The Bay (2012)

Critics were positive, audiences not so much. Frustratingly, I sit precariously in the middle whilst tentatively teetering to either side. A seaside town is enjoying the festivities of Independence Day, where toxicity levels of the nearby water are staggeringly increasing. This results in a deadly plague being unleashed where humans become hosts to a flesh eating parasitical isopod. Think of this as a found footage horror film in the style of a faux documentary which conveys one important message: water pollution is bad. Its documentarian aesthetic appeal is what creates the realism and genuine scares, it's incredibly lifelike. The atmospheric nature and intelligent execution will appeal to older audiences, however for those genre enthusiasts looking for plenty of chills...look elsewhere. A disinterested cast, a wave of generic sound effects and a plethora of cheesy acting results in what I can only describe as mediocre. The message is there! Levinson's direction was perfectly suited to this genre albeit a weird shift from his usual films. The narrative was consistently fresh as it switches between news reporters, members of the public, oceanographers and the CDCP. Such a shame that basic acting and a overly preachy story prevents this from being good. Kether Donohue looks like she should be in the 70s with the attire she was wearing (tightest trousers ever...). Surprisingly a big issue I had was with the picture quality of some of the found footage. Watching it on a 4K television enhances the blur and pixelation to a point where it's difficult to see what is actually happening. Never had that happen before with a bluray transfer. Also everyone who gets infected seems to immediately mutter "kill me now, just end it!". That's all well and good if we had emotionally involving characters, but we don't...so I feel nothing. Is this the worst found footage flick? No. Could it be better? Ummm definitely.

So this review is for people that have seen the show. Interesting premise on the chicken sh** being dropped into the water, for the people who have posted here for a long time not that the boards are down can you use a bland curse word? Anyway, that and getting the hyper growth of the concept of the parasites and bugs, whatever, becoming what they did and the mayor ignoring it a month before because of the 4th of July and the income of the city. I get it. Enlighten teens. Besides the mayor getting what he deserved for the all mighty American $ we worship.What ticks me off is having the ending just being it covered up and and just dropping a massive amount of chlorine and all is solved. Like none of the fish would be out of that area and spread that black bug and that many fish dead and human deaths in a American city would just be looked over in the national media.Interesting concept yet you have to finish a logical conclusion that is believable.

The Bay is another trek into the found footage/mockumentary genre and while it's not too bad overall, it is still a bit dull, even when the movie is in full flow.I tend to enjoy this genre as I typically like the feeling I get when watching everything from a point-of-view. When they are done right (The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, REC), they can actually make you feel as if you're living through the events that is being shown in the film. Unfortunately, The Bay didn't really grip me as much as I would have liked, but as I said it's still not that bad overall.I thought that the mood and atmosphere was done quite well as we go from a happy, bustling community enjoying their 4th July celebrations on a beautiful, hot, sunny day, to gradual pandemonium as people start to show signs of some sort of infection. As soon as that happens (which isn't all that far into the film) it does start to pick up, but it didn't really gain any momentum to keep the thrill level up.The "monster" of the film is something that will probably make a lot of people squirm, so be warned because if you get squeamish when it comes to parasites/isopods (especially close-up views), then this film will creep you out.I think the scariest thing about the movie is that the events aren't all that far fetched and when you read about different events from around the world, what happens in The Bay could happen.Conspiracy theorists will probably go nuts with this film as well.Despite some of the negativity, the film isn't as badly scripted, directed, or acted as they say it is, and for the most part it's all done in a pretty believable way. After all, it's easy for the "I would do this" and "I would do that" crowd to criticise what should/shouldn't be done as they watch the film in the warmth of their house.The Bay is worth a watch, and there is a LOT worse movies out there than this one, but just be prepared for some slow-going at times.

Summary: I really liked The Bay, because it looked realistic and its plot is thought-provoking. 61/100 (C+)Directed by the academy award winner Barry Levinson and produced by Jason Blum, "The Bay" is an above-average, found-footage horror film. First, let me say that the trailer is great, the premise is terrific and Barry Levinson is a very talented director. The entire film feels quite genuine, the found-footage adds lots of veracity and the acting is quite good. I really liked the performance of the news reporter. Moving on, even though its running time is very short (84 min), it didn't deliver enough scares or entertainment to me. Everything was kind of boring, but I give it credit because it looked extremely real the whole time.I'm pretty sure that a huge part of the audience that disliked The Bay did not even try to understand the message of the movie. This ecological issue could actually happen in real life! It was so thought-provoking. Moving on, as I said the performances were great, just some extras were kinda weak. Kether Donohue's performance was excellent, she's a news reporter in the film and is documenting all the catastrophe in this little town; her character was dynamic and smart. In addition, she's not the only one important here, throughout the film we can see some scientists talking through Skype about this parasite and all these scenes were quite effective and interesting.Do not expect jump-scares or lots of gore. This movie is more about scientists, laboratories, death fishes, people infected in hospitals and stuff like that. The Bay boasts a thought-provoking story about public services, in this case water contaminated, eww. Levinson cares about the human perspective and he gives us some nice camera shots in hospitals and streets. He smartly uses a found-footage style to present us his intriguing tale. Although at times he forgot how to maintain the film entertaining, I was satisfied by the end of it. I remember that I kept looking at a glass of water for minutes thinking... where does it come from? How clean is it?It was very thrilling sometimes and it had two or three effective jump- scares, but two of them are in the trailer. A huge part of the scares and surprises were spoiled by the trailer, so please don't see it. Overall, it's one of the most believable found-footage films I've seen, even though it was not as entertaining as I thought. I only recommend it if you like documentaries or movies about ecological issues, pandemics or virus. The Bay is a horror film for a very specific audience, this is not that type of horror movie which you watch with some friends at night. I recommend you to see it alone, and judge it by yourself. (C+)