to modern Mexico. The Baron had previously promised his vengeful return while being burned at the stake by the Inquisition for various crimes against Nature and the Catholic Church, and in doing so attached his reappearance to a comet's scheduled return hundreds of years later. That comet is first seen as an out of focus photograph that is little more than a cartoon. This is the english language version of EL BARON DEL TERROR, which surely brings even more laughs to what is already quite a chuckle. Levity abounds as the Baron is transformed into a hideously hairy big-beaked monstrosity who must eat brains to maintain his regal composure and good looks. In one of the funnier scenes, he excuses himself during some socializing so he can get to his delectable culinary mainstay (hidden in a large wooden chest) before what seems to be a case of sweaty nausea overcomes him. The real treat here is the transformed Baron's long forked tongue, with which he extracts the brains from his victims. Revenge (in B&W) has never tasted so sweet.
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