The Bay (2012)

Chaos breaks out in a small Maryland town after an ecological disaster occurs.

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writers:

Michael Wallach (screenplay by), Barry Levinson (story by)

Stars:

Will Rogers, Kristen Connolly, Kether Donohue

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nansi Aluka	...	Jaquline
Christopher Denham	...	Sam
Stephen Kunken	...	Dr. Abrams
Frank Deal	...	Mayor Stockman
Kether Donohue	...	Donna
Kristen Connolly	...	Stephanie
Will Rogers	...	Alex
Kimberly Campbell	...	Nurse Rebecca
Beckett Clayton-Luce	...	Charles
Dave Hager	...	Fisher Jerry
Tara Polhemus	...	Teenage Girl
Sean Johnson	...	Teenage Boy
Murat Erdan	...	Mike Radio Host (as Murat 'Murf Dawg' Erdan)
Lamya Jezek	...	Ms. Rosenblatt (as Lamya Reynolds)
Lucia Scarano	...	Marla Spadafora (as Lucia Forte)

Storyline

This "found-footage" film is set in 2009 in the town of Claridge, Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. During the town's annual 4th of July Crab Festival, townspeople become sick, exhibiting a variety of symptoms, which leads local news reporters to suspect something has infected the water there. No one is sure what it is or how it's transmitted, but as people start to behave strangely, and others turning up dead, fear spawns into panic. The town is shut down as government authorities confiscate video footage from every media or personal source they find, in an effort to cover-up the incident. But one local reporter who witnessed the epidemic, was able to document, assemble, and hide this film in hopes that one day, the horrible truth would be revealed . . .

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Plot Keywords:

ecological disaster | water | bay | found footage | environmental contamination | 

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Taglines:

Panic feeds on fear.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent content, bloody images and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The parasitic crustacean depicted in the film is Cymothoa exigua (Schiødte & Meinert, 1884) - as is referred to in a Wikipedia entry briefly shown in the film - described as known as a tongue-eating louse. The female parasite attaches itself to a host fish's tongue where it then extracts the host's blood, causing the tongue to in fact atrophy, to then replace the fish's tongue and feed on the host's blood and/or mucus. In the film, townspeople are - similarly - found with their tongues absent. [Reason: A wikipedia page is shown (c. one hour) into the film which if freeze famed, shows to give most of this information: + the townspeople's (victim's) tongues are not extracted, but absent, inferred eaten by the parasite.)

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Goofs

Around the beginning, the mayor drinks a cup of water. However, he never ends up becoming infected.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Sheriff Lee Roberts: Put that gun down deputy...

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: The Devil Inside (2013)

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Soundtracks

Spoonful
Written by Willie Dixon
Performed by Howlin' Wolf

User Reviews

Makes You Think Twice About Drinking water

This isn't your average, run of the mill low budget "found footage" or "suppressed footage" horror film. The budget is large and the acting is spot on for what is needed to tell the tale. Think of this more as a ecological disaster/thriller than a straight horror film. Reminds me of the nature run amok sub genre films of the late seventies and early eighties. Without any preaching about how we are destroying the environment. As the story unfolds, the tension mounts as does the fear and dread. The horror is amplified by the constant reminder that everything presented here could actually happen or has happened. In fact mid-way through I kept wondering if there was an actual tragedy that this film was loosely based upon. All told the film is well paced, competently shot with solid acting and makes full use of the "found footage" style. Highly recommended for both horror fans and the occasional horror film watcher.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 November 2012 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

The Bay

Filming Locations:

Georgetown, South Carolina, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$19,747, 4 November 2012

Gross USA:

$30,668

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,581,252

Company Credits

Production Co:

Automatik Entertainment, Haunted Movies, Hydraulx

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1