SusannahTwitch of the Death Nerve on DVD (1971)
November 4th 2006 05:50
Twitch of the Death Nerve on DVD – 1971 (aka: Bay of Blood)
Italian Title: Reazione a Catena
Dir: Mario Bava
Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso.
This is a real corker of a horror film that manages a body count of 13 in under 90 minutes. How does it do this? By having nearly every cast member featured getting gruesomely murdered, oh, and having four different murderers. That’s right, four.
But don’t worry, there is a plot as well. We know we are off to great start when the film begins with the murder of a rich old lady, whose killer is revealed, before subsequently getting offed himself by an unseen assailant. It turns out that the old lady is an incredible rich Countess who owns the bay in Italy in which the film is set. The various motives of the killers are revealed in a series of surprisingly intricate flashbacks in the third act, with everyone wanting a piece of the inheritance the Countess had to leave, including her husband who murdered her.
The film is all in dubbed Italian with lots of hallmarks of seventies cinema including random zooms in and out, a psychedelic moment of shock, and ridiculously short skirts that the actress cannot even stand up in, let alone bend over.
The killings are also good value. The four young people in it only feature in order to die gruesome deaths. Some of the highlights of the thirteen murders – yes, I counted them – include a cleaver to the face, decapitation, and two people shagging getting impaled together. The cleaver and impaling of two were so good they were ripped off by the Friday The Thirteenth series.
This movie is a lot of fun. It even has a blackly humorous and ironic ending. Good for a movie night with friends. The DVD also features the original trailer: get used to seeing the word “Carnage”; seriously it is in the trailer, like, eight times. There is also a special Murder Menu which takes you directly to the death scenes so you can relive all the best moments over again.
Italian Title: Reazione a Catena
Dir: Mario Bava
Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso.
This is a real corker of a horror film that manages a body count of 13 in under 90 minutes. How does it do this? By having nearly every cast member featured getting gruesomely murdered, oh, and having four different murderers. That’s right, four.
But don’t worry, there is a plot as well. We know we are off to great start when the film begins with the murder of a rich old lady, whose killer is revealed, before subsequently getting offed himself by an unseen assailant. It turns out that the old lady is an incredible rich Countess who owns the bay in Italy in which the film is set. The various motives of the killers are revealed in a series of surprisingly intricate flashbacks in the third act, with everyone wanting a piece of the inheritance the Countess had to leave, including her husband who murdered her.
The film is all in dubbed Italian with lots of hallmarks of seventies cinema including random zooms in and out, a psychedelic moment of shock, and ridiculously short skirts that the actress cannot even stand up in, let alone bend over.
The killings are also good value. The four young people in it only feature in order to die gruesome deaths. Some of the highlights of the thirteen murders – yes, I counted them – include a cleaver to the face, decapitation, and two people shagging getting impaled together. The cleaver and impaling of two were so good they were ripped off by the Friday The Thirteenth series.
This movie is a lot of fun. It even has a blackly humorous and ironic ending. Good for a movie night with friends. The DVD also features the original trailer: get used to seeing the word “Carnage”; seriously it is in the trailer, like, eight times. There is also a special Murder Menu which takes you directly to the death scenes so you can relive all the best moments over again.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Much like Argento the visual style and thick as can be atmosphere make it more than just another horror film.