Customer Reviews

Bay of Blood

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Bay of Blood (AKA Twitch of the Death Nerve), a 1971 film by Italian horror director Mario Bava, is often called the "Grandaddy of all slasher movies". Many reviews have made the reference to Friday the 13th and very similar killing styles. After watching "Bay of Blood" you can definitely see where "Friday the 13th" (made in 1980) got a lot of it's ideas. One scene, where two teens are getting 'hot and heavy' the killer comes in and, with a spear, stabs both of them with the camera showing the spear going through the bottom of the bed. "Friday the 13th part 2" uses the EXACT killing scene in a similar situation.

With that being said "Bay of Blood" does not possess the single element that defined the slasher film, the indestructable, omnipresent killer. Ignore the synopsis, it has next to nothing to do with the college kids. This film is about greedy family members trying to aquire a wealthy piece of property [The Bay] and doing whatever it takes to get it.

The movie succeeds almost entirely thanks to Mario Bavo, who serves as both director and cinematographer, with his typical stylish flare which heavily influenced the great Dario Argento, his eye appealing use of color and interesting editing techniques, which include a lot of blurry dissolves give "Bay of Blood" an almost dream-like, surreallistic feel.

"Bay of Blood" could certainly be credited with starting the slasher film craze. However, I wouldn't go as far as to call it "The grandaddy of them all". All and all worth an evening for the avid Italian horror fan.

I usually interpret criticisms of sound quality as coming from people who are hard-core audiophiles with unreasonably high expectations. In this case, the criticisms are absolutely valid. I can't even really tell you the plot of this movie (at least based on the dialogue), because I could hardly hear a complete sentence. It was an abyssmal experience to say the least, by the end I had a headache from turning the volume up and down so many times.

I agree with the reviewer who felt betrayed by Image for releasing this DVD. They indeed should have eaten the loss and tried again. This is a full-on defective product and I don't think Amazon should even offer it for sale.

Simitar video's transfer to DVD of this classic slasher film is nothing short of an abomination. The picture quality is inferior to my VHS print. Amazon have the aspect ratio as 2.35:1.It is 1.77:1 at best!

Terrible picture and audio quality on this DVD mar Bava's pioneering effort. The transfer is just the pits, I'm sorry to say, and takes away from the film's enjoyment.

There's rumored to be another release of this coming from the same folks who recently released "Black Sunday", with which they did an excellent job. Wait for that, and pick up "Black Sunday" or "Baron Blood" in the meantime.

Bava's "Twitch" was the first "body count" horror film and it's release on DVD by Image has long been awaited. Unfortunately, there are serious problems with the sound. The audio is extremely tinny and much of the dialog is incomprehensible. Many dialog scenes are so low that I needed to raise the volume up ALL the way (something I have never had to do on viewing over 500 DVD's) while some scenes are so loud and overmodulated that they crackle and reverberate. You will need to have remote in hand throughout the whole film because it's either way too low or way too loud and you'll be hitting that volume button constantly. And none of the sound feels "real"...it all sounds like it has been run through some kind of electronic filter. This is not just a "minor" sound glitch - it's truly bad ...I don't need 5.1 or surround sound - I just want to be able to hear and understand the film! I have not viewed the prior DVD released by Simitar, but from what I've heard, the audio was fine (although the picture apparently was not). And the audio on the old VHS release from Gorgon Video was fine as well. It's truly a shame that this important DVD release has been blotched by haphazard mastering by Image.

The film itself is a lot of fun (part giallo, part gore flick) and was the first to introduce the now common "body count"....if you though "Friday the 13th" was the first, think again. There are so many plot twists in this one as well that new viewers may need to have a scorecard to keep up with it. The complexity of the narrative is also hampered by the atrocious sound. Keep that rewind and volume button because you'll want to hear all of the muffled dialog. And the dialog is critical.

The DVD also has a couple of radio spots, a bizarre trailer for the film (under it's "Carnage" title), a menu to access the 13 murders directly, and trailers for other Bava DVD's from Image. Wish they would have spent more energy on the film itself. The image is fine and crisp, and although there are scratches and other defects sporadically throughout, it is still very satisfying. The audio, however, is unforgivable. Is there no quality control during mastering? This is not a source problem...it was obviously a mastering error. Hello Image - what gives? Can you hear me??????

First let me say I love this movie and have been waiting for a good dvd release forever. First I bought Simitars dvd and was disappointed with the video. It looked like it was dubbed off a bad vcr tape but the sound was ok. I was excited to see Image release this. I bought it and was very disappointed when I first played it. The video was beautiful about 10 times better than Simitars. But the sound was 10 times worse. The dialogue was either way too low or way overmodulated. You couldn't understand what the people were saying because youy had to either turn the volume to maximum then hurry and turn it back down before the overmodulation in the actors voices blew your speakers. I am not kidding when their voices raise it may damage your speakers. I love the movie but am warning you not to buy this or you may be very disappointed or angry.

Italian director Mario Bava (1914-1980) is one of the giants of the horror film genre. Bava's big break into came with his 1960 black and white classic "Black Sunday" starring Barbara Steele. This was only the beginning, as Bava churned out a series of gruesome shockers over the next seventeen years. His films always promised great style mixed with scenes of murder and mayhem. The Bava legacy continued with son Lamberto, one of the guiding lights behind "Demons," an instant cult favorite with gorehounds worldwide. Perhaps Mario's biggest contribution to horror movies was his 1972 picture "Twitch of the Death Nerve," also known as "Bay of Blood." It doesn't take too long to realize "Friday the 13th" shamelessly cribbed from Bava's bloodbath. At least two of the murders in this film appear almost unchanged in the first installment of the Jason Voorhees franchise. That's right: Mario Bava gave birth to the modern slasher film.

