A Bay of Blood (1971)

December 19, 2021 8:12 AM

The murder of a wealthy countess, which was erroneously deemed suicide, triggers a chain reaction of brutal killings in the surrounding bay area, as several unscrupulous characters try to take over her large estate. Mario Bava's 1971 giallo is often cited as the forerunner of the slasher film.

Currently streaming in the US on Shudder.

posted by DirtyOldTown (3 comments total)

This is definitely on the slasher side of giallos. I'm a bit of a splitter so I don't really think of it as a giallo, tbh. Though I do think giallos are sort of a transitory form, usually between like Hitchcockian thrillers and more horror-y type movies, so they're usually slipping off one direction or the other. The jumping-off point of this movie though -- the inheritance, the deformed sinister relative -- is more like an older Vincent Price kind of horror.

It's kind of fun; the ending is a good bleak punchline.
posted by fleacircus at 1:14 PM on December 19, 2021

I'm only part of the way through this right now, but I am torn on what the least realistic part is: these two 30-something men as "teenagers" or the two dudes arguing who "has to" hook up with the hot German girl, Brunhilda.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:52 PM on December 19, 2021

A normal person watching this movie: This is quintessential giallo, mixing noir and exploitation in a visually dynamic format that--
Sean Cunningham, future director of Friday the 13th: Killing hot women in the woods with a machete is dope.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:11 AM on December 21, 2021