Overview: It redefined the giallo, birthed the slasher genre and remains “the film that changed the face of horror forever” (DVD Talk). Now Severin Films brings 3 separate versions – The English Release, The Original Italian Release and The Italian Re-Release – of this “brutal” (Little White Lies), “disturbing” (Screen Anarchy) and “brilliant” (Slant Magazine) classic from writer/director/cinematographer/maestro Mario Bava to UHD for the first time.

When a wealthy countess is murdered for her bayfront real estate, it will lead to the systematic slaughter of ruthless developers, greedy heirs and bad neighbors. Claudine Auger (THUNDERBALL), Luigi Pistilli (YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM…) and Laura Betti (HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON) star in “a film of unbridled ferocity that still shocks today” (Mondo Digital) – also known as BLOOD BATH, TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, CARNAGE and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT PART II – featuring landmark gore effects by 3x Oscar® winner Carlo Rambaldi (ALIEN) and an equally brilliant score by Stelvio Cipriani (BARON BLOOD).

All 3 versions have been scanned in 4K from superior vault elements with nearly 5 hours of new & archival Special Features and a Bonus Soundtrack CD.

4K Blu-ray Verdict: BAY OF BLOOD (or TWITCH OF THE DEATH NEVER) is a brilliant film. The idea behind it is original and it’s still a one-of-a-kind flick, even if the movie itself inspired a gazillion slashers. Regarded as the granddaddy of slashers, BAY OF BLOOD has a unique concept behind it that none of its duplicators have successfully copied: the concept of people being murdered one by one, not by just one killer but by several killers, in very gruesome ways, all in the name of super dry, jet black comedy.

There’s something surprisingly stealthy about Mario Bava’s approach to the deliberately confusing story. Throughout the labyrinth like storyline, we bounce from one character to the next, never having enough time to get to know the people in the movie to care enough for them and when they are killed, their deaths suddenly take a surprisingly modern twist. Unlike most slashers out there, like FRIDAY THE 13TH or even HALLOWEEN and their endless sequels, many critics have said that in order for the horror element in those movies to work, you have to care about the people getting killed.

Furthermore, many critics have dismissed the whole slasher genre just on that basis: the films are not horrifying because the people getting killed either deserve it because they’re annoying or the acting was really bad, or just because the writing was terrible and the characters were just token characters and it’s not scary to see token, cardboard characters getting killed, et al.

Well, in BAY OF BLOOD, the ingeniously scripted story transcends this. The characters in BOB are not really deep or even memorable but their introduction to us, the viewer, is so quick and their deaths are so gruesome and so sudden and unexpected that the fact we know little about them hardly matters. It hardly matters because the killings aren’t being made by a single killer with a singular reason but by several killers, whom all have a confusing number of reasons (which can all be traced to greed), with few of the killers knowing that others are also killing other people at the same time and as the film progresses, the killers, in turn, also become victims themselves.

This is the brilliant aspect of BOB. People just kill each other left and right in a never-ending succession of blood and violence, each people completely indifferent to each other. Watching this made me giggle and wince. The story cannibalizes itself repeatedly, every ten minutes or so, snowballing into an all-out blood bath. The effect this creates is like being trapped inside a time-loop, in which the same thing happens over and over AND over again.

Combine this with the fact that the story’s actions happens mostly within a brief time-line (except for the beginning, everything happens on the same day) BUT that it also goes back and forth in time, with flashbacks and such, and BOB, oddly enough never feels grounded to one specific time. The killings in BOB feel different than anything I’ve ever seen in a horror film.

Each killing is seemingly detached from the story itself and the film takes an all new unique approach, as the deaths come to the fore while the rest fades in the background. It almost feels like we’re watching the killings happen live. There isn’t a single lone female survivor, or a surprise ending like most horror films (there is a surprise ending in BAY OF BLOOD but it’s not a killer coming back to life).

The acting is good but the cast is mostly anonymous (deliberate?). Except for Claudine Auger, the rest of the cast seemingly all meld together. The location and sets were also good. Only the music was inappropriate at times and the cinematography was sometimes annoying, with Bava’s constant use of out-of-focus shots, which I don’t like at all. However, my favorite scene in BOB is the one when Claudine Auger goes to the bathroom. Woof!

Though I consider BAY OF BLOOD to be brilliant, the film is dated and there’s a certain aloofness to it that even if it serves the story to a certain extent, this aloofness is carried to an unfortunate extreme which makes the film feel not as passionate as it could have been or should have been. I guess aloofness is a Bava trademark, which is one of the reasons why I’m not a big Bava fan, in general.

Except for HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON, I’ve haven’t been impressed by most of his films. Well, BAY OF BLOOD has impressed me a lot and I have to say that it’s probably my favorite Mario Bava film, along with HATCHET. All in all, I think BAY OF BLOOD is a unique, one-of-a-kind gruesome movie. Anyone who didn’t like it just didn’t get it!

Special Features:
Disc 1: UHD (A BAY OF BLOOD: English Version)
Audio Commentary With Tim Lucas, Author Of Mario Bava: All The Colors Of The Dark
U.S. Trailer

Disc 2: UHD (ECOLOGIA DEL DELITTO: Original Italian Version / REAZIONE A CATENA: Italian Re-Release Version)
Italian Trailer

Disc 3: Blu-ray (A BAY OF BLOOD: English Version)
Audio Commentary With Tim Lucas, Author Of Mario Bava: All The Colors Of The Dark
All About My Father – Interview With Assistant Director Lamberto Bava
It Was Just A Children’s Game – Interview With Actress Nicoletta Elmi
Lens Of Blood – Interview With Assistant Camera Operator Gianlorenzo Battaglia
That Will Teach Them To Be Bad – Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of Books On Jess Franco And Lucio Fulci
U.S. Trailer

Disc 4: Blu-ray (ECOLOGIA DEL DELITTO: Original Italian Version / REAZIONE A CATENA: Italian Re-Release Version)
Hallmark Of Horror: Carnage, Death Nerves & Last House Part II – Video Essay By Film Writer Stephen R. Bissette
The Art Of Crime – Archival Featurette With Lamberto Bava (Assistant Director), Dardano Sacchetti (Screenwriter), Steve Della Casa (CSC Director), Franco Vitale (Still Photographer), Roy Bava (Mario Bava’s Grandson), Alberto Pezzotta (Mario Bava’s Biographer) And Joe Dante (Filmmaker)
(Sittin’ On) The Blood Of The Bay – Archival Interview With Lamberto Bava
13 Ways To Die – Archival Interview With Dardano Sacchetti
Bava And The Grindhouse – Joe Dante On Mario Bava
Severin Super-Shock 2025 Intro By Lamberto Bava
Storyboard Comparisons
Radio Spots
Italian Trailer

Disc 5: Soundtrack CD

Included with every purchase of the Limited Edition of A BAY OF BLOOD is a meticulous replica of Hallmark Releasing’s original CARNAGE Barf Bag. CARNAGE – the second film ‘Rated V For Violence!’ – was the original title used by Hallmark prior to their TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE and LAST HOUSE PART II campaigns.

Much rarer than the MARK OF THE DEVIL or DR. BUTCHER barf bags, Steve Bissette – who provides the Hallmark video essay in the Special Features for A BAY OF BLOOD – helped us track down what may be the only original in existence (a huge thank you to owner Robert Deveau!) – for our high-resolution and totally functional reproduction.

Official Purchase Link