A Bay of Blood (1971) User Reviews (139)

It does what it says on the tin

[MOscarbradley · 5/10 · 5 July 2017]

You don't go to a Mario Bava picture expecting an Antonioni picture or a Fellini picture. Bava does exactly what it says on the tin and what it says on the tin here is "A Bay of Blood" so basically you know what you're likely to get and what you're letting yourself in for but Bava is as much an auteur as any Italian maestro and the killing that opens this film proves it. Working almost exclusively within the genre of the horror picture Bava was, above all, a great visual stylist, (as well as directing "A Bay of Blood" he was also the DoP), and unlike most films that might be termed slashers this could almost be called art, albeit of a very kitsch kind.

Budget-wise Bava had to achieve his effects with very little, other than sheer imagination. "A Bay of Blood" may be a fairly basic giallo in terms of plot but it is also creepy and clever and thankfully tongue-in-cheek, (with a laugh-out-loud pay-off), and Bava knew that by including a few 'cult' names in his cast, (Isa Miranda, Laura Betti), he could draw in the cineastes. It may not be in the same class as some of his better known works but it's still worth seeking out.

Seminal Work From Bava Regardless of Title

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 28 April 2011]

An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out massacre.

From legendary director Mario Bava (who doubles as cinematographer) and legendary horror screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti comes a film that essentially everyone (including Sacchetti himself) accepts as the original slasher film (now fondly referred to as the grandfather of the modern slasher film), and being a precursor to "Friday the 13th".

Some people have given "Black Christmas" credit for being the start of it all, and it does have more of the modern look, but "Bay" has so many stylistic flourishes and plot similarities that it has to be given credit. I also believe "Blood and Lace" is under-appreciated in this regard, though I suppose "Bay of Blood" is the more influential.

Aside from the obvious concept of kids going into the woods and dying, we have some of the classic slasher themes: camera from the killer's point of view behind a tree, the double impalement of a couple making love. Bava was way ahead of the curve with this film, despite claims from Luca Palmerini that it is "predictable" or Jim Harper's calling it "blackly humorous". (Harper also points out the "flimsy story", but seems to be a fan of the film overall and recognizes its importance.)

As usual, the biggest critic is Howard Maxford (who never ceases to amaze me how he got a gig as a horror critic when he seems to hate them all). He tries to be complimentary by saying the film has "occasional pretensions to style", but has the overall opinion that Bava's work is "hard to sit through". Sure, it was not the most exciting film in the world, but if Maxford cannot relax for less than 90 minutes, he should not be a film reviewer.

I think the opening with the old woman in the wheelchair being hung had plenty of style and called to mind the later works of Argento (by which I mean the middle of his career, the late 1970s). Argento was allegedly such a fan of this film that he stole a copy from a theater. That would not surprise me.

While the film as a whole has bland moments and your basic murder shots, this scene seals it for me as making the film more worthy of respect... Bava's influence on others is obvious (the entire Italian horror subgenre more or less owes its existence to his films), but I think the finer points are often overlooked. Do not overlook this film.

When Nobody is Innocent

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 11 June 2005]

A handicapped and wealthy countess, who owns the lands of a disputed bay, is hanged by her husband and he is immediately killed. The crime scene is forged to simulate a suicide of the old woman. Later, two young couples are murdered in the bay. The inheritors of the fortune of the countess want the possession of the place and kill each other, in a bloodshed bath in the area.

"Reazione a Catena" is a gory slash movie with a different characteristic: there is no serial killer, but almost a chain reaction of murders. The deaths are motivated by the greed of different persons, and their motives are based on the interest of the civil construction in the ecological area, and the reluctance of the elder countess in selling her property. None of the character is innocent, except the two young couples that arrive in wrong the place for fun. The camera, with many closes and movements, is quite different. The black humor is very sharp; most of the deaths are very original and the conclusion is silly. The copy of the Brazilian VHS is a little dark, but it is watchable. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Banho de Sangue" ("Blood Bath")

Note: On 06 July 2009, I saw this movie again on DVD.

