 Thanks for checking out this movie review video This is for the 1971 film a Bay of Blood and it's a giallo film Which if you watch enough of my channel know that this is one of my favorite subgenres of horror Just recently got into it though like a year plus ago And I love it. I think it's a great subgenre So let's get into a Bay of Blood which by the way is currently available on shutter streaming service when I'm doing this review and Since this is an older film there will be spoilers for this Directed by Mario Bava who did other films such as black sundae black Sabbath the whip in the body Blood and black lace planted the vampires kill baby kill Five dolls for an August moon hatch it for the honeymoon and the girl who knew too much Oh and shock a bunch of those films. I just named are available on shutter at the moment They dropped like seven Mario Bava films. So go ahead and check that out The only other Bava film other than a Bay of Blood that I've seen is blood and black lace, which I quite like The other thing that you need to know is if you're into giallo and you want to see more reviews of giallo films I have a playlist on my channel for giallo film reviews I will also be creating a playlist for Mario Bava film reviews So at the moment there are only two, but I'm gonna keep working on that. Don't worry This was written by Bava, but also just Giuseppe Vock, sorry Giuseppe Zoccarello Zoccarello who did the laughing woman and tough to kill and Filippo a Tony who did the big black Sour last touch of love and stray days That's just some because a lot of these Italian writers from back then did a lot a lot a lot of scripts and you could see It's very interesting. You can see how the trends Change with the writers because there's like all these war movies and Westerns and pirate movies and then there's the giallo film section and it's it's pretty interesting to look through their IMDb credits for that stuff So the story for this was provided in part by D'Artano Siketti who has a very long resume with Italian horror films specifically giallo and Has worked with all the big names in horror directing and by the way I read an interview with Siketti and he I read it recently in Rue Morgue magazine and he talked crap About a bunch of the directors except Mario Bava who he said he really enjoyed working with everyone else He had a complaint about not Mario Bava Siketti's written scripts or come up with stories for scripts such as the cat and nine tales Shock cannibals in the streets city of the living dead the beyond the house by the cemetery The New York Ripper the scorpion with two tails a blade in the dark Demons demons to demons three the ogre killer crocodile and killer crocodile two once again That's just some he has a huge resume that spans decades many I think five decades Maybe it's crazy and then Gianfranco Barberi also was involved in creating the story for this He's done some films such as emergency squad and shock. So There you go So the little girl in this film by the way, you know There's the boy and the girl who ended up being the murderers in the end Well, some of the murderers because there are a lot of people murdering in this Mainly just one family, but I'll talk about that later But the little girl in that her name is Nicoletta Elme And she actually went on to be in some other big films such as Baron blood, which was also a Mario Bava film Deep Red which was a Dario Argento film at Giala one which I love and I think might still be on shutter at the moment and Demons she's in demons when she's grown up. So she's the redhead. I think the only redhead in demons So it's interesting to kind of see her in all those films This is the film credited with starting slasher films kills from this were actually lifted directly from the film for the Friday the 13th Franchise I think throughout the first two Friday the 13th films there were some kills taken directly from a Bay of Blood and you can see that when you watch the film The most notable one being, you know, the spear through the couple having sex. That's very notable very very very notable The other thing that's interesting to note about the connection between a Bay of Blood and Friday the 13th Is that the note in the beginning of the film, which I wrote down what it says. Okay. Yeah So the countess's suicide note in the beginning of the film says Friday 13th. It is over. I am tired my life no longer has meaning and Friday 13th is in there. So yet another connection They probably took that directly from that film to call the first one Friday the 13th So I think it's just it's interesting to know and for historical purposes to be able to see where all the ideas and style came from for the Friday the 13th films and Slashers beyond that that were influenced by Friday the 13th Then it's just really cool to kind of see that and know where it originated The low budget for this film actually forced more Mario Bava to be his own cinematographer and He even used for the tracking shots a wagon He had the camera put in a wagon and would just pull it around for him That's kind of it's a theme with Mario Bava that he did a lot of low-budget films In fact my neighbor who's into Italian horror old Italian horror was informing me that Mario Bava When he was doing the film kill baby kill He actually ended up running out of money But the cast and crew all stayed on and worked for free because they liked him so much So it's a it's a theme also a theme with people like him No big surprise here. I feel like I say this a lot about the Italian horror films It hit the UK's video nasties list No big surprise there because they were very strict very puritanical Other titles for this film and there are quite a few alternate titles for this film I think this was the one this is a movie that has had the most alternate titles of like any film Ecology of crime chain reaction, which I believe it was released as chain reaction in Italy carnage Sorry twitch of the death nerve and blood bath. I Like a Bay of Blood Specifically because it talks about the central