Reazione a catena (1971)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Franco Barberi (story)
Mario Bava (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 May 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The second movie rated "V" for violence.

Plot:

An elderly heiress is killed by her husband who wants control of her fortunes. What ensues is an all-out...

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Inheritance | Murder | Joy | Child

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Claudine Auger	...	Renata
Luigi Pistilli	...	Albert
Claudio Camaso	...	Simon (as Claudio Volonté)
Anna Maria Rosati	...	Laura
Chris Avram	...	Frank Ventura
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Paolo Fossati
Laura Betti	...	Anna Fossati
Brigitte Skay	...	Brunhilda
Isa Miranda	...	Countess Federica Donati
Paola Montenero	...	Denise (as Paola Rubens)
Guido Boccaccini	...	Duke
Roberto Bonanni	...	Robert
Giovanni Nuvoletti	...	Count Filippo Donati

Also Known As:

A Bay of Blood (International: English title) (uncensored intended title) (USA)
Antefatto - Ecologia del delitto (Italy) (new title)
Bloodbath (UK)
Bloodbath Bay of Death (UK) (unauthorized video title)
Carnage
Chain Reaction (Italy) (literal English title)
E così imparano a fare i cattivi (Italy) (working title)
Ecology of a Crime (International: English title) (informal literal title)
The Antecedent (USA) (informal title)
The Last House on the Left, Part II (USA) (reissue title)
Twitch of the Death Nerve (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

84 min | 76 min (cut)

Country:

Italy

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:R | UK:18 (re-rating: 1994) (cut) | UK:(Banned) (1984-1994) | UK:R (original rating: 1972) | France:-16 | Netherlands:16 | UK:18 (uncut version, re-rating) | Norway:18 (DVD rating) (2009) (uncut) | Italy:VM14 | Italy:VM18 (DVD rating) | Spain:18 | USA:R | West Germany:(Banned) | Argentina:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Sabaudia, Latina, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Nuova Linea Cinematografica

Trivia:

Due to the film's low budget, most of the locations in the film belonged to director Mario Bava or members of the crew. The interiors of Countless Federica's home was shot at a favorite villa of director Bava and the interiors of Frank Ventura's country house were shot at a summer home of the producer.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

Master Bava's most gruesome work! A blood-soaked and finger-licking black comedy.

Eat your heart out, Jason Vorhees! Mario Bava's wicked slasher fantasies predate your Friday the 13th escapades by almost a decade. And `the Bay' is a much more efficient location than your pathetic Crystal Lake, I may add. Mario Bava is my favorite director of all time for multiple reasons. The most important one is that he's such a diverse storyteller. He brought us tense, atmospheric horror (Black Sunday) as well as colorful kitsch (Danger: Diabolik). This Bay of Blood is something completely different yet again. Twitch of the Death Nerve (another a.k.a of this film) is a blood-soaked satire, portraying 13 of the most stylish massacres ever shot on tape. The local countess of the bay-community is brutally slain by her husband. Then he himself is butchered by a mysterious third person. What follows is an irresistible search for the killer in which greed and ruthlessness overrule the more normal human emotions. Okay, the plot may not be very solid (which is an often heard reproach regarding Bava's work) but as a social satire, Bay of Blood is very effective. `Everyone's a killer when money and power are involved', Bava seems to shout out. The humor is oppressed, but it's definitely present throughout the whole film…if you don't see that, I pity you because the film's power depends on it. And then there's the gore! Needless to say this movie is light-years ahead of its time when it comes to showing explicit violence and detailed gore. The killer's hatchet plants itself in victim's heads and throats vulgarly while the camera seems to zoom in on the corpses endlessly. And then STILL this is an utterly stylish horror film. Only Bava can shoot filth on tape and make it look like art! The cast isn't very memorable, but who cares?? They die anyway so you don't need to pick favorites! Only main actress Claudine Auger impressed me, but I think that had more to do with her beautiful appearance. See Bay of Blood for the gore! See Bay of Blood for its importance as it was one of the most influential films in the genre! See Bay of Blood, period. I hate to sound pretentious but…if you don't like this film, you haven't got the slightest idea what the horror industry is all about. That statement goes for Bava's entire repertoire, by the way.