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Film: A Bay Of Blood
Release date: 20th December 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 84 mins
Director: Mario Bava
Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati, Chris Avram
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Italy
Italian cinema is notable for periods in which a particular genre comes to prominence, whether it be the neorealist films of the 1940s and 50s or the spaghetti westerns of the 1960s. In the early 1970s, horror was all the rage, particularly the giallo films, which took elements of horror movies as well as mystery and crime fiction. One of the most famous films of this era is A Bay Of Blood (alternatively titled Twitch Of The Death Nerve), Mario Bava’s 1971 blood-soaked entry into the Italian horror canon, now available on DVD.
The opening sequence of A Bay Of Blood, as the sun casts its final heavenly rays on an idyllic bay, offers no indication of the horror and carnage which is to come, but it does not take long for the body count to begin its rapid ascension.
Countess Federica (Isa Miranda) lives in a luxurious mansion beside the bay, and is the proprietor of the land. As she prepares for bed, she is killed by her husband, Filippo Donati (Giovanni Nuvoletti), who has plotted to make the murder look like suicide. Mere seconds after the deed is done, Filippo is stabbed to death by a mystery assailant.
We are then introduced to a series of characters with a financial or personal interest in the ownership of the bay. Renata (Claudine Auger) is the countess’ daughter, and she arrives along with her husband, Albert (Luigi Pistilli), adamant that the property now belongs to her. Estate agent Frank Ventura (Chris Avram) and his lover Laura (Anna Maria Rosati) have other intentions, and have a plotted to take ownership of the bay for themselves.
With the complex tapestry of characters and motivations that are introduced in the opening scenes, it would appear that A Bay Of Blood is shaping up to be a mystery thriller. Think again…
What follows, instead, is utter madness. The film quickly shifts to a style anyone who is familiar with recent ‘slasher’ movies such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer will recognise, as a group of teenagers arrive at the bay and break into a house. As the group party and plan their sexual escapades, they are unaware that they are being watched, a point which is introduced with a wonderful shot in which the sunlit bay is reflected in the eye of the killer who waits in the darkness, preparing to strike. The group are then dispatched in increasingly explicate and gloriously gory ways; a machete is thrust into the throat of one character, into the face of another, and a spear is used to spice things up in the bedroom as two lovers are locked in an everlasting embrace. Bava and his creative team clearly relish these moments of physical horror and the make-up and prosthetic work is ahead of its time in both the skill of its design and the violence which it portrays. The camera work is just as effective in these scenes as voyeuristic shots of the young victims create a sense of unease, and point of view shots of the killer build tension as he stalks his prey. It is these moments of horror which remain both the film’s defining feature and its most successful.
In terms of plot, A Bay Of Blood is, technically speaking, completely bonkers. It achieves the near impossible feat of being both laughably simplistic and impossible to follow. Every character is willing to do anything in order to ensure the bay ends up in the right hands, and they will all resort to murder without even a second’s hesitation. Any pretensions the film had to being a murder mystery are quickly dispelled as there is no mystery to be found. A revelation towards the end about who was responsible for the plot to kill Countess Federica seems unimportant considering the amount of subsequent killings which have taken place. It is also difficult to care too much about the death of any of the characters, as they are all equally selfish and shallow. Not only that, but there is no sense that these are real people we are dealing with. There is no way that a group of intelligent adults would be universally willing to tear each other apart for the sake of a piece of property, even if it is a nice bloody bay.
Mario Bava clearly did not intend to make a serious thriller, and so if viewed as a slapstick comedy-come horror, A Bay Of Blood certainly does its job. There is a lot of technical craft to enjoy; Mario Bava is a renowned director, and the contrast of the beautiful landscape with the depraved acts which take place in it is striking. The film also set the tone for many horror films in years to come, both in its visual style, and in its balance between the gruesome and the comic.
A Bay Of Blood will not be enjoyed by those of a nervous disposition, or by those who enjoy the intricacies of narrative cinema. But if taken at face value, it is an enjoyable, blood soaked piece of horror, as well as a rare example of a film which reflects the insanity of its characters in every aspect of its production. PK
Film: A Bay Of Blood
Release date: 20th December 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 84 mins
Director: Mario Bava
Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati, Chris Avram
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Italy
Mario Bava precedes the American slasher genre with 1971’s A Bay Of Blood (also known as Twitch Of The Death Nerve, Blood Bath and Last House On The Left 2, among others), a violent landmark in Italian cinema. Controversial, with a mixed critical history, it remains one of the most influential horror films of all time, without which Jason Vorhee’s mask would be splatter free, and Michael Myers’ kitchen knife would have remained in the drawer.
