1971's
A Bay Of Blood may have slowly wormed its way into being my favorite
Mario Bava film. The last segment in
Black Sabbath is the most artfully shot, and
Black Sunday is his most overtly stylish giallo. But for just being the all around most rewarding film, the one I appreciate more and more with each revisit, it's
Bay of Blood. It's still got fancy photography in spades, from the opulent opening scene of the countess's murder to its inventive combination of zooms pushing in and out of focus. A lot has been made of how this film is a proto-slasher, inspiring the
Friday the 13th series in particular. And it's true, this has some great kills, truly cutting edge for their time, and a high enough body count to keep the grumpiest teenager from getting bored. But it's also got a pretty great, completely wild and utterly entertaining story courtesy of the underrated
Dardano Sacchetti, full of betrayal, passion, plot twists and an array of colorful killers even the
Scream franchise can't match.
A Bay of Blood has had a crapton (to use a technical term) of
releases over the year. Simitar first released a non-anamorphic in
1999, which Image then corrected with their own edition under the title
Twitch Of the Death Nerve
in 2001. I got the 2005 Raro DVD because it had the Italian language
version for the first time, and also a neat little documentary, which
I'll get into later. Anchor Bay released it, and a whole Mario Bava
collection, in 2007, and their were plenty of other DVDs around the
world. Arrow was the first to give us an HD version, releasing their
limited edition blu-ray in 2010. They put out their non-limited version
in 2013; and that same year, Kino released it in the US. And again,
there were plenty of other BDs released subsequently around the world.
But there hasn't been a major progression until now that Severin has
restored the film in 4k and issued it as whopping a 4-disc BD/ UHD
combo-pack.
 |
1) 2005 Raro DVD; 2) 2010 Arrow BD, English version;
3) 2010 Arrow BD, Italian version; 4) 2026 Severin BD English version;
5) 2026 Severin BD Italian version; 6) 2026 Severin BD longer Italian version;
7) 2026 Severin BD shorter Italian version; 8) 2026 Severin UHD English version;
9) 2026 Severin UHD longer Italian version; 10) 2026 Severin UHD shorter Italian version. |
Wondering
why the second set of shots don't always match? It's because that's a
shot that differs between the English and Italian cuts. Different
cuts? Yeah, I'll just briefly explain. Unlike the usual I-horror
title, there isn't just an English and Italian dub track that can be
applied to the same video. Bava actually shot alternate takes with the
actors speaking English and Italian. So they're still dubbed, but the
English and Italian versions actually include different footage, too.
And to be real completionists about it, Severin has released a third
but, basically a second Italian cut that's a few seconds shorter. So
they're all featured here in the comparisons above; though as you can
see the two Italian cuts in the Severin set are identical, picture
quality-wise.
So, okay, beginning at the beginning. Raro's DVD
is anamorphic widescreen at 1.86:1, and obviously taken from a print,
with its strong over-contrast and yellowed colors. And Arrow's
presentation of the Italian cut, though upconverted to HD, is clearly
based on the same yellow transfer, 1.86 framing and all. But their
English version looks much better. It's worth noting the back of their
case only promises a "brand new transfer" of that version. Kino did the
same thing, which is one of the reasons the new Severin release is such
a big deal; it's the first time anyone's made an effort to bring the
Italian version
up to modern standards. Colors are much more natural
and film grain is captured surprisingly well for a blu as old as 2010.
It's matted to 1.89, revealing more on the left side in particular.
But
now of course, we come to the Severin, which we're told have been
restored in 4k "from superior vault elements." I believe that's left a
little vague because the Italian cuts seem to be composite cuts. You
can see how the first set of shots, which uses the same footage across
all three versions, is virtually identical, but the second set of shots,
which has distinct footage between the English and Italian versions,
has a shift in quality. Look how much more faded and orange the woman's
shawl looks in the Italian cut, as opposed to the deeper red in the
English. All three versions are precisely matted to 1.85, now,
tightening back in on the sides than Arrow's, which showed more on both,
plus along the bottom.
