Wonderfully offbeat film!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This film was directed by Italian filmmaker, Mario Bava, who has apparently made other horror films prior to this. This being the first one I have seen of his, I wasn't expecting much from it, except for it to be good, or at least entertaining. So after watching it, was it either of which? Not really, to be honest. I would summarize the premise ... if I knew what the hell it was. It does start off pretty well, but that's only one of the positives. The kill scenes (some of them) are pretty disturbing; however, most (if not all) of them leave no impact whatsoever. I would also add that I found not one character interesting.But what truly aggravated me was each scene with the four supposed teenagers. As soon as they appeared on screen, I assumed that we would get depth out of at least one of them. But nope, they were just there to be murder victims. I would call it pointless, but what pi$$ed me off the most was the lake scene; those who've seen the movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You could argue that, because of a scene like that, of course it had to happen. Honestly though, I was really hoping otherwise, specifically that it would lead to something. But again, nope, because wishful thinking's a b*tch. It shouldn't really be a surprise though, as that particular sequence is on the cover of the movie.

Generally credited as the inspiration for most of the slasher and serial killer movies in the next 70's and 80's, Bava's "A Bay Of Blood" isn't perfect by any means, but is well worth your time to take it in at least once, if you can.Whereas most of the films it inspired keep things simple (one killer, a bunch of nubile young victims, various gimmicky shocks and inventive ways to skewer and maim them), "Bay" distinguishes itself by having multiple killers, bright, crisp photography, and a whole lot of off-putting or unlikable characters who each get a brief moment of "stage time" before they dispatch each other in various jarring and startling ways. Mostly I think what makes Bava better than his imitators is his timing and setups - he knows just how long to focus in on his characters and just how much "humanity" to imbue them with before they get shuffled off this mortal coil. Saw it once, don't feel the need to ever see it again, but I thought it was pretty darned good.

A bizarre hanging death, followed by the hangman's own murder immediately afterward, begins this typically atmospheric giallo, basically a weird black comedy disguised as a horror.The action occurs at a home on a bay, where A kills B, and is subsequently killed by C, who falls victim to D, etc. in order to gain possession of the home. Convoluted and confusing, this looks good, with beautiful colours and lighting give the film an occasionally abstract look, but it becomes repetitive and pointless as characters are unmemorable, and they are introduced only to be killed, and their killer is murdered shortly after. Rinse, wash, repeat for the entire film.The deaths are well done, so horror fans get what they're here for, with a machete to the face, among other things, redone by the Friday the 13th films, which started eight years after this film's release.Another memorable bit has good looking Brigette Skay swimming nude, while we are expecting someone to attack her or pull her under, only to have a recent victim float past while she isn't paying attention, brushing against her thigh, and causing her to panic.But again, it is so repetitive, that my mind wandered in the second half, and I wondered if they were just making this up as they went along.This film was later reissued as The Last House On The Left, Part II, despite the fact that it has nothing to do with it, and was released a year before Last House on the Left. At least that film stuck in my mind, for better or worse. I've already forgotten a lot of this one.

Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)**** (out of 4)Mario Bava's landmark film can now be considered one of the very first slashers and of course a major influence on Friday THE 13TH. The film takes place at a lake-side resort where a variety of people are brutally slaughtered by an unknown maniac. Also known as A BAY OF BLOOD and a dozen other titles, this Bava film mixes the giallo with what would become known as the slasher and the end result is certainly something special and ground- breaking. To say the film was a major influence on the genre to come would be an understatement because there's simply so much going on here that other filmmakers would steal from. Obviously there's the graphic violence, which is scattered throughout the film and this is what got the movie its original reputation. The effects are quite ghastly for their time and especially a couple throat slashings, a memorable beheading and of course a sex scene where two victims are offed at the same time (and later stolen in Friday THE 13TH PART 2). The film is also quite sleazy with not only the gore but a fair amount of nudity and sex. This certainly wasn't the first film to use sex and violence but Bava really puts his own spin on it because the movie just feels so dirty. I say that in a good way because the director adds a certain poetry to the death scenes and he also lingers on them for long periods after the victims are stabbed or whatever else their fate is. Instead of cutting to the next scene Bava just keeps the camera on the victims as they take their last few breathes and this here is quite effective and at times ugly. The film is certainly far from flawless as some of the performances aren't all that impressive and the director goes for way too many zoom shots. With that said, there are enough twists in the story for ten movies and it's constantly catching you off guard. No matter what you call the film there's no question about its importance to the genre and it ranks as one of the best in Bava's career.