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Bay Of Blood
[Starz]
1971; color
Directed by Mario Bava
Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Volonte, Anna M. Rosati, Laura Betti, Leopoldo Trieste, Brigitte Skay & Chris Avram
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More commonly known as Twitch Of The Death Nerve, Bay Of Blood is considered one of Bava's more important films, and for good reason. While it starts off as a by-the-book giallo, it begins to stretch beyond the normal checklist that defines the genre to ultimately become (arguably) the first real slasher movie. It's also considered to be a huge inspiration on Friday The 13th, and a gander at the dock on the bay (which, to be honest, looks more like a large lake) does lend credence to this assumption. Instead of a summer camp however, this bay - the potion of it we see at least - is bordered by a few wealthy families. One man wants to do what he calls "improvements" to the area, meaning he wants to build at the expense of nature. An even wealthier old woman, whose consent is necessary for the project to move forward, refuses to cooperate. When someone slips a noose around the old woman's neck and kicks her wheelchair out from under her, the body count officially begins. In fact, we get no less than ten deaths in the film (definitely a lot for 1970, when this was released) six of which happen in the first half hour. It breaks down like this: within seconds of the old woman being hung, the guy who finds her gets quickly dispatched with a dagger. Then we jump to four "hippies" in a dune buggy. They decide to stop at what looks like an abandoned resort, also abutting the bay, and start exploring. One girl goes for a swim but when she climbs out of the water, her foot hooks a rope and she ends up reeling in a corpse. As she runs off screaming she realizes someone's following her. Too late though, as she slams right into a wire stretched between two trees only a few yards from the front door of the chalet where the others are that neatly slits her throat. Next, a couple having sex in bed upstairs get speared together. (A gimmick that's been repeated at least twice in the F13 series.) Finally the one remaining hippie, who has no idea anything has happened, hears a knock at the door. Thinking it's the girl who was swimming, he opens it and gets a hatchet in the head for his trouble. Then we meet our next set of characters, a couple who are camping with their two kids nearby, and a caretaker / bastard son who's very disgruntled and lives in a shack by the bay. As inevitably happens, the paths of the couple, the caretaker and the guy who wants to build on the bay begin to intersect, if not downright collide; herrings are reddened; more corpses mount; and things get much more confusing before they get surprisingly clear very quickly. (I'm sorry, but there's so much plot in the back half of the movie that I can't give any of it away without revealing the whole thing.) Eventually calm returns to the bay, but not before the absolutely unexpected ending throws you for one more loop. Bay Of Blood is for more than fans of Bava, giallos and slasher flicks, it's a tight, fast-paced film that gets better with repeat viewings.
—Giallo Biafra
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