听 The title "Bay of Blood" refers to the idyllic seaside setting of a film so filled with brutal murders that it is soon awash with blood. Even by today's standards this remains a violent film. In fact the gimmick used to market this movie in America consisted of a 'Final Warning Station' that ticket holders had to pass in order to gain entry to the screening.
Directed by Mario Bava, the 13 slayings in this film are widely believed to have been a major influence on "Friday the 13th". Bava is certainly credited with inventing the 'Giallo' horror genre with his "Blood & Black Lace" (1964). In that film, models in a fashion house are disposed of in the type of 'stalk 'n' slash' manner that is now so familiar.
In "Bay of Blood", Bava opened up the genre by allowing the various murderers of the piece to become the next victims in an ever-decreasing circle of slaughter. The plot lends itself well to potential carnage with the residents of some prime bayside property slaying one another with the intention of inheriting the land.
There's a fair amount of humour amongst the brutality although the methods of human disposal tend to dominate. Included in the ingenious recipe of massacre are such staple horror movie character departures as decapitation, impaling, hanging, and a charming machete incident. It's all carried off with Bava's usual style and purposeful use of the camera that Dario Argento would later appropriate for such films as "Deep Red".
The film was rejected by the BBFC when it was submitted for classification in 1972. An edited video release (now deleted) appeared in 1994 on the Redemption label but this but an 80-minute version of the film is available on an all-region DVD in America.