One of the All Time Greats

[Michael_Elliott · 1 October 2013]

Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)

**** (out of 4)

Mario Bava's landmark film can now be considered one of the very first slashers and of course a major influence on Friday THE 13TH. The film takes place at a lake-side resort where a variety of people are brutally slaughtered by an unknown maniac. Also known as A BAY OF BLOOD and a dozen other titles, this Bava film mixes the giallo with what would become known as the slasher and the end result is certainly something special and ground- breaking. To say the film was a major influence on the genre to come would be an understatement because there's simply so much going on here that other filmmakers would steal from. Obviously there's the graphic violence, which is scattered throughout the film and this is what got the movie its original reputation. The effects are quite ghastly for their time and especially a couple throat slashings, a memorable beheading and of course a sex scene where two victims are offed at the same time (and later stolen in Friday THE 13TH PART 2). The film is also quite sleazy with not only the gore but a fair amount of nudity and sex. This certainly wasn't the first film to use sex and violence but Bava really puts his own spin on it because the movie just feels so dirty. I say that in a good way because the director adds a certain poetry to the death scenes and he also lingers on them for long periods after the victims are stabbed or whatever else their fate is. Instead of cutting to the next scene Bava just keeps the camera on the victims as they take their last few breathes and this here is quite effective and at times ugly. The film is certainly far from flawless as some of the performances aren't all that impressive and the director goes for way too many zoom shots. With that said, there are enough twists in the story for ten movies and it's constantly catching you off guard. No matter what you call the film there's no question about its importance to the genre and it ranks as one of the best in Bava's career.

A genre is born.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 6/10 · 13 February 2021]

Considered by most to be the first proper slasher (though 'Psycho (1960)' and its British cousin 'Peeping Tom (1960)' were both released a decade prior), Mario Bava's 'A Bay Of Blood (1971)' has undeniably influenced almost an entire genre of film. The most immediately similar experience I can think of is 'Friday The 13th (1980)', which follows the format and style of this piece almost beat for beat. Though the affair certainly isn't perfect, it's remarkably accomplished for a sub-genre's first outing. It tells the tale of a group of people who, after the suspicious death of a wealthy countess, ruthlessly vie for the land rights of a desirable bay, resulting in an ever increasing body count. After an excellently atmospheric opening, the thing slows down considerably to focus primarily on a group of expendable teenagers who only serve to act as fodder for an unseen killer (and to provide some obligatory nudity). The plot doesn't properly kick off until about halfway through when these teens (very minor spoilers, I guess) have been removed from the equation. It's at this point that the story's true central characters emerge and make their intentions clear. It's not as if these are likeable protagonists, though; they're as greedy and violent as pretty much everybody else. That's what the film is about, really: greed. The story isn't all that deep, though. It's one step above just having a mindless killer randomly slaughtering people in a variety of gruesome ways. The experience is a bit slow at times, particularly in its first half, and it's generally quite schlocky (though, no shock there). However, it holds up rather well and it's generally enjoyable. It's a solid start to the slasher genre. 6/10

Seminal Italian slasher

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 11 August 2022]

At a bay on the remote coast of central Italy, corpses mount up as several people contest over the valuable property rights. Some of those involved are four party-minded youths in a yellow dune buggy.

Mario Bava's "A Bay of Blood" (1971) is called "Ecology of Crime" in Italian (translated) and is known by a few other names, like "Twitch of the Death Nerve" ("A Bay of Blood" is easily the best title).

With one foot firmly in giallo territory, it is hailed as the progenitor and blueprint for the kitschy slasher craze that would soon emerge with "Halloween" (1978) and "Friday the 13th" (1980). But let's not forget about the influential films that led up to this one, like "Psycho" (1960), "Dementia 13" (1963) and Bava's own "Blood and Black Lace" (1964), not to mention "Silent Night, Bloody Night," which was shot at the same time as "A Bay of Blood." These paved the way for early 70's slashers like "Home for the Holidays" (1972), "Torso (1973), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) and "Black Christmas" (1974).

While this is superior to "Dementia 13," the somewhat convoluted story is not as compelling as "Psycho," "Silent Night, Bloody Night" and "Friday the 13th." Speaking of the latter, devotees of "A Bay of Blood" suggest that it heavily influenced the first two "Friday" films, but this would mostly apply to the four youths visiting the desolate bay and a couple of death scenes, which amount to a fraction of the runtime. There's nothing in "Bay" about camp counselors staying at a summer camp and the dynamics thereof.

Brigitte Skay is a highlight on the female front as Louise, but there are a few other notables, like Paola Montenero (Sylvie), Anna Maria Rosati (Laura) and the joyless Claudine Auger (Renata). On the other side of the gender spectrum, Claudio Volonté is reminiscent of Oliver Reed as solemn fisherman outcast Simon.

The movie runs 1 hour, 24 minutes, and was shot about an hour's drive south of Rome in Sabaudia, Italy, at the producer's beach house, along with some bits shot at Fogliano, which is 12 miles north.

