Diary entries forA Bay of Blood
A Bay of Blood
Incrível como Bava e seu Giallo codificou o Slasher oitentista e criou vários códigos e subtextos que a indústria Hollywoodiana usou e abusou até a fórmula secar. A forma como o texto e a direção brincam com tropos e clichês é incrível. E aqui o ponto principal é: ciclo de violência por causa e consequência. A obsessão de Bava por casais trambiqueiros me encanta. Transformar sua história em uma viagem de jovens que entram em um casarão desconhecido e que gera consequências, um filho bastardo que nutre um amor patológico pela mãe e um casal onde uma herdeira quer tomar terras e manchar as mãos de sangue e levar essa sina de forma geracional, onde o ciclo se repete é só a cereja do bolo!
A Bay of Blood
i know this isn’t *technically* a giallo but going back to my love for the titles of those movies, one of the (there’s a few, apparently) alternate titles for this, Twitch of the Death Nerve, is super cool sounding. anyways, the bay was pretty cool looking, good scenery. and on the blood part that was also delivered on. a classic “kill two birds (people) with one stone (spear)” kill in this. perhaps the originator for that type of kill?
A Bay of Blood
What a fucking banger! I had a great time with this. Twisty and ridiculous in the best ways. Some great kills and gore, and my god does the whole thing just LOOK incredible.
A Bay of Blood
The Mario Bava Challenge (http://letterboxd.com/butch_cassidy/list/mario-bava-challenge/) A Bay of Blood is very much a conventional slasher, transfused with the elaborate and stylish direction of Mario Bava. It's also possibly the earliest effort I've seen in the typical slasher genre, having previously concluded that it was Bob Clark's Black Christmas from 1974. However, an early effort does not make it a better film, sadly. The shimmering light that superimposes the bay's water opens the film. Its cinematography is already grand, depicting a very gloom and blue setting. The sun droops down and we're made acquainted with an elderly woman in her big and impressive home that sits near the bay. I should add that she's perched in a wheelchair, a benefit to her murderer. Yup, she's about to die, but in good fashion I will admit. There's a nice zoom that emphasizes the shock and surprise on her face when she sees the killer. The murder is made to resemble a suicide, with a note being placed at the scene and all. It goes to plan, except for the fact that the murderer is unexpectedly killed minutes after, which is done quite baffling and awkward in my view. We're ditched by their dead appearance and in the next scene introduced to a lovesome affair, Frank the real estate agent and Laura the lady he sleeps with, as they discuss the death of the elderly lady, and that all Frank needs is a signature. He wants that damn house. The film's opening twenty minutes are nothing special. It has a hard time grasping a narrative, shifting too many times to a different set of characters which sorely draws the focus further away. It does however begin to entertain when we receive a bigger investment into the group of teens; they've had quite the party at an abandoned shelter near the bay. One girl feels like a skinny dip in the water is a decisive decision, and the other three tresspass a house for its comfort, although the boys are just craving for sex anywhere. I also have to mention that one of these blokes' hairstyle is righteously hilarious - don't forget that the 70s was a historic period of time for hair in cinema. As you guessed, a killer crashes their party, leveling the entertainment at a good stature. The stalker-cam is pretty well flourished and quite effective here. It isn't drained, but used at efficent times. Of course, it's a bit premature looking; don't expect persistently human-like bopping from the camera. It is though an undeniably influential part of the movie. There's a fantastic shot from the killer's POV showing his focus on a spear. The shot begins to blur and as doing so, the spear appears to seep a blood red color, dramatizing his inspection of the murder weapon. The kill that occurs next is very much like a moment in Friday the 13th, solidifying the movie's influence on the American slasher genre. A Bay of Blood kindles the most here, though later maintains a less but still immersing story, especially now that our characters are more familiar. Yet, the ending stretches and drags itself, unfortunately dampening the attention I had to the film. It's also a tad muddled in the plot. But even so, there's a number of confrontations to be somewhat engrossed by, and also a bunch of silly, brutal deaths to laugh or shake at, which let's face it, is a slasher's defining facet.
A Bay of Blood
Reazione a Catena The first slasher movie of the history. period. I can’t remember when I saw the movie for the first time, but it wasn’t the last, and I will watch it again this at some point. For sure, I never forgot the cinematography (the master, the director himself) and the make up (Carlo Rambaldi) that make the images spellbinding and the movie so memorable.
