When a proud father is visited by a strange young man who offers to buy his land for a ridiculous amount of money, he is resolute that the home he built with his bare hands would not be for sale. Unfortunately, soon after this, his family is beset with tragedy after tragedy. It starts with the death of his daughter Rebecca’s boyfriend and progresses, but it’s only when a local white witch gets involved that they realise there’s something more sinister at play.
You can be forgiven if you’re expecting a full-on orgy of demonic sacrifice and shenanigans when watching the first few minutes of Baphomet. Legendary Italian actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice (best known under his anglicised name John Morghen in films such as Cannibal Ferox) is the head of the satanic cult we’re introduced to, and he’s desperate to get his hands on the farmland to open up a gateway to Hell. Now, Giovanni’s thick accent does make his lines a little hard to understand, but his presence is imposingly effective if a little underused. Writer/director Matthan Harris also plays the role of the dead boyfriend, who’s brought back from the grave by Charlotte Bjornbak’s witchy Marybeth. She’s given tips by a (literally) phoned-in Dani Filth, who is the right sort of stunt casting the film needs.
The rest of the world are surprisingly accepting of the dead boyfriend being around, and this all leads to an impressive climax that provides enough thrills to help you overlook the occasional lacklustre acting. The cinematography – by Pedro Avila and Andrew Scott Baird – gives this low budget effort another kick. Harris does a decent job of bringing everything together, keeping things entertaining and tight (the movie runs less than 75 minutes).
This US Blu-ray release of Baphomet boasts a few extra features that are worth delving into. While the deleted and extended scenes bring nothing to the story, the interview with Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth is fun and adds to the value of the disc.
Baphomet won’t win any awards for originality or skill, but for fans of indie movies, it’s a decent enough satanic shocker that delivers what it promises… eventually.
Baphomet is available on Blu-ray and DVD in the US and digital in the UK.