GRADE: B-

Bava's pioneering and masterful slasher movie has influenced a generation of filmmakers

[Colbridge · 7/10 · 27 July 2023]

Having been a fan of 80's slasher movies since I was a teenager and embracing Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978) and all the other low budget rip-offs that followed A Bay of Blood is a revelation after finally catching up with it some 50 years after it's initial release.

Mario Bava's controversial and ground breaking classic is often cited as the beginning of the modern slasher with unflinching graphic imagery, violence and blood letting however I hadn't appreciated just how much the Friday the 13th franchise owes to this cult film. Sean S Cunningham was obviously greatly influenced by the Italian filmmaker and even recreates some of Bava's scenes in the first couple of Friday the 13th movies, notably the spear going through a couple making love on the bed, the girl getting undressed and going for a skinny dip in the lake only to be watched and hunted down by the killer, the beheading of a woman and a machete embedded into a victim's face.

Having established himself as a horror filmmaker, firstly with Hammer style Gothic horror movies in the early 1960's then creating the much lauded Italian 'giallo' genre that combined film noir, murder mystery, eroticism and graphic imagery that inspired the likes of Dario Argento, Bava made a further shift in the horror genre with a totally unrestrained, uncompromising and visceral approach to shock audiences with extreme violence, gore and realism that set the template for the American slasher that followed having influenced the likes of John Carpenter, Wes Craven and many others.

The opening murder of a Countess sparks a number of unscrupulous characters, including her daughter played by Bond girl Claudine Auger, to go after her large estate on the bay with a series of brutal killings. People get slashed and slaughtered, including four unsuspecting teenagers (sound familiar), and it's Carlo Rambaldi's impressive makeup effects that help Bava achieve the level of realism not seen before with such brutal killings.

A Bay of Blood is a stylish, intense, visceral, nicely paced and well made film that influenced several generations of filmmakers and although prosecuted by the DPP under the Video Recordings Act of 1984 by people who didn't know what they were talking about, this is nowhere near as amateurish, exploitative or low rent as some of the titles that made it onto the list.

Mario Bava's prototype slasher film set the tone as he did with the horror genre in general

[vampire_hounddog · 6/10 · 21 October 2020]

A Countess (Isa Miranda) is murdered by her husband who in turn is also murdered. What follows is a series of grisly murders around the former Countess's lake.

Released in Italy with the original Italian title of ECOLOGIA DEL DELITTO and in the US with the colourful title of TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, this classic gruesome Mario Bava giallo thriller set the precedent for a new style of grisly horror films, but would later be recognised as one of the main influences of the slasher genre, most especially the FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH films, despite Sean S. Cunnigham's denials to the contrary.

A personal favourite of Bava's, the film found itself on the so-called video nasty list in the early 1980s, but is a good fun piece of macabre gruesomeness.

Started the Invasion of the Body Count Movies & Invented the "Slasher" Film

[LeonLouisRicci · 9/10 · 29 October 2017]

Master Mario Bava Directs and Shoots another Film that Transfigured and Ignited Horror Cinema in the Decades to come. This is Without Doubt (so many times these sort of proclamations have doubt) the First "Slasher" Film. Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960) can be Sighted as a Spark but without the Fire that Bava sent Blazing.

It's a Sub-Genre of Horror that Survives to this Day. It has Survived Critic and Parental Wrath and Disdain and is one of the most Profitable.

The Movie is Famous for its Body Count (13) that was used in Advertising Campaigns, Bloody Gore, No Redeeming Characters, Excellent Makeup and SFX, Haunting Mood and Cinematography (Bava), Fast Pace, and an Ending that No "Body" saw coming.

Viewed Today it seems Familiar, due to the Hundreds of Imitations and Followups Churned Out in the last 35 Years. Bava's Emphasis Turns to Blood Bathing and Gruesome Gore after He Reinvented the Gothic Gloom Cinema in the Sixties.

He Ushered in the 1970's and Wrote the Training Manual that made a lot of People a lot of Money. Mostly Hacking the Maestro with Little Style and Wit and No imagination with Eyes Only on Box-Office Receipts.

The "Slasher" Genre does have its Restraints with Repetition Punctuating the Pictures and One Upmanship the Order of the Day. Objectively even Bava's Movie is Missing certain Elements of Plot, Character Development and Overall Concern for Complexity. The Checklist Style, Invented here, has made "Slashers" the most Guilty of Guilty Pleasure Exploitation.