But comparing the best of each world -
Arrow and Severin's English versions - this is a clear improvement, even
just looking at Severin's BD. Their colors are better separated;
Arrow's BD doesn't look nearly as yellow as the older Italian versions,
but it still has a yellow hue cast over the whole thing which Severin
has cleaned up. That gives Arrow's version a flatter feel, making
Severin's play as more vibrant and alive. Detail is fairly equivalent
though, until we switch over to the actual UHD. We still can't quite
make out the title of that yellow book on the table in the first set of
shots, but the letters look rounded and photo realistic as opposed to
how pixelated it is on the Arrow.
Raro's DVD has the Italian mono
in Dolby Digital with optional English subtitles. Arrow has both the
Italian and English mono tracks in LPCM, with optional English subtitles
for both versions. And Severin has the all three versions in DTS-HD
with optional subs for all of them.
So the original
Bay of Blood DVDs were barebones, apart from the
trailer or the odd radio spot. Raro's 2005 DVD was the first one with a
real, important extra: a half-hour documentary called
The Art Of Crime,
which got interviews with
Lamberto Bava,
Roy Bava, Sacchetti, the
original set photographer, a couple Italian critics and even
Joe Dante,
who they point out wrote one of this film's very few rave reviews during
its original theatrical release. It's a great piece that fortunately
has stayed with us through future releases. That and the trailer is all
Raro had, but it was enough to round it out to a very satisfying
release at the time.
But Arrow really turned it into a special edition. And yes, they have
The Art of Crime. They also have one of
Tim Lucas's
famous Mario Bava commentary tracks that originated from Anchor Bay's
2007 DVDs. Then they introduce some brand new stuff, including
on-camera interviews with Lamberto Bava, cinematographer
Gianlorenzo
Battagalia. And they conduct a new, audio-only interview with Joe
Dante, and include the two
Trailers From Hell for this film, hosted by
Edgar Wright. They also add two radio spots, though, apart from the
TFHs, they don't have the actual trailer proper. It came with an 8-page booklet by
Jay Slater and a double-sided fold-out poster, with reversible artwork and one of those windowed slipboxes Arrow used to always do.
And now Severin comes with the most loaded edition yet. For starters, yep,
The Art of Crime
is still here, as well as that Dante audio piece. They don't however,
have any of the other Arrow extras. But before you get too bummed about
that, there's a good reason for it. They got all new, better
interviews with Lamberto and Battagalia, which are more focused and are
more professionally shot with HD equipment. In fact, there are two new
Bava interviews, the second one being just about Lamberto's memories of
his father. And they brought back Lucas to record an all new, improved
commentary, where he corrects some errors from his previous track. So,
it's a bit of a shame to lose the
Trailers From Hell, but otherwise it's
all an upgrade. And they've added plenty more, including an interview
with
Nicoletta Elmi, who played the little girl, and a new, much fuller
interview with Sacchetti.
There are also two expert interviews, with
Stephen Thrower and
Stephen R. Bissette,
although I have to say, both of them and Tim Lucas mostly say much of
the same things, covering the film's many alternate titles, campaigns
and release history. It becomes a redundant grind, so I'd recommend
just picking one of the three, and only delving into the others on later
rewatches. Severin also has two trailers - English and Italian - the
radio spots, a brief introduction by Lamberto Bava filmed at some
festival and a brief look at the storyboards.
This
initial limited edition also includes some neat bonus goods, including
the soundtrack as a fifth disc. It comes in a black amary case with
reversible artwork, which is then housed in an embossed slipbox. There's also a
lobby card insert with the CD track-listing on the back, and a
reproduction of the film's original barf bag that was given out at
screenings when it played under the title
Carnage.
Before I leave you, a final note about "V2." Severin's
Bay of Blood
debuted as a pre-order in their Black Friday sale, and it shipped in
2026. But it shipped with a problem. Disc four, the BD with the
Italian cuts, has a replication error, messing with the playback of both
cuts (the extras play fine). It's just the blu-ray version, not the
UHDs, so it's not the worst thing in the world. But for the price they
charge, you expect every disc to work. And they're aware and are fixing
it. Anyone who already has it will be getting V2 mailed to them. If
you don't already have it, though, you have to wait; V2 is currently on
pre-order so it will only be sold with the fixed disc. So if you're
wondering what's the hold up, that's it. But it'll be worth the wait.
