Review

It's the 4th of July in the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland and the small township of Claridge is celebrating the holiday with much water orientated festivities, parades, and apparently a fireworks display planned for the evening. Cadet presenter Donna Thompson is there for a local television network and is finding her job harder than expected. Mayor John Stockman is doing the political thing and thinks his worse issue are a few locals protesting about Stockman's chicken farm pumping poo into the Bay. Luckily for Stockman no one seems aware of the steroids he is using in the chicken feed, and there's the advantage of a brand spanking new water desalination planet to crow about.

Naturally this being a horror film Our town USA is about to experience some bad times as an aquatic menace starts infecting the towns people leading to deaths, outright panic, and the complete breakdown of local services. The State and Federal Governments are quick to close down the town and confiscate any and all footage of the disaster they can get their hands on. Donna Thompson and a number of others are dedicated to bringing to light the events in Claridge on 4th July 2009 when Mother Nature struck back and bitch slapped the locals with gruesome efficiency.

Director Barry Levinson is mixing two genres with The Bay and does so to great effect, albeit with a seemingly unflinching disregard for whom he might get off side while doing it. The movie is a found footage effort, though thankfully we aren't subjected to the usual twenty somethings who would rather view the world through a lens than get out of Dodge when the whip comes down. Equally Levinson revisit's the 1970s style environmental disaster flick that throws a curve ball from Mother Nature at the careless and unthinking human race. While a lot of people dislike found footage, your call on that one for mine it can be effective if done right, it seems Levinson has raised the ire of most haters via taking time out to tell an escalating story, which if you think about it for more than five minutes is pretty much the blue print for most good horror yarns.

Found footage for mine is getting past it's used by date, notably The Asylum has in recent years joined the party which is never a good sign. However Levinson proves there are still movie makers out there that can take this style of film making and kick a goal with it. Generally I'm left with a couple of questions by found footage flicks as the closing credits roll. Firstly who actually shot some of the scenes as everyone left alive and kicking is in frame, was there like another person involved who we hadn't noted previously who was miraculously never mentioned by any of the recognisable characters? And my second question is generally why are people still filming as the brown stuff hits the fan and the blood splatters the walls, queue the really weird ending to Paranormal Activity 4. Levinson by passes the issue by having more than one POV going down to keep things rocking. Besides Donna Thompson and her ever present cameraman we also get CCTV, internet webcams, phone cam, and emergency service surveillance cam. I would actually be quite paranoid if I was a U.S citizen, big brother along with everyone else and their dog are apparently watching you. What it does however mean for The Bay is each and every shot appears to the viewer to be authentic, while maintaining the fiction that the movie is a documentary. Full marks to Levinson for pulling off one of the best faux docos of recent years, added bonus is the movie will retain your interest throughout.

A found footage movie that actually uses the approach to devastating effect

It's been a number of years since I've watched a horror flick that goes 1970s with the environmental disaster coming back to bite the perpetrators in the bum, along with everyone else that gets caught in the fallout. Guess this one isn't sitting too well with the kids, judging from internet comments, would imagine it makes them uncomfortable to think their iPhone manufacture might be contributing to the environmental degradation we are creating. End of day Apple is just another big business laying waste to the natural world in pursuit of increased profits, suck it up kids far from being a company with a difference its a company with the moral imperative of a mining giant. Anyways, and putting away the soapbox for another day, Levinson revisits the 1970s idea of industry polluting the natural world and causing mutations in the denizens of that world. Interestingly there is no real reason given, steroids in chicken feed leading to toxic poo polluting the Chesapeake Bay seems to be the main reason, but we also get nuclear leaks mentioned, and its hinted the disaster may have followed natural sea currents to arrive in the toxic soup the Bay has become. In the wash up the causation was logical enough to have me grooving to Levinson's beat, but the current self absorbed generation may find it all a bit confronting. I'm also ready to admit older fans might find this all a tad more scary and believable than the younger fans who are apparently surgically attached to their facebook pages and think all is right with the world.

What is readily apparent with The Bay is Barry Levinson knows exactly how to construct a horror movie, as opposed to Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and a host of other world be horror film makers who should have never been given a budget. Levinson starts his movie slowly, builds the terror and tension, before unleashing in the final block of the movie with an apocalyptic firestorm that is a tad too real to be comfortable with. We get to know the major characters, become concerned for their safety, and then perhaps are left angered by the Government attempting to cover up what happened. The antagonist is kept off screen till well into the movie, we learn about the dangers as the characters do, but once on screen get ready to squirm, Levinson knows how to unleash the monster to best effect. While there is certainly some gore in the film, it's not the real focus of the movie and gets shown as a result of what is going down rather than being glorified ala Eli Roth. I'm avoiding spoilers here folks, Levinson has surprisingly pretty much created a new monster for you to groove too, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water you can't get pass the lawn sprinklers!

Acting is on the amateur tried and true food footage path of using actors who seem natural, i.e. who don't act. This doesn't sit well with a lot of people who point fingers and whinge about the poor acting, clearly a lot of folk still don't get the whole found footage thing. Of course the acting is bad we're talking faux documentary y'all not cookie cutter tween horror lite. I was digging the actors used here; they actually show a lot more realism than 99% of actors out of an L.A casting agency. Your choice on who you would rather watch, an average looking chick with a weight problem who really nails the victim role or some B grade bimbo screaming on cue.

Since we're talking found footage CGI is pretty much a non starter for ten, thank god. Equally T&A is restricted to Kether Donohue's tight pants, good wardrobe choice right there. I already mentioned there's some blood tossed on the screen right? We do get a score, perfectly effective, but since we're talking a recreate mockumentary post events I'm cool with that.

I put down The Bay as one of my anticipated movies of the year and Barry Levinson nailed the flick having me rocking out to the whole fandango as I was entranced by the developing plot. Levinson delivers a movie where a lot of the action goes on off screen and we experience it via dialogue and communications to excellent effect. There's a feeling of danger inherent as the movie progressively picks up pace, just what we like in our dark diet for mine. If you dig found footage then this is the movie for you, if you like monster flicks then dial in, hell if you like well constructed horror films than show some independent thought and check it out. Full recommendation, finally a dark genre movie this year that nails the requirements of the genre without pandering to the kiddies, thank god someone still gets the dramatic possibilities in the hood. No offense to younger readers, I know a lot of you will enjoy this movie or may not enjoy due to different taste to mine, but please don't jump on the band wagon. This is horror as it should be, unblinked, building the momentum at a good pace, and unapologetic in hitting the right notes. A horror flick for those of us that still view horror as a legitimate art form that has the power to be subversive.