A Bay of Blood is an entertaining Italian giallo, not without its flaws, but certainly worth watching

[kevin_robbins · 7/10 · 15 October 2023]

I recently watched Mario Bava's Italian giallo classic, A Bay of Blood (1971), on Tubi. The film revolves around a small town by a lake where the land is in dispute following the death of the countess who owned it. As individuals arrive at the countess's home, they are systematically murdered. The stakes rise as the quest for the house becomes deadlier.

Directed by the iconic Mario Bava, known for Lisa and the Devil, and starring Claudine Auger (Thunderball), Luisi Pistilli (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly), Claudio Camaso (Vengeance) and Anna Maria Rosati.

This movie embodies the essence of a classic slasher, with an engaging plot, unique circumstances, clear motives, and a captivating "whodunit" element. The cast excels, and the female actors are stunning as always. The film features a classic soundtrack from its era, and the kills become increasingly gruesome as the story unfolds. There's ample gore, blood splatter, and an entertaining decapitation scene. It uses the iconic red paint for blood and incorporates amusing use of an octopus 🐙 . The final revelation is worthwhile, leading to a rewarding conclusion.

In summary, A Bay of Blood is an entertaining Italian giallo, not without its flaws, but certainly worth watching. I would rate this a 7/10 and highly recommend it.

Doesn't hold up well even for an early 70s effort.

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 4 March 2008]

I must be missing something here because I found it rather dull, it's obviously held in high regard by the horror crowd because it's a benchmark of sorts, and certainly this is where Friday the 13th (1980) got it's idea from, but to me it just came across as an uncohesive mess. The acting obviously isn't of a great standard, but that is what the viewer expects for this particular strand of the genre, but they seem to be confused about how to play out their respective roles. The grizzly deaths are handled efficiently by director Mario Bava and they keep the film from drifting into unwatchable territory, and in fairness the ending does have a nice cheeky slant it, but all in all it's not one to reckie to others with confidence, or for me to ever rewatch again, 5/10

Greed twitches several death nerves in Mario Bava's brutal pioneering slasher flick!

[The_Void · 9/10 · 7 May 2006]

Many films on the Video Nasty list are horror cinema's answer to well-respected classics; The Last House on the Left offers a new spin on Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring, Island of Death is a more brutal telling of the story of Bonnie and Clyde and, indeed, this Mario Bava film owes its plot to the French classic, La Ronde. Bay of Blood is often noted as being an obvious inspiration on the Friday the 13th series, and when taking things such as the setting and a certain murder sequence into account, that is certainly true; but let's not forget that this is also a fantastic movie in its own right. The film starts off with a glorious sequence that opens inside a beautiful manor house. We watch as a wheelchair-bound baroness is brutally strangled, only for the rug to be torn from under us moments later when her assailant is the next one to bite the bullet! It has to be said that the film never tops its opening sequence, but Mario Bava's gore-fest manages to remain fascinating all the way through, as it turns out that the first murder scene sets off a violent chain of events that results in a very high body count.

This film would be properly categorised as a slasher, but its Italian roots ensure that it's often labelled a Giallo, and indeed Mario Bava does include Giallo elements; from black gloved killers and an array of odd characters, all the way to an amazingly convoluted plot. Indeed, the storyline here gets so complicated at times that it's liable to give the viewer an extreme headache, but Bava is always on hand with another glorious murder scene, and as the film features thirteen deaths in it's eighty one minute running time - there's certainly no lack of the red stuff. Bava ensures that the murders are suitably varied, and we get treated from an array of methods of dispatch, including axes, a spear through a lovemaking couple and an excellent scene that sees someone skewered to a wall. Mario Bava's eye for detail doesn't wane with this film, as despite being a grisly slasher; there's still more than enough time for beautiful scene setting. The bay itself looks great and excellently lends itself as a location for savagery, while the decors of the character's homes are elaborately Gothic. With the pitch-black ending, the director shows us that the film isn't meant to be taken seriously, and overall, Bay of Blood is both influential and a great time - and therefore shouldn't be missed by horror fans.

Entertaining who dunnit schlock!

[Straighspits · 6/10 · 20 August 2021]

This film is the first i have watched from the infamous "video nasties" list (these were banned movies, in the 80s, that would result in you being prosecuted for owning them in the uk) .

I choose at random and thankfully this seems to be one of the better films of that ilk! The acting isn't going to win any awards but it is passable and in some cases genuinely good.

