I realize I have decidedly put my foot, firmly in the ground in defiance to the use of shaky cam, found footage movies in Hollywood. Lazy filmmaking at its finest is all I have to say and frankly executives practically jizz themselves at the words “found footage” and “shaky cam”. I will admit that there are some exceptions to the rule with some incredibly novel concepts that yield some gold from the idea. V.H.S and Chronicle both ended up being really enjoyable flicks that otherwise wouldn’t have gotten made if it weren’t for the two aforementioned words that Hollywood loves. Today, no thanks to a trailer that got me fairly excited for something interesting, I give you the latest “found footage” movie that should be worth your time and that is The Bay.
Two million fish washed ashore. One thousand blackbirds dropped from the sky. On July 4, 2009 a deadly menace swept through the quaint seaside town of Claridge, Maryland, but the harrowing story of what happened that Independence Day has never been told – until now. The authorities believed they had buried the truth about the tragedy that claimed over 700 human lives. Now, three years later, a reporter has emerged with footage revealing the cover-up and an unimaginable killer: a mysterious parasitic outbreak. Told from the perspective of those who were there and saw what happened, The Bay unfolds over 24 hours though people’s iPhones, Androids, 911 calls, web cams, and whatever else could be used to document the nightmare in Claridge. — (C) Official Site
I enjoy a horror movie from time to time and the trailer for this actually made me want to check it out when it came out. I like the aspect of a killer parasite that is jumping from host to host in gruesome fashion and The Bay ends up delivering a rather strong horror movie. What it also does amazingly is being a giant fucking billboard for Apple and Android devices since most of the people are taking video with their phones, never once having to charge them oddly enough. They might have, but I didn’t care much to go back and check and mark down a common trope of the endless phone battery. My hatred of found footage and shaky cam not withstanding, I can still look past it to enjoy a horror thriller about a parasite that is just rather terrifying to comprehend.
The movie runs on a low budget, again a by product of the found footage genre, but it certainly doesn’t skimp on effect of gore and showcasing the creatures and parasite. I certainly winced a few times watching the movie cause it does its job at effectively delivering fear and scares at the right times. Perhaps more so through the use of the footage cobbled together from the different devices and showed to us in horrifying snippets. The parasites and how they take over is rooted in the films overall story of eco-activism in the form of environmental damage that we did to Earth that helped spawn these creatures. It gives the movie more of a purposed and something that you can latch on to instead of just watching chaos unfold with no real anchor of story.
The Bay has a smarter purpose and agenda on it’s mind, while still delivering a horror movie to the genre fans. The eco-friendly lean is strong and sometimes overbearing, but at least it doesn’t turn out to be another The Happening. The movie moves at a brisk pace and the unfolding of the quarantine town descent into paranoia and chaos is a thrill to watch since the parasite is taking over and people get panicky. There are inklings of an apocalyptic movie with the outbreak, but also with the destruction of the towns infrastructure and citizens starting to lose it. When I think that found footage is just a dud of a concept, there is a silver lining and gem to be had amongst the shit. For me, The Bay is a welcome horror movie and thriller that attempts something more than just frights while using the medium to its advantage.
