Rating: 
Summary: Bottom of the barrel
Review: This early slasher flick didn't interest me at all. I found it way too confusing, horribly acted, clumsily edited, terribly written and so on and so on...
I like most of Bava's films, but this one is the bottom of the barrel.
My advice, check out any other Bava movie. ANY.
Rating:
Summary: Bottom of the barrel
Review: This early slasher flick didn't interest me at all. I found it way too confusing, horribly acted, clumsily edited, terribly written and so on and so on...
I like most of Bava's films, but this one is the bottom of the barrel.
My advice, check out any other Bava movie. ANY.
Rating: 
Summary: An early gory slasher flick with a mediocre DVD transfer
Review: This is one of the first gory slasher films from the early seventies, which inspired the many films of this type in the eighties. It's a tale of a group of people after a precious land development in a bay, who kill one another for control of it. There are some good effects from that era, especially an axe in a face scene. The ending is surprising, and the film generally has a unique feel to it. The DVD is below average. The picture is not good, and the extras are just factoids on the film. A good horror film with an below average DVD transfer, but it is fairly cheap.
Rating: 
Summary: brilliant, unnerving and classically influential
Review: This was banned in England when it surfaced in the early 70s - even the left-wing Greater London Council wouldn't authorize an 'x' rating for the London Area, something which the GLC often did on the (preposterous) assumption that London audiences were more sophisticated than the rest of the country (!) This great Bava dread-fest languished, at that time, under the title Bay of Blood. I'd heard about it, looked for it, finally caught up with it at the American Cinematheque here in Los Angeles just last year. Yes folks, I'm one of the many ex-pat Brits who left the UK if for no other reason than the absence of the 1st Amendment - LOVE YOUR CONSTITUTION, people - it's something to treasure and honor (Incidentally , Texas Chainsaw Massacre has ONLY JUST - this past year- been given a Rating/License to be Shown in the UK). Back to Bava and his Bay of Blood - at the screening I attended, people left the theater simply shaking their heads in disbelief - LOUD disbelief - and the disbelief was that Cunningham's Friday the 13th could have ripped off Bay of Blood/ Twitch of the Death Nerve so shamelessly. And so INEPTLY. Thus the message is - grab this movie and see a Master Cinematographer/Director - MARIO BAVA - work visual and stylistic magic with a Neo-Jacobean-Revenge-Tragedy -cum-Ngaio Marsh-on-hallucinogenics-plot; here's revenge, lust, greed and the ghastly persistence of Ancient Evil through the Hapless Generations. Get the picture ?
Rating:
Summary: Where's this Mario Bava you hear so much about?
Review: Twitch of the Death Nerve (or is it Bay of Blood? The video box and tape label read "Twitch" but the actual movie credits read "Bay") By any title, this Mario Bava movie, famous for inspiring the Friday the 13th films (or at least the two-for-one impalement in F13#2)is a disapointment. The problem isn't the bad dubbing, or the weird plot (I'm willing to give Bava the benefit of the doubt that the film's multiple murderers were intended to be a study in greed, but let me ask you two things: 1) Should this huge and gory body count be put to use as a criticism of greed? and 2) Can anyone really own a bay?) My second question above points to one of my main problems with the movie - the sound. The mix is so horrible the dubbing actors sound like they're speaking into pillows. The film's real problem is its lack of style. Except for the scenes leading up to and including the murders, there really isn't much to look at. Indeed, when no one appears to be in imminent danger, Bava's napping. Don't get me wrong - "Black Sunday" is a masterwork of creepy atmosphere, and I will remain curious at to Bava's films. But "Bay of the Bloody Twitching Death Nerve" is one you're not missing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Black Comedy
Review: Twitch of the Death Nerve is a black comedy. It finds humor in things that wouldn't usually be funny. Bava toys with the cliche's of the genre. Contrary to other reviewers, Twitch of the Death Nerve was not the first body count film. Bava's own Blood and Black was. I saw Blood and Black Lace before this. This has one of most ingenious giallo scripts, on par with Dario Argento's Tenebre. Without Mario Bava there would be no Dario Argento. Yes, Friday the 13th series did copy much of the methods of death in this movie. The ending is the most obvious bit of black comedy, the others deal mostly with the cliche's of the genre. A superb giallo. This has some substance, dealing a lot with human greed. A must-see for die-hard horror fans interested in tracing the evolution of the genre. Yes, the sound is horrible, but as for the movie itself I give it a very high rating. You have to have a black sense of humor to enjoy this. Those who take themselves too seriously should pass.
Rating: 
Summary: Mario Bava's classic, given a well-deserved DVD treatment!
Review: While this may not be one of the best films ever made and is one of the most confusing at times, it is still a crucial point in Mario Bava's career. It is the film that inspired Friday the 13th, and is probably the first "slasher" film ever made. The film starts with the murder of a wealthy woman who owns a coveted piece of land, a bay that everyone wants to get to get their hands on (hence one of the many titles of the film, "A Bay of Blood"). The murder was committed by her husband, who is killed soon afterward by a mysterious third person. Soon, everyone starts to kill everyone else, all in an attempt at getting the bay for their own profit. Advertisements boast this film for having "thirteen colorful deaths", and they are all colorful-- all in blood red. This film features some of the goriest murders ever committed on screen. But this makes it all the more better a film for gore hounds. While Bava's intentions on the film are fuzzy, this still makes for a good slasher by one of the best Italian directors ever to make films fit for the screen. It was said that Bava's friend, Christopher Lee, attended a film festival just to catch a screening of the film, and was repulsed by it. If it repulsed such a fine horror actor such as Lee, it must be a great film! Image gives "Twitch" a great DVD presentation, and it's even in widescreen! It includes many collectable extras for the DVD collector, and the quality of picture and sound is excellent. As with all Image DVDs, this gets a great DVD treatment. There is another, cheaper DVD of this film under the title of "A Bay of Blood", but it doesn't contain near as many extras such as this, and is probably not even worth the money. This DVD of "Twitch" is well worth the money, so don't worry. Whether you are a fan of Bava's work, or a just a splatter or gore hound, you will appreciate Image's DVD of one of the late entries in Bava's filmography. This DVD is a must own for any collector. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Gets 2.5 for being so funny.
Review: Yes Friday the 13th riped-off the idea, but it did it more effectively, and Friday the 13th was actually scary. This one is just another cheezy slasher flick that tries to scare you with gore instead of suspense. This was however one of the funniest horror films ever made. It's not the first body count film, and is incredably predictable, the acting sux, and the gore is laughable, but then again all gore is. It fun watching people get killed and mamed. Sad to say this is how people of this day and age feel about these types of movies. Instead of being grossed out or disturbed by gore, we laugh at it and find it entertaining to see other people suffer and die. But then again this isn't real so it's okay to laugh. Go ahead buy it it and laugh it. Just don't expect anything special.
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