The Bay

This 80-minute montage of fictional reporting that is about as inventive as a half-hour TV report on the evening news, except it’s fictional and thus has no impact on the viewer at all. No reoccurring characters, no surprises or frights. In the 1970s, The Bay would have been noteworthy as the first representative of this particular subgenre, but today it’s just an insignificant DVD title with an alluring cover. A very weak two stars. (15.10.2014)

Barry Levinson also employs shots where we see nothing; the image freezes, and the camera doesn’t capture anything visible, creating only a sense of dread. A few years ago it was a complete bombshell; now it’s just another film that blends into a series of similar ones, standing out only for its slightly better execution and development of the story, where you feel like it’s really happening. (26.11.2013)

I can rationally appreciate the interesting concept and its good and convincing execution, but The Bay can’t entertain me just with that. Due to its report character, the film doesn’t work as horror, and doesn’t even try to, it’s wannabe unsettling, rather. I don’t know, I didn’t get much out of it. I prefer a real documentary about real problems or a normal horror flick about parasites. (16.11.2012)