An elderly, wheelchair bound countess is brutally murdered. Her killer is swiftly stabbed, and his body disposed of in the titular bay. Shortly after, a flash real estate agent named Frank Ventura (Chris Avram) arrives in the area with his lover Laura (Anna Maria Rosati), with every intention of taking ownership of the sought after bay. All they need to seal the deal is the signature of the countess’ husband, and they almost do, until his rotting corpse is discovered in the bay by skinny-dipping teen Brunhilda (Brigitte Skay).
Her friends are partying in Ventura’s house, when they are picked off, one-by-one by Simon, the countess’ illegitimate son, who has been paid off by the greedy Ventura to secure the bay for their taking. The arrival of another couple of potential benefactors, the countess’ daughter Renata (Claudine Auger) and her husband, Albert (Luigi Pistilli), throws their plan into disarray.
As the body count rises and the allure of the mysterious bay deepens, who will be left to lay claim to the property?
With A Bay Of Blood, Mario Brava has crafted a film which is remarkably before its time. The initial set-up is simple; a group of individuals kill each other off in a race to claim the sought after property of a wealthy old aristocrat, but the execution is such that the audience is kept guessing throughout the entirety of the film’s meagre running time. As the cast pick each other off, it is seldom clear who is killing who, but it is there that the majority of the entertainment lies. The set-up is a simple MacGuffin, and it is entirely irrelevant who is doing all the killing.
It initially appears that each of the brutal murders is a small vignette, crafted with the sole aim of setting up the next kill. The confusing plot is irrelevant - this is cinematic Cluedo without the blind guesses. Any character exposition or expectation of an emotional buy-in from the audience is shattered as the character (or group of characters) that has been set-up as integral to the narrative is swiftly dispatched.
The most startling element of the film is the astounding make-up effects, which rival anything that the torture porn craze of recent years can muster. Characters are hacked, slashed, strangled and impaled, with the machete to the face being a particular achievement. Legendary special effects guru Carlo Lambardi (credited with designing the titular character in E.T., as well as designing the make-up effects in Dario Argento’s Deep Red) has expertly created a series of murder effects (thirteen in all) that both thrill and repulse in equal measure, remaining just on the right side of over-the-top but still entirely believable so that the audience can enjoy the violence without being too repulsed - much in the same way as the equally violent slasher and splatter films of the ‘80s, which were so clearly inspired by A Bay of Blood. This confident approach to the presentation of violence prevents the film from being bogged down by its own slightly convoluted plot.
The characters suffer from either being dispatched too quickly to allow for much exposition, or from being overshadowed by the confusing and complicated plot. Ventura, the suave estate agent is played as equal parts womanizing James Bond and sleazy salesman by Chris Avram, offering a level of comedy to proceedings (whether intentional or otherwise) which lightens the tone - until his true motivations become clear. The group of young people who break into his house for a party are impossible to view as anything other than a tired cliché, until the viewer realises that this film predates anything popularised by Wes Craven or John Carpenter. The scene where the lovers Duke (Guido Boccaccini) and Denise (Paolo Rubens) retire to a bedroom before being interrupted by a large spear impaling them through the bed remains a classic teen-slasher stable, and is often replicated (see Friday The 13th - Part 2).
With A Bay Of Blood, Mario Brava has produced not only his most aggressively violent work, but also his most revered and imitated. Kick-starting the splatter craze of the late-70s and early-80s, this film is bogged down by a slow-paced and convoluted plot, saved in the most part by the astounding special effects and now clichéd but undisputedly entertaining characters. RB
Can you handle the terror of Mario Bava’s Giallo classic A Bay Of Blood?
When a rich countess is murdered, it’s a race to see who’ll inherit her estate, and you can bet that the body count is going to rise rapidly in the process as the plot twists spin wildly out of control. The pile of bloodied corpses is going to get higher and higher as one by one the mangled victims are hung, speared, stabbed and macheted.
Thirteen horrific murders turn the screen crimson with blood. Thirteen corpses float in the Bay of Blood...
Film: A Bay Of Blood
Release date: 20th December 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 84 mins
Director: Mario Bava
Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati, Chris Avram
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: Arrow
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: Italy
DVD Special Features:
•
Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork (Blu-ray only)
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Four panel reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork (DVD only)
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Double-sided fold-out poster
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Collector’s booklet by Jay Slater, critic and author of Eaten Alive!
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Brand new high-definition transfer of the English version of the film
•
Italian cut of the film (original Mono Audio)
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Argento! Bava! Fulci! The Giallo Gems of Dardano Sacchetti
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Joe Dante on Mario Bava
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Shooting a Spaghetti Splatter Classic: Cameraman Gianlorenzo Battaglia on A Bay Of Blood
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Audio discussion with Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All The Colors Of The Dark
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A Bay Of Blood trailers: ‘Carnage’ and ‘Twitch Of The Death Nerve’, with commentary by Edgar Wright (director of Shaun Of The Dead)
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Twitch Of The Death Nerve Radio Spots