Theres some nudity, nothing too extreme. The reason i guess this film was banned was due more to the violence. Its nothing you haven't seen before and even for it's time it is not too over the top. There are some well executed kills, a good job by the special effects team! The camera work is quite good and there are some impressive shots.

The main plot revolves around the passing of an estate to the former owners children, it quickly turns into a whodunit with 90% of the characters being horrible caricatures! This makes for some fun kills and a pace that really ramps up in the 3rd act.

In closing this is an entertaining movie and if your looking for some competent early 70s schlock then id recommend giving this a whirl!

Very disappointing Bava film

[cmoitze · 5/10 · 9 January 2011]

This film is regarded as the first slasher film, that produced a myriad of clones such as Friday 13th.

Being a Mario Bava film, I held high expectations for this. Unfortunately i was to be very disappointed.

The first thing i noted was how drab and lifeless this film is. There is none of Bava's use of colour. The characters are one dimensional and the special effects are poor. In one scene a beheading takes place and you can clearly see the screws in the neck area after the beheading.

The plot is very convoluted and ultimately uninteresting. The surprise ending is OK, if a little silly.

In summary it feels as if Bava is just trying to shock and keep up with the trend of making an exploitation movie, rather than a good movie. Friday 13th is actually superior to this movie and more entertaining.

Bava's finest hour and a half

[Jasper-12 · 5 April 1999]

This is one of Bava's few films where everything works. It does exactly what it sets out to do. The minimalistic script makes no attempt at either character motivation or logic, but serves merely as an engine for the 13 bloody murders. Here the main pleasure, as in all subsequent body count movies, is in seeing in which new and inventive manner the next murder will be committed, but as usual, it is Bava's visual style which sets this film above Friday 13th and all it's imitators, as well as a knowing sense of humour and a pounding jazzy soundtrack. Here Bava's style is refined and reduced ad absurdam, with intermittent atmospheric interludes making use of the natural features of the landscape, from slow pans across the horizon, focus pulls through the foliage, and rapid zooms in and out of each bloody murder. It is true that the script loses its footing in the final quarter, unable to maintain the intensity throughout, but that fact notwithstanding, this is one of the finest films of its genre.

Audacious Mario Bava film

[HEFILM · 6/10 · 11 June 2005]

No other film in history starts out with a fly committing suicide, and it just lets you know that anything and everything can die in what's to come. An audacious return to horror for director Bava which still features some of the most gratuitous exploitation and violence of any film. A genuine nasty streak runs throughout this film and so does some humor. The weakness is that when it tries to explain who's killing how and why it all gets really confused, though in a way this commands multiple viewings as you'll be part way into the film and have no idea of what is going on and fascinated to find out again. Also a potential problem is that virtually all the characters are so repellent it's hard to stay interested in what's going on, and you wouldn't if what happened wasn't so unexpected or violent. Only the oddest characters generate any sympathy. A film that is hard to dismiss and hard to embrace, it's far more interesting than all the films that ripped it off and there are plenty. It's a film with the director thumbing his nose, or flipping off, the audience and what they may expect and that's to be admired and resented at times too. A must see for any horror fan. Decide for yourself, but there are certainly things here you won't expect or forget no matter how many times you see it. One thing to note, the IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT DVD is the uncut version of the film but it is only okay looking and sounding, it would be nice if someone would bring out a better DVD of it.

Typical Mario Bava slasher movie filled with grisly murders and vivid imagery

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 12 January 2020]

The strange murder of a countess, Isa Miranda, which was wrongly considered as a suicide, triggers a lot of weird killings at a bay. There takes place several grisly murders between tourists and inhabitants carried out by a strange killer . Along the way a group of vacationers : Brigitte Skay, Anna Maria Rossati.. are mercelessly chased by a homicidal maniac armed with a sickle, bent on decapitation . Each is progressively murdered, knifed, speared and axed. There are various suspect people, a rather disturbed man, Claudio Volonte, who lives by the bay, a rare couple living in the surrounding area formed by a Medium : Laura Betti, her husband : Leopoldo Trieste , and a marriage, Claudine Auger and her hubby : Luigi Pistilli who attempt to take the large state from the deceased countess.

Ordinary sick Mario Bava terror flick, it contains thrills, chills, nudism, gory effects, and high body-count. It displays a confusing plot dealing with non-sense murders and an inheritance wished by heirs, ambitious people, and investment speculators into selling land. The film is a fair murder mystery at a wild weekend in which a group retread at an isolated location and a killer goes around to slice up as well as hack people who are relentlessly butchered . The cast of vacationers and visitors is interchangeable and they keep straight and in some cases cases more easily identifiable by their interpretations in Spaghetti Westerns as Claudio Camaso, Luigi Pistilli, Chris Avran or in James Bond movie as Claudine Auger of Thunderball. Supposedly the inspiration for The Friday the 13th and once again followed by numerous, equally gory sequels in which a series killer slaughter and annhilates people at a lakeside cottage.