location in the film and the fact that it is filled with blood because so many people are being killed It's and it's basically like a blood feud about the property that everyone's fighting over which is the bay itself So it's that property that bay is steeped in blood So I do like the title Bay of Blood and I don't like the ones like, you know like carnage. It's a little too vague It's a little too Generic in my opinion The music in the beginning is very grand and romantic and then it ends up cutting to the countess being hanged Which I think is such a really cool abrupt contrast because the music is so like romantic and upbeat and flowery and interesting And and then all of a sudden it stops When she gets hanged and it's this kind of jarring shocking abrupt contrast between How you how you believe things were going based off the music and then what you're seeing in front of you with no music Forcing you to look at it forcing you to just internalize it and take it in and just be like Yeah, that happened because the other thing is you don't see it coming and that I love about the beginning of this Plus it just looks great. Let's talk about the fact that within the Residence of the countess it shot really well, you know The use of where the lighting is and where the shadows are looks amazing it just looks so so good and Bava has a lot of style, you know with all of his films He's very good with the style of things and camera work as well And I'll talk about one of my other favorite camera work moments a little bit later You don't see it coming that the killer would then get killed and especially so soon after killing the countess I think that's cool though because it sets the film up for being Unpredictable for you know being crazy because you assume if this happens so quick What else is gonna end up happening? It really gets sets this tone of everything is Possible with the film and I like that about it The guy chasing insects at the bay and the guy catching octopus have introductions that make them suspicious as they highlight killing things for enjoyment although they act there is a little bit of a differentiation there that is Simon Simone, I think is is the guy who's killing the octopus and Paolo Who is the guy catching insects because he has that insect collection? So I think it's one of those kind of small red herring small hints That's supposed to make you think that they might be killers Because the one guy is you know for the enjoyment of it going after bugs and killing them So maybe he could make the step to humans and then the other guy's killing octopus and then they end up having you know Butting heads over it as well. So There's a lot of those moments though where they have like these little things that would potentially indicate to the audience that This person could be the killer lots of little red herrings and I and that's a great thing about the film Because it really keeps you guessing until the end You I mean show me a person who really Picked up on what was really gonna happen in the end, you know, like it's so wacky It's so out of left field that I don't think anyone could have predicted that The film utilize is a lot of primitive sounding drums notice that and I think it works really well Because it also kind of you know goes to like a heartbeat type noise as well. I Like that about the film music in general is good, which you know a lot of Italian horror music is awesome There's a good job done early establishing the family tension that would lead you to suspect These people could end up going to a murder Length to get what they want They did such a good job of just the interpersonal relationships showing tension there showing some, you know Discussed with each other, but then also developing the story the backstory of you know People wanted to count as his property and then they eventually flesh it out too You know being very intricate where so many people wanted it, you know, it was the Countess that You know was her her suicide was set up Actually, I'm not gonna get into that right now because I think I wrote it down a little bit later And I would like do a little more succinct so my apologies on that The group breaking into the house are set up as thinking they can do anything they want Which is what makes their demise kind of less shocking It is kind of one of those things that obviously gets picked up for the Friday the 13th Franchise where you know these wild I don't know if their teens or they look like early 20s like college-age people Are coming to the property. They're you know breaking into the house. They're you know drinking they're dancing They're getting naked. They're gonna have sex, you know all this stuff so that You as a viewer see them as you know, they're kind of wild They're kind of not great people they're breaking some laws here so that when they end up getting killed You're not as much like oh, no, it's kind of more like well They weren't that innocent and obviously like I said, that's something that definitely moves to Friday the 13th I mean that whole franchise is you know if you do bad things you're gonna die So this is you know where that ended up starting When the women's skinny dipping finds the dead body There's a great shot that follows her out of the water when she eventually gets out at the dock There's a shot where it's like at the water level under the duck showing like Through the bottom of the dock where she is and as she gets up as she pulls herself up on the dock The camera moves up with her great camera movement great shot Just another one of those examples of the style of Baba that I love When that lady gets killed it is pretty gruesome when she gets it she gets her her throat cut and Just blood everywhere. You don't really see the level of gruesomeness If that's where you don't see the level of gruesomeness coming for that from that one But it's pretty gruesome especially if you look back now and you're like in 1971 it was that gruesome kind of shocking in my opinion the bill hook to the face which by the way, that's what that