Film Road to Halloween: A Bay of Blood (1971)

The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 61 days to go.

With Halloween coming up, it is never too early to prep your video watch list for eminent festivities. Chances are there will be one or two slasher movies on those lists. Either Halloween, Friday the 13^th, Nightmare on Elm Street, or Scream (for the cynical members of the crowd). One cannot be blamed for thinking that the slasher trend was a creature of the 1980’s.  

When Mrs. Voorhees was revealed to be terrorizing Camp Crystal Lake (it’s best not to think about the logistics and how impossible it is for her to be the killer, but I’ve already ranted out that on YouTube!), still mentally bend over the death of her son, slasher movie after slasher movie was made to cash in the success of that film. The movie was made on the miniscule budget of over half a million dollars. It took almost 60 million at the box office.

Filmmakers and Producers aplenty saw gold in them their gorefests. Here’s a sample of the many slashers that followed: Prom Night, Terror Train, He Knows You’re Alone, New Year’s Evil, Don’t Go in the House, Don’t Answer the Phone, Anthropophagus, My Bloody Valentine, The Burning, The Prowler, and so on. Cash-ins and knock offs are a universal language in the world of film production.

More from the Film Road to Halloween: Carrie (1976)

But, to let Friday the 13^th take the lion’s share of the credit would be disingenuous. If you go back nine years before the release of Friday the 13^th, you’ll find a film that, at the time, was the prototype for the slasher film, much in the same way Jorge Grau’s Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, Don’t Open the Window – silly American titles!) was the prototype for the Italian Zombie Movie. That film would be none other than Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood.

As with Italian films, different territories offered different titles. You may find A Bay of Blood available under such alternative titles as Carnage, Twitch of the Death Nerve, and Blood Bath. Some markets even advertised it as a sequel to the Wes Craven classic, Last House on the Left, calling it Last House, Part II.

What’s the movie about? Well, if you’re up on your Italian horror, that doesn’t matter! If you want a plot, here goes: A land developer wants to buy the grounds under the ownership of a wealthy heiress. She refuses to sell, only for her to be killed by a black gloved killer (a staple of the Giallo). But, quickly, her killer is revealed to be Walt Disney. Seriously, look at the guy! It’s Walt Disney. Soon, Walt is killed in sudden fashion himself by an unknown killer. What follows is a battle royal between those who want to claim the land, and the money to be made from the transaction, for themselves. Let’s admit it, this is what Rat Race should have been!

More from the Film Road to Halloween: Videodrome (1983)

There’s not a lot to compliment regarding the acting. No one sees these movies for the acting. I will say that there are a lot of repulsive characters. Yes, they deserve to die and I hope they burn in Hell! The ending comes out of nowhere, but is as fitting an ending you could ask for in this film.

Why am I connecting Friday the 13^th with A Bay of Blood? Because without A Bay of Blood there would be no Friday the 13^th, whether Vic Miller or Sean Cunningham want to admit it. A victim in A Bay of Blood gets a bellhook to the face in the same manner and cinematography as Marcie gets an axe to the face in the camp bathroom.

In Friday the 13^th, Part II, a couple is in bed together and they get kebabed by a spear. Meanwhile, 10 years earlier, Bava and effects artist Carlo Rambaldi had the exact same scene, and executed it even better. Instead of a few quick edits, they had the spear stabbed through the couple and let the camera stay on the couple as they struggled in their final moments of life.

The cinematography by Bava would be mirrored by Barry Abrams in Friday the 13^th. After a scene of mayhem and murder, Bava would cut to the surrounding environment. The dichotomy of the serene forest area with the quick violence are pivotal to the pacing of this film. #BavaDidItBetter #RambaldiDidItBetter

More from the Film Road to Halloween: Death Proof (2007)

Oh, and the influence is not just on Friday the 13^th either. There is a shot of a squid, arms wrapped around the head of a corpse. A shot that would be replicated in Ridley Scott’s Alien, which also featured the special effects work of Carlo Rambaldi. Not just Alien, but also in the slasher gem, Sleepaway Camp.

We need to address the fantastic music score by the underrated maestro, Stelvio Cipriani. He often gets overlooked when compared to the likes of Ennio Morricone, Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, Richard Band, etc. Yet, the man has his share of classic genre scores: Nightmare City for Umberto Lenzi, Highway Racer for Stelvio Massi. A Bay of Blood is a schizophrenic mix of mystique, lightheartedness, and one of the most infectious end credit music pieces ever!

If you want to eschew the common selections of Halloween viewing, and be a little more bold, I highly suggest A Bay of Blood. It is the film that every slasher movie in existence should call, “Daddy!” If that’s not enough to convince you, here’s a true story:

At the premiere of A Bay of Blood, Christopher Lee was in attendance, having previously worked with Bava on The Whip and the Body. Christopher Lee left the film in protest for the shocking violence presented on-screen. Christopher Lee, with all that he has seen and done, was sickened by a proto-slasher movie. That’s got to warrant a watch, don’t you think?