The picture titled Bay of blood, or, Last house on the left part 2, or, Carnage, or, Ecologia del Delitto, was well directed by Mario Bava in his usual style. Bava uses his ordinary visual tricks, sustaining interest enough, while the twisted and well-designed murders steal the show. Bava was an expert on terror movies such as : I vampiri, Black Sunday, The Whip and the Body, The girl who knew too much, Black Sabbath, Planet of Vampires, Kill baby kill, Hatchet for the honeymoon, 5 dolls for an August Moon, Torture of chamber of baron blood, Lisa and the Devil, Shock. Though Bava also made other genre as Peplum : Hercules in the haunted world, sex comedy : Four times that night, Viking movie : Knives of the avenger and Oriental fantasy : The wonders of Aladdin. The picture will appeal to terror genre buffs. Rating 6.5/10.

The original slasher film - with a twist.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 6 November 2008]

One of the original video nasties that was released in 1994 with 43 seconds cut. I cannot imagine what 43 seconds were cut out, as we are left with a slasher film that has 13 murders.

This film is hailed as the precursor to Halloween and Friday the 13th. It certainly spares no blood, and has a gratuitous decapitation to make it a true nasty.

Nudity is at a minimum, with just a skinny dip segment by one of the college kids that happened upon the cottage and set off the chain of murders.

It was funny to see the hand almost on the ass of the girl as the long dead body rises to the surface. her friends met a grisly death, with two of them dispatched at once in bed, with the guy on top still pumping away as he is dying.

What makes this film very interesting, and may be a distraction for some is the story line. It is minimalist, but there is a story. One man is trying to find out who killed his mother, One women is chasing down the death of her father. Revenge plays a part, but the main story is familiar to those of us here in Florida - greedy developers. Here they only kill wildlife in their quest for land, in this film anyone who gets in the way is dispatched. So, you have not one slasher, but several with different motives.

And, just when you think you have finally got everything just the way you want it, Bava throws in a twist that had me laughing my ass off.

The jungle music throughout irritated me mildly, but it did fit the scenery.

Horror hidden in beauty

[Charlotte_Kaye · 7/10 · 30 December 2005]

Largely cited as the inspiration behind Carpenter's Halloween (1978), Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980) and the hundreds of countless other gory slasher movies, this is an entertaining horror film from Mario Bava, who is probably the greatest of the Italian genre directors. He is also an incredibly talented cinematographer, as you can tell with many clever, artistic touches and how his camera looms for some time over the tranquil lake-front setting in between the very graphic murder sequences. This is an art concept; coupling savagery and the ills of man (greed, lust) with the beauty and serenity of nature, with loud shrieks occasionally piercing through the calm. It's a shame that the later copycats failed to realize the potential found here.

There's a high enough body count and creative kills to entertain most fans of these type of movies. If you try to deeply analyze the plot, you will be somewhat disappointed. But if you can appreciate this as a colorful piece of the macabre, you will love it. There are several jump-out-of-your-seat moments (the best being a surprise awaiting a man who opens his front door) and a truly nasty neck slashing. There's also some brief nudity. The ending is a huge surprise, but definitely more than a little hard to swallow. Then again, this sense of playful parody helps to diffuse some of the gore. If you love horror films, I recommend this one!

Brilliant!

[Maciste_Brother · 9/10 · 9 September 2003]

BAY OF BLOOD (or TWITCH OF THE DEATH NEVER) is a brilliant film. The idea behind it is original and it's still a one-of-a-kind flick, even if the movie itself inspired a gazillion slashers. Regarded as the granddaddy of slashers, BAY OF BLOOD has a unique concept behind it that none of its duplicators have successfully copied: the concept of people being murdered one by one, not by just one killer but by several killers, in very gruesome ways, all in the name of super dry, jet black comedy.

