A Bay of Blood – Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1971
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Franco Barberi, Mario Bava, Filippo Ottoni, Dardano Sacchetti, Giuseppe Zaccariello
Cast: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Anna Maria Rosati, Chris Avram, Leopoldo Trieste, Laura Betti, Brigitte Skay, Isa Miranda, Paola Montenero, Guido Boccaccini, Roberto Bonanni, Giovanni Nuvoletti, Renato Cestiè, Nicoletta Elmi

Release Date: December 20th, 2010
Approximate running times: 84 Minutes 2 Seconds (English Version), 84 Minutes 53 Seconds (Italian Version)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Versions)
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English (English Version), LPCM Mono Italian (Italian Version)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: OOP (UK)

"When a rich countess is murdered, it’s a race to see who’ll inherit her estate, and you can bet that the body count is going to rise rapidly in the process as the plot twists spin wildly out of control." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.25/5 (English Version), 2/5 (Italian Version)

A Bay of Blood comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 43.5 GB

Feature: 20.9 GB (English Version), 9.8 GB (Italian Version)

No information has been provided about either transfer. The English language version has the better looking transfer of the two. The black levels are consistent, and there is an amazing amount of detail in every frame. The one area where this transfer has sparked the most debate is its color palette. That said, it does look different when compared to other releases of Bay of Blood. Most notably, the Anchor Bay DVD release. The transfer for the Italian language version (which has been included as an extra for this release) does not fare as well. The colors look muted and the image often lacks detail.

Audio: 3/5 (LPCM Mono English), 3.5/5 (LPCM Mono Italian)

Each version (English and Italian language) comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English and Italian, respectively. The English audio mix sounds clean with only minimal background noise. It should be noted that the dialog often sounds subdued, while the music and effects sound robust. The Italian audio mixes fares better with dialog as it consistently comes through clearer than it does on the English language counterpart. For this audio track it should be noted that there are some mild instances of distortion. Included with this release are two subtitle tracks: removable English subtitles for the English version and removable English subtitles for the Italian version.

Extras:

Extras for this release include radio spot #1 (1 minute, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), radio spot #2 (28 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), ‘Trailers from Hell’ with Edgar Wright for Twitch of a Death Nerve (1 minute 17 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), ‘Trailers from Hell’ with Edgar Wright for Carnage (3 minutes 56 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), an with screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti titled The Giallo Gems of Dardano Sacchetti (33 minutes 9 seconds, LPCM stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with assistant cameraman Gianlorenzo Battaglia titled Shooting a Spaghetti Splatter Classic (21 minutes 16 seconds, LPCM stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with filmmaker Joe Dante titled Joe Dante Remembers Twitch of the Death Nerve (12 minutes 24 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava – All the Colors of the Dark for the English version, a 4 Panel reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork, a double-sided fold-out poster, an eight page booklet with an essay titled Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood written by Jay Slater and the Italian version of A Bay of Blood (84 minutes 53 seconds, LPCM mono Italian with removable English subtitles, 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC). 

Summary:

The genre that Mario Bava will be forever linked with is the Giallo genre. His 1963 film, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, is widely considered a forerunner to the aforementioned Giallo genre. After directing Danger: Diabolik, the most financially successful film of his career, Mario Bava should have been on top of the world. Instead, he would retreat to the low-budget productions that he was all too familiar with. While there are many fans of his post-Danger Diabolik work, particularly Lisa and the Devil and Rabid Dogs, his post-1960’s output is inconsistent and often marred by their anemic budgets. The one film from his post-1960’s output that has divided its audience the most is A Bay of Blood.

Though A Bay of Blood draws heavily from the Giallo genre, one must not overlook its role as a precursor to the slasher film. which rose to prominence in America in the early 1980’s. In fact, two murders from A Bay of Blood would be recreated, almost shot for shot, in the Friday the 13th film series. Structure-wise, A Bay of Blood is a very loosely constructed narrative that is held together by its numerous murder set pieces. Backstories are only glossed over, and several characters are knocked off shortly after their arrivals. And though there are certainly many interpretations that can be drawn from the story at hand, most of which fall under the seven deadly sins, it is easy to get seduced by the gory murder set pieces and not connect with any of A Bay of Blood’s deeper subtext.

More than any of his contemporaries, Mario Bava could create something out of nothing. For example, in A Bay of Blood, he used camera trickery to make the sparse number of trees located around the main location look like a forest. Another area where his ingenuity came into play was that for most of the tracking shots, he used a child’s wagon. Though Mario Bava worked in a wide range of genres and often with limited resources, the one area that time and again is unmistakably Mario Bava's is his visuals.

Another area where A Bay of Blood excels is in the performances. The cast members are all excellent in their respective roles. There are several recognizable names in the cast, like Claudine Auger (Thunderball), Luigi Pistilli (Your Vice is a Closed Room and Only I Have a Key), Laura Betti (Hatchet for the Honeymoon), and Leopoldo Trieste (The White Sheik). Another performance of note is that of Claudio Volonté (brother of actor Gian Maria Volonté) in the role of Simon, a fisherman who is related to the elderly lady who owns the property by the lake.

A Bay of Blood was one of the first Mario Bava films that Arrow Video released. And though the audio/video presentation is easily the weakest of Mario Bava’s films released by Arrow Video on Blu-ray. That said, this is another solid release from Arrow Video that’s arguably A Bay of Blood’s best home video release to date, recommended.

                                                        English Version Screenshots.

                                             

                                                        Italian Version Screenshots.

Written by Michael Den Boer