thing is that like curved kind of like Machete looking thing. It's called a bill hook The bill hook to the face is a crazy kill scene, but then they up it even more I mean, it's first of all crazy because the guy goes to the door and as soon as he opens his door It's the bill hook right to his face sends him backwards kills him But then they up the Annie by showing it being pulled out of his face and then showing, you know leaving that giant slash Pretty impressive looked really good. I wasn't expecting them to go that far with it, but I'm glad that they did The spear through the couple obviously a good scene obviously like I said grabbed for Friday the 13th but the thing you need to know is that Well, what I thought about it having already seen this film prior to watching it the most recent time it would take a lot of force to put that spear through the two people and I'm assuming that it's the kids killing Those people at that point because the way the film plays out is that they show you if it's not the kids killing Who's killing? But they don't show you if it's the kids killing so I'm assuming that it was the kids who killed that couple having sex With the spear which they would not be able to do because they wouldn't be strong enough to get that spear through two people I don't even think they'd have the strength to get it through one person. Honestly Notice how Palo's wife Anna can't find him right after you see the deaths of the the people partying That's misdirection then when he resurfaces he has some blood on his hand So once again more of these red herrings to get the audience going down that path to think well I think maybe it's Palo Palo did this he killed these people But they do that a bunch of times with different people which I love I love that keep us guessing keep leading Us down these paths Another red herring comes in the form of a illegitimate son that the Countess had who ends up being talked about Who said to have been kept feral? That's another thing that's another one of those little red herrings that's thrown out You know obviously that doesn't come to fruition. I don't think they ever even meet the Or was Simon or Simone supposed to be the that illegitimate child, maybe I don't know Let me know in the comments All the talk of inheritance plans the seed plants the seed as the motive of the murders That is one of those things that they like to do a lot in giallo films where they focus so much on Something that they want you to think is the motive that it's you you start thinking well They're talking about it so much and they're hitting it so hard that this has got to be it Like it's got to be tied in to this motive somehow and in the end I mean it is to a degree because some of the people being killed it had to do with that and everything got Started because of that but ultimately the biggest mystery is who's killing the other people which was the little kids Which you know doesn't really have much of a reason to it and is very wacky for an ending The octopus on the face scene of the dead guy in the boat is a Outstanding visual. I love that when the like the tarp gets pulled back and it's just like writhing on the dead face Very good visual looks great So when we're not a stabs ventura She makes some comments about Albert about taking makes comments to Albert about taking care of things And he then goes and kills Palo This then moves the suspicion from the murders on to them once again another one of these now They're already killing like you see them killing But it moves the suspicion of the murders that you didn't see them Committing on to them saying I will maybe they they did those as well But obviously there's a reason that they don't show Who's doing it in certain instances and show it when they're doing it? And I don't know how many people when they're watching this film the first time have that thought we're like Well, why are they showing them killing some people but not showing them killing other people if that's who it is I Don't remember if I picked up on that or not the first time I watch it probably not but The shot of Anna kneeling near Ventura's body when she finds them with a slow camera rotation looks outstanding I love that. It's kind of like the shot from she's kneeling down It's like a shot from above to the side and then it like rotates around and then that's when it cuts to Anna getting her head locked off, which a you don't see coming and be looks great So that transition is so good And then the transition right after that after she gets her head locked off of the kids Dropping a doll head and it's shattering now. I think that's kind of a subtle clue like a subtle Wink from the filmmakers to say It's the kids who are doing this killing because a head just got locked off. They just dropped a head that broke But a lot of people probably just see it as oh, they're just going to the kids but When you really pay attention it also makes sense as that kind of wink of it's actually the kids because It then doesn't go anywhere with the kids like there's no real reason for them at that point to be showing what the kids are doing especially because The kids are barely shown in the film at all and obviously that's intentional Because I think they want people to forget about them for the most part But just kind of sprinkle them in enough that people will remember at the end. Oh, yeah, these kids actually exist Okay, it was them. So just saying Simon holds the bill hook when he ends up accusing Laura of her and Ventura offing the Countess Yet that ends up becoming another misdirection because someone was killed with the bill hook early on You know the bill hook to the face. I think it was also the bill hook that was used to slice the throat of that first girl So at that point, there's another red herring of well, why does Simon or Simone have the bill hook? Might maybe he's the killer. So it's yet another one of those misdirections So did Naughty Killed the Countess to inherit the property and then sell it to Ventura. That was the plan So you finally