The Bay (2012)
Brief review: Barry Levinson continues to demonstrate his undeniable versatility as a director, showing yet another side of him with ecological horror thriller, "The Bay". While hardly groundbreaking, and slightly uneven, this film is nevertheless conceptually refreshing in terms of both premise and execution. It's cleverly-conceived and successfully blends eco-disaster with foreboding plague and flesh-eating parasites, with the end result being a constant creep-fest, that also hides an important environmental message. The best thing about "The Bay" is the fact that, as paradoxical as it may sound, the movie manages to be forbidding without being actually scary. Even though it's full of gross-out moments of gruesome gore and rotten flesh, it intentionally avoids cheap scares, and relies more on tension and shock value to send a chill down your spine, plus, it's disturbingly believable. Luckily, "The Bay" is more of a mockumentary rather than your common 'found footage' flick, and that definitely works in its favor. Levinson takes the POV shooting style to a whole new level, using an admirable variety of filming techniques and many different type of cameras, such as webcams, car cams, TV cameras, security cameras, and of course hand-held cameras, which are typical for the sub-genre. Thus, he not only showcases his abilities and inventiveness, but also provides the viewer with visual diversity.
Overall summary: It's far from terrifying, and it suffers from quite a few pacing issues, hence, it feels rather incoherent, but thanks to its clever approach at mockumentary horror, "The Bay" still manages to succeed in various areas, and is guaranteed to make your skin crawl.
This review is also featured on TVFilmNews.com
6 comments:
This didn't come anywhere near us (big surprise) but I do want to see it. It does have its basis in reality, although not to this extent of course.
Really? I saw ot on VOD, and didn't have any regrets doing it.
It was very realistic and well-made. I think u might like it.
Web cams? Car cams? Not for me, sweetie. To me web cams are for chats, car cams are for cops, and security cams are for watching for theft. They are not for making films for entertainment. The instant I see something filmed with one of these, I disconnect from the story like a TV being unplugged. To me it's the cinematic equivalent of sitting in the security office at the mall watching the foot traffic on that wall of monitors.
Still, I'll pass this title along to some friends who like this style. :)
Mel, I know you're not very into the FF, but I need to tell you that this is not your typical Found Footage movie. I even think you might like it. If not, pass it along to someone who likes this type of stuff. ;)
Glad to hear this wasn't a total waste of a movie. It looks like it has some promise. I'm hoping to see it soon! Thanks for the awesome review, and yes I'm still alive!!!
HorrO, I expected it to be another lame FF horror, but it turned out something much more than that. Don't expect big scares though.
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