Part of Midnight Movies
After having established the giallo genre with BLOOD AND BLACK LACE in ‘64, Mario Bava once again forever altered the horror landscape with A BAY OF BLOOD in ‘71. This primal scream of a film doesn’t merely hint at what’s to come later in its decade with TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and HALLOWEEN. Rather, it bursts onto the scene as *the first slasher*, fully formed, without threadbare hallmarks of anything labeled with the “proto-” prefix. A BAY OF BLOOD seriously delivers the goods in the slasher thrills department, and was the source material for two of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2’s greatest kills — this thing’s even set at a lakeside cabin (hint, hint!). Whether you’re a first-time or repeat viewer of A BAY OF BLOOD, you owe it to yourself to luxuriate in this newly-restored masterpiece.
“The film’s baroque body count is nearly matched by the sheer number of its killers, in a pass-the-parcel clusterfuck of conflicting interests and crossed purposes that would have done the Coen brothers proud had they been old enough to watch this in 1971.” —Anton Bitel, Little White Lies