The Countess Frederica Donati is a wealthy woman who owns most of the land around a beautiful bay. It is quite unfortunate for her that there are many people interested in gaining control of the land in order to build shopping malls or a resort then in keeping the bay in pristine condition. Donati refuses to sell out her interest, however, and this sparks a jealousy and greed with tragic consequences for anyone in the area. Someone will have Donati's land, even if they have to murder anyone who gets in their way. The first murder (there are ultimately thirteen of themring any bells? Remember the trailer to the original "Friday the 13th" trailer that counted up the murders?) claims the countess herself, strung up with a noose in a particularly cruel way. Throw in a greedy lawyer and his secretary, an illegimate son who fishes for squid in the bay, a nature lover and his loony, tarot card reading wife, a quartet of kids looking for some fun, and a family of four with a personal stake in the disposition of the bay's land and you have the makings for a non-stop blitz of murder and mayhem. Just when you think you know who the murderer is, Bava throws a curveball and reveals a little more of the background concerning the struggle over Donati's inheritance. By the time you get to the conclusion you have no idea where this thing is going to end up. I am still shaking my head over the last minute of the film, trying to decide if what I saw is the most ridiculous ending in film history or one of the most brilliant. "Twitch of the Death Nerve" may have loads of graphic killings, but it also has one of the most convoluted plots in horror film history.

The secondary elements of the film, namely gore, atmosphere, and acting, are all well done for this type of movie. You don't often expect great acting with Italian horror films, and you don't exactly get that here, but it is above average. The atmosphere is spectacular, with lots of fade-ins and outs, excellent use of colors, and an oppressive sense of doom hanging over the entire movie. "Twitch of the Death Nerve" is definitely not made by some yuck with a video camera looking to make a few bucks on the straight to video market. Mario Bava knows how to craft atmosphere and scenery, and he does a great job here. The gore is slightly more problematic, with some scenes really working while others looking decidedly cheesy. Still, the intention is here, as the film possesses a streak of cruelty not seen in many horror films.

The biggest difficulty in watching "Twitch of the Death Nerve" falls squarely in the lap of Image Entertainment, the company that released this DVD version of the film. The extras aren't the problem, as there are enough goodies here to satiate every horror aficionado. Image throws in a "murder menu" where you can go straight to the grue, a funky trailer for the film under the title "Carnage" that is one of the most inventive movie trailers I have ever seen, two cheesy radio spots, a biography and filmography of Mario Bava, and trailers for SIX other Bava films released under the Image banner. How can it all go wrong after such a bonanza? It's the sound, my friend. The audio for the film is the worst I've ever heard on a DVD. Dialogue is tinny, drops out with cringing regularity, and then swells up so much I feared my system would explode. In fact, I thought my sound system wasn't working correctly until I saw other reviewers complaining about the sound on the DVD. I cannot imagine any company releasing a product with audio this bad. There is a "Bay of Blood" DVD released under the Scimitar label that supposedly has good audio, but the picture quality on that disc is reportedly mediocre. If we can find a way to transfer that audio track to this disc's picture quality (which is pretty good with a minimum of grain), maybe "Twitch of the Death Nerve" would be the total package. Yes, the audio is THAT bad! What a shame, too. The soundtrack for this film is excellent, with lots of drums and orchestral movements that really add a suspenseful element to the movie.

I'm looking forward to seeing other Mario Bava films in the future, hopefully with better sound quality than this. Mario was quite the technician with his films, not only sitting in the director's chair but working on the special effects and scripts as well. He's probably rolling in his grave right now over Image's mutilation of his movie.

I looked forward to this release for a long time, having just missed out on getting the "Bay of Blood" version and being interested in seeing the film that inspired so many rip-offs in the early 80s (especially Friday the 13th - shot for shot in one sequence). I sat down with some expectations, but not too many and what I got was a very boring, killer film with a few excellent setpieces.

The film kicked off brilliantly and the first ten minutes were quite something, but then the plot kicked in and the film bogs down and then bogs down some more as we are introduced to a variety of cardboard characters that youn couldn't give a ---- about. It was interesting to see Bond Girl Claudine Auger 7 years on from "Thunderball" though.

Being Bava, this has some great sequences (opening titles, the deaths, and an awesome scene involving a nude girl, swimming and some fishing line), the music too is really moody yet cruisy, and the killer is not your usual mad-slasher variety. However, the audio on the DVD is AWFUL!! Characters sound like they're whispering and you turn the volume up, only to have them start shouting and almost shatter your living room windows. The print isn't bad (Not great though), and it has some good extras like an Acid Drenched 70s trailer etc, and best of all a death menu (where you can access all the deaths in the film at a push of a button), but really you can save your money and go and buy a better film than this. Historical curio only.

The movie is classic Bava and Image's widescreen transfer looks great. HOWEVER! The soundtrack is abominable. As others have said, you have to constantly turn the volume up and down to hear what's going on. But in way too many scenes, the volume doesn't matter because the sound is so choppy and distorted you can't hear it at any level. Image should've eaten the loss and passed on releasing this DVD to its loyal fan base. As a consumer, my faith in Image is now shaken and who knows what crap they may push in the future? I know it's only one disappointment in a history of prestige, but I remember the first time I saw commercials on cable channel AMC. Twas the beginning of the end.

First, I must say that this film has its own place in history of horror film,but I was expecting something another.First half hour is excellent with bloody murders of the teenagers,but then you dont expects so many killers,motives,and strange music.
I dont say that this film is SO bad,but there is so much better Italian horrors out there.