There's something surprisingly stealthy about Mario Bava's approach to the deliberately confusing story. Throughout the labirynth like story-line, we bounce from one character to the next, never having enough time to get to know the people in the movie to care enough for them and when they are killed, their deaths suddenly take a surprisingly modern twist. Unlike most slashers out there, like FRIDAY THE 13TH or even HALLOWEEN and their endless sequels, many critics have said that in order for the horror element in those movies to work, you have to care about the people getting killed. Many critics have dismissed the whole slasher genre just on that basis: the films are not horrifying because the people getting killed either deserve it because they're annoying or the acting was really bad, or just because the writing was terrible and the characters were just token characters and it's not scary to see token, cardboard characters getting killed. Well, in BAY OF BLOOD, the ingeniously scripted story transcends this. The characters in BOB are not really deep or even memorable but their introduction to us, the viewer, is so quick and their deaths are so gruesome and so sudden and unexpected that the fact we know little about them hardly matters. It hardly matters because the killings aren't being made by a single killer with a singular reason but by several killers, whom all have a confusing number of reasons (which can all be traced to greed), with few of the killers knowing that others are also killing other people at the same time and as the film progresses, the killers, in turn, also become victims themselves. This is the brilliant aspect of BOB. People just kill each other left and right in a neverending succession of blood and violence, each people completely indifferent to each other. Watching this made me giggle and wince. The story cannibalises itself repeatedly, every ten minutes or so, snowballing into an all-out blood bath. The effect this creates is like being trapped inside a time-loop, in which the same thing happens over and over AND over again. Combine this with the fact that the story's actions happens mostly within a brief time-line (except for the beginning, everything happens on the same day) BUT that it also goes back and forth in time, with flashbacks and such, and BOB, oddly enough never feels grounded to one specific time. The killings in BOB feel different than anything I've ever seen in a horror film. Each killing is seemingly detached from the story itself and the film takes an all new unique approach, as the deaths come to the fore while the rest fades in the background. It almost feels like we're watching the killings happen "live". There isn't a single lone female survivor, or a surprise ending like most horror films (there is a surprise ending in BAY OF BLOOD but it's not a killer coming back to life).

The acting is good but the cast is mostly anonymous (deliberate?). Except for Claudine Auger, the rest of the cast seemingly all meld together. The location and sets were also good. Only the music was inappropriate at times and the cinematography was sometimes annoying, with Bava's constant use of out-of-focus shots, which I don't like at all. My favorite scene in BOB is the one when Claudine Auger goes to the bathroom. Arf!!!

Though I consider BAY OF BLOOD to be brilliant, the film is dated and there's a certain aloofness to it that even if it serves the story to a certain extent, this aloofness is carried to an unfortunate extreme which makes the film feel not as "passionate" as it could have been or should have been. I guess aloofness is a Bava trademark, which is one of the reasons why I'm not a big Bava fan. Except for HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON, I've haven't been impressed by most of his films. Well, BAY OF BLOOD has impressed me a lot and I have to say that it's probably my favorite Mario Bava film, along with HATCHET. All in all, I think BAY OF BLOOD is a unique, one-of-a-kind gruesome movie. Anyone who didn't like it just didn't get it.

Don't Keep This One at Bay

[BaronBl00d · 6/10 · 11 September 2005]

Once again Mario Bava directs with stunning visuals, elaborate plot threads, gorgeous cinematography, and mediocre Italian acting. This time around a wealthy heiress is killed for her ownership in a bay - some want to keep it ecologically intact whilst others want to turn it into some resort of sorts. What happens is a murderous domino game as suspect after suspect are butchered in most grisly ways. Like lots of Bava's films, the story is secondary to the scenes Bava paints. Those images, like an elderly woman in a wheelchair being strangled or the many uses of a hatchet being explored, are far more powerful then anything in the script. Let's face it, the acting is nothing spectacular at all. The actors and actresses(some very pleasing to the eye - in particular a lovely German girl)are nothing more than a means to Bava's ends - create film scenes that dazzle, shock, and linger in one's mind. Mario Bava does NOT get the recognition he is due. This film like so many of his films stands as a monument to his ability to work the camera for all it was worth. This film also pre-dates the modern slasher, and although it may not be the first(some of Bava's own films take credit for that), it does use the slasher film formula that was to be adopted so carelessly from the makers of the Halloween sequels, the entire Friday the 13th series, and the Nightmare on Elm Street films as well. My biggest problem with Bay of Blood, and one that is small when taking Bava's treatment of the film in account, is the ending. It really is quite absurd. Definitely not up to Bava's standards for a film like this. Nevertheless, see Bay of Blood or Twitch of the Death Nerve(title of version I saw) for some good Italian horror. When you see it, you can believe with ease that Dario Argento was a pupil of the Bava school of directing.

