Bay of Blood (1971)

Bay of Blood (1971)

Directed by: Mario Bava
Screenplay by: Mario Bava, Filippo Ottoni, and Giuseppe Zaccariello

Genre: Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Running Time: 84 Minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Viewed: Owned DVD

They came to play, they stayed to die.

[IMDb]

Comments: I recently purchased Anchor Bay's second Mario Bava box set. I was pretty excited, as I haven't seen too many of his highly-regarded horror films, and I was anxious to dig in. I decided to go with Bay of Blood first, as it's one of the original slasher-type films, and it's regarded fairly well. I also recently read a top-ten list over at Fangoria from earlier this year, where the columnist named Bay of Blood his second favorite foreign horror film of all time. To that I say: really? I found the first half of the film to be a mess. A ton of characters are introduced, but we then switch gears and follow around a group of teens for 20+ minutes. They are killed (rather awesomely), but I had no idea why. Bava's direction was also distracting, as he continuously faded in and out of scenes, over and over again. The narrative wasn't set in motion until about 30 minutes into the film, and then the opening events are tied in. Bay of Blood's second half is much better, throwing in a few twists while using flashbacks to explain just what the hell is happening. However, despite the awesome violence and almost everyone dying, the film never really pulls everything together in a cohesive fashion (read: the plot is fucking ridiculous). I think if the script were retooled a bit, Bay of Blood could have been a much better film. As it is, this slasher will remain fairly average.

Also Known As: Reazione a Catena, Twitch of the Death Nerve