Mario Bava directed the first giallo film in 1963 with The Girl Who Knew Too Much. He codified the genre a year later in Blood and Black Lace. Almost a decade on, after the success of Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, he released his final two gialli, namely Five Dolls For An August Moon and Bay of Blood. In these latter two films it seems to me that Bava displayed a certain reluctance in re-visiting this newly popularized genre that he had created all those years ago. In Dolls he showed his indifference by underplaying the murders, while in Bay of Blood he took the opposite approach by amplifying the violent homicides almost to parody level, in the process relegating the story and characters to even less importance than was customary for the genre. The resulting film could therefore be described as being simply about 13 violent murders. As the credits roll after the final act of homicide, the viewer is left in little doubt that the film they have just witnessed has a very black humour at its core. With Bay of Blood it feels like Bava is subverting the giallo genre. Right from the outset the movie doggedly goes against convention. After the first murder Bava's camera pans up from the feet of the killer to his black gloved hands in a typically clichéd giallo shot, however, Bava then carries on up to reveal the killers face in a move that goes completely against the sub-genre's rulebook. The violence is so extreme in Bay of Blood that is seems like the director has decided to amplify the most well-known convention of the giallo – the murders – to a delirious level. He populates his story with a cast of human ciphers that are deeply unsympathetic and/or ruthless killers. It's a giallo turned up to level 11, so over-the-top it's simply impossible to take seriously. Bava's tongue was clearly in his cheek when he made this one.<br /><br />The story is about a bay whose ownership is up for grabs. Some characters are prepared to fight violently for this bit of real estate, while others are opposed to the potential environmental nightmare that could ensue if either of the warring parties have their way. Then there are some youngsters who get caught in the cross-fire…<br /><br />Irrespective of the director's intentions, Bay of Blood remains a thrilling ride. It's the original body-count movie. There are 13 murders crammed into its 84 minute running time. Each killing is carried out with a different method to the last. And mostly they are incredibly violent. This giallo in particular would go on to influence the American slasher genre. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, because of it's inventive and bloody murders. Secondly, it downplays the mystery element in favour of increasingly outlandish violence. And thirdly, it introduces the teenagers-in-peril theme. This latter factor is because of the section of the movie where four youngsters turn up at an empty villa to party. They are then killed in quick succession by an unseen assailant. Not only are these murders extremely violent but they also set in motion the soon-to-be-standard slasher motive where teenage sex must result in gory death. A German girl is chased by the killer while her clothes are literally falling off and her subsequent death throws are presented with an undeniable erotic charge. While this combination of eroticism and violence is common in gialli, the subsequent double-murder of the teenagers impaled by a spear while having sex is very much slasher territory. Superficially, this killing links the idea of teenagers-having-sex with death that was to become so prevalent in slasher movies of the 80's. But really Bava cannot be blamed for his American imitators only taking one element of his movie and creating a whole genre out of it. The teenager section is just a small, admittedly memorable, part of the film and Bay of Blood for the most part concerns itself with the more traditional older adults found in other gialli and at no other time suggests sex = death. Within the context of the movie the teenager murders are just one other ritual in this extended dance of death, it just happens to be the section that has proved to be so influential to subsequent horror film-makers across the Atlantic who magnified it and based whole series of films around the concept.<br /><br />In the early 70's Bava's films had an undeniable nihilism. Bay of Blood, Five Dolls for an August Moon and Rabid Dogs all either present us with no redeeming characters or display a deeply cynical view of human nature. Bava's giallo killers never have as an impulse the psychological imbalance favoured by Argento for example, no Bava's characters kill out of greed but always with a clear mind. He doesn't seem to have had a very good opinion of mankind, and it shows here.<br /><br />Despite being atypical of the genre, Bay of Blood is technically and artistically superior. As is usual with Bava it's photographed very well, although the mainly outdoor setting limits the application of his usual gorgeous colour schemes. The score by Stelvio Cipriani with its insistent drumming is very good and helps maintain the ominous atmosphere. And although the characters are all fairly cardboard, the cast is good and I did particularly like Claudine Auger's super-bitch Renata. And as for the teenagers, they're hilarious, especially the bloke with the mullet.<br /><br />Though not as disturbing as Rabid Dogs, this is undoubtedly Mario Bava's most violent offering. It went by a host of AKA names, some such as 'Bloodbath' and 'Carnage' were indeed accurate descriptions, but whatever the title, it comes highly recommended as arguably the most influential film from one of the most important horror film-makers ever.