Bad Acting, Bad Plot, Bad Movie

[Tony1964 · 3/10 · 21 September 2005]

I was so disappointed with this movie. After reading reviews and user comments here and elsewhere, comments mentioning the "dream-like" qualities of this movie, the surprise ending, the colorful imagery - the name "Columbo" was even mentioned - I was expecting an eerie, thought-provoking who-dunnit giallo crossing Dario Argento with Poirot. Wrong. This is a stupid body count movie that easily could have been a made-for-American-TV creepshow crap film if some of the graphic violence was removed. The only thoughts you'll be provoked into are thoughts about exactly what method will be used to kill the next victim. The imagery isn't all that colorful, either, certainly not matching Dario's worst movies. The surprise ending is extremely brief, less than 3 minutes, and utterly stupid. Can you tell I hated this movie?

A pioneer of slasher films with good effects n lovely atmosphere. FT13 owes this film big time.

[Fella_shibby · 8/10 · 12 April 2019]

I first saw this in the early 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. This is truly the pioneer of slasher films. Friday the 13th copied two scenes: face slamming with a machete/billhook and a couple's sandwich death scene with a spear.

A countess is strangled to death by her husband n later the husband is stabbed to death by an unseen killer. We have a daughter n her husband, an illegitimate son, a real estate agent n his girlfriend, a wierd entomologist n his even more wierdly dressed wife, all as suspects. Throw in some lousy hair teens n their girlfriends for nudity n body count. The film has ample body counts with solid effects, a nasty decapitation n a small shocking twist for that time. It has French beauty Claudine Auger, lil nudity but a lousy sex scene, lousy hair teen boys, grey haired males n a very odd scene of a shotgun. Viewers may recognize Luigi Pistilli (For a Few Dollars More, Death Rides a Horse, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Great Silence). As a master cinematographer, Bava succeeded in camera tricks to convince us that the film takes place near a forest but his tracking shots due to budget constraints were lousy.

In a shotgun with a double trigger, it is often possible to pull both triggers at once, firing both barrels simultaneously but it doubles the recoil, battering both shotgun and shooter n what if the shooter is a child? Watch the ending n u will come to kno the reason for my above statement.

Bobby! BOBBY!

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 18 September 2017]

Just as the giallo was gaining popularity, Mario Bava proves he's way ahead of the pack by turning the genre on its head, then kicking it up and down the street a few times for good measure. This is evident from the first murder of the film. At a moody, almost deserted bay, an old lady in a wheelchair stares out over the water longingly at a small wooden shack. Sighing, she turns to go to bed for the night when a noose is thrown over her head and she's hung from a doorway. A black gloved killer stands above her body, but just to let you know this is a Bava film, the camera pans up to immediately reveal his face, and just to further let you know this is a Bava film, someone kills the killer by stabbing him to death!

Most gialli have one killer, some have two, Bay of Blood has at least five or six, all of them with the same intention: to gain ownership of the bay, which would provide them with great wealth. There's the businessman and his girlfriend who have some shady deals going on, then there's the second victim's daughter and her husband (and their kids, who they brought along for some reason), then there's Simon, who is the old lady's son, and likes chewing on raw squid. Innocent bystanders are a local Entomologist and his tarot reading wife, and a bunch of annoying hippies who have turned up to have fun.

Bava barely even bothers with any kind of plot for the first hour of this one, and is more interested in turning part of the film into a slasher movie, seven years before Halloween was released. The hippies are first and I'm sure it was a shock back then to see someone receive a giant blade directly to their face, followed shortly by a couple being speared through the back right in the middle of a bit of filthy squeezy. As mentioned everywhere else on the internet, there are a lot of similarities between this film and the first two Friday the 13th films, as well as a lot of similarities between this review and every other review of this film.

Eventually the cast is whittled down enough to allow time for some flashbacks that films in the gaps regarding who is doing what to whom and why, and Bava also throws in a 'what the feck?' ending. This is barely a giallo and more of a comedy of the darkest kind about greed.

Pointless except as film history

[dmkay · 3/10 · 13 April 2003]

It's interesting to see this movie for only two reasons: 1) the fun of spotting scenes directly ripped off in later movies like Friday the 13th Part 2; 2) the ending, which comes out of left field and manages to be both shocking and funny. However, merely being "the first" slasher movie does not make you the best. Maybe if there was a shred of character development this wouldn't be such a yawner. Oh, and if you are going to see this movie, PLEASE get a subtitled copy...the dubbing is so bad you literally can't hear half the dialogue.