The Bay - After Fear Comes Panic - DVD

Movie: In the bay off the small coastal town of Claridge, Maryland the bodies of two marine scientists are found who had been in the area due to an explosive analysis of the water in the bay. The deaths of the two are quickly shelved as a shark attack, so six weeks later the Independence Day celebrations are unmarred by the tragic event. Young cub reporter Donna Thompson (Kether Donohue) is assigned to cover the festivities. She interviews the mayor (Frank Deal) of the city, observes exuberantly playing children or the traditional crab feast. But suddenly the mood changes. Many people complain of painful skin rashes and the participants of the betting dinner have to throw up violently. The emergency room of the local hospital quickly fills up, where they are sure that this is a particularly difficult type of viral disease. But then the first deaths occur, which even the epidemic center called in to help seems to be overwhelmed with. It is the beginning of a bloody horror scenario, at the end of which in Claridge nothing will be as it once was...

With The Bay, director Barry Levinson now also ventures into the now somewhat worn-out horror subgenre of the found footage film. To achieve the authentic, documentary look, the Oscar winner has staged his creepy tale using digital and cell phone cameras, via Skype, webcams and with surveillance cameras. This isn't exactly new, and it's a little exhausting, especially at the beginning, but in the end, this style works really well, especially in this case. Since Levinson doesn't want to scare with ghosts or other supernatural phenomena, but tells an eco-scary story anchored in reality, the whole thing almost seems believable because of the pseudo-documentary style. Since he occasionally uses clips from real news broadcasts and images of actually existing parasites, this feeling is even intensified.

Admittedly, especially the last twenty minutes then make it clear again that The Bay is only a fictional horror story after all. Nevertheless, Levinson manages to anchor the whole thing so far in reality that the viewer is not only properly entertained, but also stimulated to think. What means are allowed to bring economic prosperity to a region? What are people willing to conceal if they are paid for it? How harmful is factory farming to health and to nature? The film wraps questions like these in a dark cloak, peppered with an ominous underlying atmosphere and some really good shock effects.

Surely, subtle is not exactly how the story's message is presented. The enemy images are very direct, but unfortunately also drawn in an arguably clichéd manner. It is this lack of dramaturgical cleverness that ultimately prevents the film from making any real lasting impression. It is true that it becomes clear time and again that Levinson, director of films like Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam or the also very political Wag the Dog, knows his craft. The horror film is really well crafted despite its intentionally amateurish look. It's also not the first time the filmmaker has tried to mix entertainment and pretension here. Nevertheless, the whole thing seems a little too striking and from the dramaturgical structure too little original to actually meet the director's claim. Nevertheless: if you like found footage films with a good portion of depressing eco-horror, you shouldn't miss this film. Worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The scenes shot with digital cameras mostly have good image sharpness and a very natural-looking color scheme. The recordings, however, which were made with webcams, surveillance cameras or with the mobile phone, always have slight to strong blurring, image distortions or dirt. However, since these are deliberately used stylistic devices to achieve a believable found footage look, these weak points cannot be rated negatively. The sound of the two German audio tracks seems a bit more directional and less harmonious than the English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. But in all three audio tracks, the dialogues are mixed well understandable and here and there also provide a few atmospheric noises and sound effects for goosebump-building surround feeling. Good!

Extras: In addition to an interesting, but unfortunately not subtitled audio commentary by the director, the DVD also has a short featurette (about 11 min.) and the trailer for the film to offer.

Conclusion: With The Bay, director Barry Levinson now also ventures into the somewhat exhausted subgenre of found footage horror. But instead of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena Levinson relies on solid eco-horror, which can come up with a very threatening basic atmosphere and some successful shock moments - and incidentally also a little thought-provoking. If you haven't had enough of the shaky-cam look and would like to see how the stylistic devices of this genre are used for a different kind of horror, this DVD can be warmly recommended to you - even if it will take a few days until you will be able to eat fish or chicken without worrying after watching the film. Recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp