A Bay of Blood (1971)

How it must have been for a horror film fan to be of cinema-going age in the early 1970s – this is another Italian giallo film that was released into the already bulging world in 1971. Directed by Mario Bava, it contains all the hallmarks – beautiful locations, beautiful people - and someone dressed in black who is killing them all, one by one.Bava is lauded as an inspirational to many more modern film-makers, which is great. I find his work a little hit-or-miss. Perhaps his reputation goes against him for me; I try not to read reviews of any kind before I've seen a film, but it is difficult to avoid Bava's status. Perhaps if he were not so revered, I'd (unfairly) be more open to appreciate his work.That said, this unquestionably contains some gruesome moments and handsome set-pieces for the growing number of killings. Stelvio Cipriani's very rhythmical soundtrack plays its part in cultivating the unnerving moments too.As always with Bava, colour is very important. Garish and lurid, even when muted by day-for-night, it presents my main issue with his work. It is too stylised, giving a stage-bound feel, even on location. Such starkness also robs the sumptuous locations of their natural atmosphere and charms.The story revolves around the lengths people will go to safeguard what they as their inheritance. It's a thin plot, hardly elevated by a very contrived ending. As giallos go, it has enough memorable moments to make it worthwhile (my favourite involves daft and giggly Brunhilda (Brigitte Skay) skinny-dipping, when a bloated corpse brushes against her – dissolving into hysterics. Her fate is also soon sealed), but it is far from the most compelling in the genre.

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.

This movie begins with a wealthy countess by the name of "Federica" (Isa Miranda) being murdered by her husband "Filippo Donati" (Giovanni Nuvoletti) while she is sitting in her wheel chair. Immediately afterward Filippo is stabbed to death by an unknown assailant wielding a knife. His body is then weighed down and placed in the bay next to the countess' house. Meanwhile four young adults happen to stumble upon a cottage and they are subsequently murdered as well. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that this film greatly resembles the slasher films made popular a few years later. Admittedly, the suspense wasn't as great, the script was poor and the ending left much to be desired. However, it managed to maintain my interest for the most part and it does have several attractive actresses in "Claudine Auger" (as "Renata"), Anna Maria Rosati ("Laura") and Brigitte Skay ("Brunhilda") who certainly add to the scenery. All things considered then, I believe that this would be a decent companion in a slasher double-feature and certainly worth viewing for those who enjoy this particular genre. Accordingly, despite the faults I mentioned earlier, I rate this movie as about average.

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.