get that payoff towards the end of the film of knowing about the events in the beginning of the film with the Countess being you know her her suicide being set up And yeah, did Naughty wanted the property and then he was gonna sell to Ventura and it's this whole Conspiracy of these people who just want the property and Then that makes you think even more up until that point. Okay. Well, this is all Because of this property. It's a Bay of Blood. I Like the shot of some of Simone hanging on the wall with the spear through him not just because it looks good and But because of the way they kind of frame the shot the way they light it with the shadows and the light at play and how far back they have the shot especially with He's like kind of rigid for a little bit and then he slumps on it. I like the little slump It's a nice little touch Because I think that's supposed to indicate the moment that he actually dies because prior to that he you know was skewered onto the wall and It looks like maybe he's dead, but you know for sure like when the actual slump ends up happening Great use of silence in this film when Albert's in the dark And he has that lit match that he's walking around with and he's hearing things because someone's there I love that moment It really heightens that that sense of Tension that sense of dread that's going on and you know if you watch enough of my review videos You know that I'm big with a good use of silence in films The end is pretty wacky when the kids end up shooting their parents Especially after they run to the bay to play and there's this crazy weird upbeat music playing It's kind of like this ending of yay and now everything's great but I think that was supposed to kind of reflect the Mental state of these children because they do make comments to each other about playing a game basically Saying that I think the girl says the boy see I told you mom and dad are good at playing dead So that indicates to you not only were they the ones killing and that's why they weren't actually showing who was killing Some of those people but they also thought it was a game and maybe that had something to do with their parents Because that's who that was, you know the two people who were trying to off other people or Renata and What's the name to naughty? Oh Albert? Sorry Renata and Albert were trying to off family members so that they could inherit the property and That those kids were their kids. So it's kind of this thing of Killing in the family. The other thing to note is to naughty the man who Killed the Countess and made it look like she committed a suicide Was Renata's father. So it's an entire family lineage of murderers Ending with the kids so I don't know if that that's kind of a comment of you know a murdering gene being in the family Which is also used in another giallo film I think by her was it cat and I tails and may have been cat and I tails by Dario Argento One of Dario Argento's giallo films So it was a thought back then in Italy that I guess Jeans could dictate who kills potentially So maybe that's where they were going with this or maybe it was a situation where it's kind of like a the kids Knew that their parents were doing this because they heard them talk about it or they saw them Killing people or whatever so that they decided to get in on it and to them it was some sort of game Because the kids pretty much everything's a game so but it's a wacky ending It's really weird. Like I said most people should not see it coming. I don't think anyone should really see it coming, but you know So once again the way all the kills are shot They focus just on the weapons and work to make it hard for people to tell what angle it's coming from That's another thing and that ends up Helping in hiding the identity of who the killers are which is the kids Because if you showed if you you know intentionally show like the actual angle of people getting killed from It could give away that it's someone much shorter that it would be these kids So notice when you're watching it that they they really crop it So it's mainly just on the weapon and then it shows, you know, the person getting killed the aftermath of it So they had to be very careful about that to not give it away and Yeah, I believe that's that's kind of all I have to say about a Bay of Blood. I do enjoy this film I don't think it's a phenomenal film. I think what I read is that it actually did not do well in Italy But in other countries it actually did do pretty well You know, I think the United States was where it probably did the best per my reading So yeah, but when you look at it from the standpoint of like In the pantheon of film like yeah, it's got some problems for sure and that ending is just like what? But it's fun. I quite like it. So out of five stars with half stars in play. I'm gonna give this one a Can't quite go four stars. I think it's so fun though. Like the kills are so good I'm between three and a half and four if you can't tell I'm going for I'm gonna go for I was thinking about three and a half But no the kills are so interesting. It's a fun film. I'm going four stars on this one So let me let me know your thoughts on this go ahead and put some comments down there Do you love it? Do you hate it? Are you in between? Have you not seen it in which case? I don't know why you watch this but Teach their own But let's get nerdy about it. Let's talk about it. Do me a quick favor though. Hit that subscribe button Very important for me with my channel. I want to keep growing it and I'm very appreciative whenever anyone subscribes That's your best way to repay me Because yeah, I'm just trying to grow this nerdy horror community that I'm trying to create here And if you are gonna gonna do that also hit the notification bell Button because then that way you'll know anytime I'm putting up a new movie review or doing an unboxing or doing a live stream or I do some other one-off videos And yeah, I'd appreciate that so regardless though Thanks for taking your time and check this out and until next time keep it brutal