A Bay of Blood (1971)

The murder of a wealthy heiress by her husband triggers a series of brutal killings in the surrounding bay area.

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Mario Bava (screenplay), Giuseppe Zaccariello (screenplay) (as Joseph McLee)

Stars:

Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso

3 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Claudine Auger	...	Renata Donati
Luigi Pistilli	...	Alberto / Albert
Claudio Camaso	...	Simone / Simon (as Claudio Volonté)
Anna Maria Rosati	...	Laura (as Anna M. Rosati)
Chris Avram	...	Frank
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Paolo Fosatti / Paul Fosatti
Laura Betti	...	Anna Fosatti
Brigitte Skay	...	Brunhilde
Isa Miranda	...	Countess Federica Donati
Paola Montenero	...	Thérèse / Denise (as Paola Rubens)
Guido Boccaccini	...	Luca / Duke
Roberto Bonanni	...	Roberto / Bobby
Giovanni Nuvoletti	...	Count Filippo Donati

Storyline

An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out murder spree as relatives and friends attempt to reduce the inheritance playing field, complicated by some teenagers who decide to camp out in a dilapidated building on the estate.

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Plot Keywords:

inheritance | murder | teenager | serial murder | wife killer | 

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Taglines:

They came to play, they stayed to die.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian English

Release Date:

3 May 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Bay of Blood

Filming Locations:

Fogliano, Latina, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nuova Linea Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min 76 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the re-release titles for this film was "The Last House on the Left Part II", even though this film has nothing to do with Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (1972). In fact it was made a year earlier than "Last House".

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Goofs

The Count is stabbed repeatedly in his back and then he falls on his back and dies. When the killer is dragging him away, there should be a blood trail leading from The Countess to the door.

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Quotes

Anna Fosatti: The clouds are swirling. There will be tears shed over the bay.

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Alternate Versions

The film (as 'A Bay Of Blood') was rejected for cinema release by the BBFC in 1972 and, under the pre-VRA (Video Recording Act) title 'Blood Bath', ended up as one of the original 39 "video nasties" in the UK. The film was eventually released in the UK market on video by Redemption Films in 1994, as 'A Bay Of Blood', after 43 seconds of cuts, that were also missing in the 2002 Film 2000 DVD. The cuts imposed were these:

• The murder of a teenage girl loses 2s in 2 cuts, the first of her throat being cut from behind, and the other of a graphic hatchet blow to the head.
• Nearly the entire scene (21 sec) is cut from the boy's death with a machete embedded in his face.
• Three cuts (total 9 sec) reduce the death of a couple impaled together with a spear whilst making love, blood welling from the wounds, and their writhing bodies in the spasms of death.
• Reduction of 11 sec from a man's death, as he's being forced up a wall by a spear impaled in his stomach. The cuts were fully waived for the 2010 Arrow DVD.

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Connections

Featured in Eurotika!: Blood and Black Lace: A Short History of the Italian Horror Film (1999)

User Reviews

Bava's finest hour and a half

This is one of Bava's few films where everything works. It does exactly what it sets out to do. The minimalistic script makes no attempt at either character motivation or logic, but serves merely as an engine for the 13 bloody murders. Here the main pleasure, as in all subsequent body count movies, is in seeing in which new and inventive manner the next murder will be committed, but as usual, it is Bava's visual style which sets this film above Friday 13th and all it's imitators, as well as a knowing sense of humour and a pounding jazzy soundtrack. Here Bava's style is refined and reduced ad absurdam, with intermittent atmospheric interludes making use of the natural features of the landscape, from slow pans across the horizon, focus pulls through the foliage, and rapid zooms in and out of each bloody murder. It is true that the script loses its footing in the final quarter, unable to maintain the intensity throughout, but that fact notwithstanding, this is one of the finest films of its genre.