Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Bay of Blood is listed as a Mystery, Horror, Thriller film. Well, two out of three ain't bad... this is NOT a horror film, it doesn't really fall into the Stalker genre either because at it's core is a solid Thriller and Mystery... just with lots of gore...The opening sequence is a masterful exercise in creating atmosphere and tension as the director, Mario Bava, shows us the death of a wheelchair- bound woman. Bava gives the audience an uneasy feeling by hinting that something isn't quite right. The elderly woman wheels herself slowly to the window and looks out, though when she doesn't notice anything amiss she starts back into the house. Something catches her attention and she turns round towards the window once again. It's at this point she spots the noose... hands push her towards the awaiting death... as the rope tightens around her neck, somebody kicks her wheelchair away... This is shot in minimal light, though Bava makes sure it's not too dark giving the scene an eerie feeling. This is one of the better opening sequences I've seen in a movie as it immediately grabs the viewer and pulls them headlong into the story... Who is this woman? Why has she been murdered? Who murdered her? These questions get answered but are replaced with more mysteries in the course of the movie.The writers, Franco Barberi and Dardano Sacchetti, and screenwriters, Filippo Ottoni, Giuseppe Zaccariello, and Mario Bava, have scripted a tight murder mystery. As grisly death after grisly death occurs the audience is wondering what is happening as four sightseers are slaughtered. Slowly, the killer's motives are exposed and revealed to the viewers, with a couple of twists in the tale. It's a very good story and I didn't really work out whodunnit until it was disclosed. This was fantastic for me as I usually work out the murderer and their motives well before the reveal.The special effects are extraordinary, even today... there's one scene where one of the sightseers gets a machete to the face, though the kill shot is off camera the scene where the killer pulls it out of his victims head isn't. I must admit it's more than a little disturbing due to the reality of the effects.I'm still not too sure about the ending though. I have a dark and morbid sense of humour so the finale made me smile, though I don't think it quite fits with the film. It also has a feeling of being added to try and give the story a moralistic finish.Should you like murder mysteries then I would advise you to give this a viewing, though you have been warned about the goriness of some of the death scenes.

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.

The film begins with a rich lady being murdered in a rather grisly fashion. Moments later, the next victim dies. Then, throughout the film lots of people die. They might be heirs to the money--at least some of them. But really it's just a film about a guy who likes hacking people to pieces.I noticed that quite a few reviewers liked "A Bay of Blood" and the film is reportedly the first slasher picture. I just thought the film lacked plot and was an excuse to show lots of grisly murders (a few of which look awfully real) and some nudity. To me, this makes this one of director Mario Bava's weakest films--one with little in the way of subtlety and story. As for me, I value story much more than just random people lining up to be ripped to pieces.