Reazione a catena (1971)

Director:

Mario Bava

Writers:

Franco Barberi (story)
Mario Bava (screenplay)
(more)

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:

Murder | Inheritance | Friend | Locked Up | Psycho

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Renato Cestiè	...	Renata and Albert's Son (uncredited)
Nicoletta Elmi	...	Renata and Albert's Daughter (uncredited)

Directed by
Mario Bava

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Franco Barberi		story
Mario Bava		screenplay
Filippo Ottoni		screenplay
Dardano Sacchetti		story
Giuseppe Zaccariello		(screenplay) (as Joseph McLee)

Produced by
Giuseppe Zaccariello	....	producer

Original Music by
Stelvio Cipriani

Cinematography by
Mario Bava

Film Editing by
Carlo Reali

Production Design by
Sergio Canevari

Art Direction by
Sergio Canevari

Costume Design by
Enrico Sabbatini

Makeup Department
Adalgisa Favella	....	hair stylist
Franco Freda	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Roberto Cicutto	....	production supervisor
Fernando Franchi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lamberto Bava	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Carlo Diotallevi	....	sound recordist
Gene Luotto	....	post-synchronization
Carlo Tarchi	....	sound

Special Effects by
Carlo Rambaldi	....	special effects (as Rambaldi)

Camera and Electrical Department
Gianlorenzo Battaglia	....	assistant camera (as Lorenzo Battaglia)
Emilio Varriano	....	camera operator
Franco Vitale	....	still photographer

Other crew
Patrizia Zulini	....	continuity
Pino Locchi	....	voice dubbing: Claudio Camaso (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Nuova Linea Cinematografica

Distributors

• Hallmark Releasing Corp. (1972) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Ambassador Film Distributors (1982) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Alberto Bitelli Intl. Films (1972) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Internacional Films Distribución (????) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Astro Distribution (2001) (Belgium) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Gorgon Video (198?) (USA) (VHS)
• Hokushin Audio Visual (1981) (UK) (video)
• Image Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• M.I.B. (Germany) (DVD)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Raro Video/Nocturno (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• Simitar Video (USA) (DVD)
• Starz Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Stomp Visual (2005) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment  soundtrack

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) | New Zealand:R16 | Spain:18 | USA:R | West Germany:(Banned) | Argentina:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Sabaudia, Latina, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Nuova Linea Cinematografica

Trivia:

Mario Bava deeply regretted filming the scene where a bug is pinned alive.

Movie Connections:

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

One of Bava's Best

This is one of horror master Mario Bava's best works. More than any of his other films, this one comes closest to a non-narrative "Ballet of Violence" with little regard for logic or plot line. What plot there is hovers around the struggle for control of a prime piece of seaside real estate, by the eccentric residents and a couple of outsider business people. A short but effective sub plot involves a group of kids who come to party down in a deserted house on the property. Little do they realize. . .! This is definitely the film that inspired "Friday the 13th" and no doubt many others of its kind.

This may be the most violent film ever made, if not the highest body count; no less than a dozen murders by various and often unusual means: Hanging, stabbing, decapitation, impalement (some two at a time!), choking, gunshot; quite a display of random, wholesale slaughter. While this may sound like a garden-variety slasher film; this is a prime example of the horror almost at its best, primarily due to Bava's excellent visual style. His camera is often prowling through the scene, in first-person and third, sometimes shifting from one to the other in the same shot; a technique pioneered by Orson Welles. In this particular film there is a slight overuse of the zoom, where he probably wanted to use a more effective dolly shot. This is probably because he had to work fast, however many of his zooms are absolutely beautiful, particularly the shots that move from the water on the lake to the house and trees in the distance. He also uses rack-focus to create a emotion within the same shot, as when the old woman looks out the window. We see her face in focus, then the camera racks to the rain drops on the window. This combined with the music creates a very deep mood of melancholia.

There are many great scenes in the film that display Bava's rich visual style and his ability to create suspense and shock. An lonely old woman sitting in her house and the brutal murder that follows, The girl swimming in the lake, the body in the boat, the prowler outside the house where the kids are screwing around, and of course, the out-of-left-field finale, one of the greatest endings in all of film.

I also admire Bava's control of pacing, emotion and mood; shifting from tenderness to horror, kindness to hate, trust to deception, often in the blink of an eye. He also makes it interesting with a bizarre assortment of characters; the milquetoast entemologist and his koo koo wife, a mysterious fisherman, with whom there's more than meets the eye, and those delightful children that any mother would love!

This genre has often been one of extremes; very bad films and some very good ones, and those are the ones from the hands of stylists like Mornau, Polanski, Freda, Romero, Argento, Franco (in some instances), and of course, Mario Bava and his son, Lamberto, and a handful of others much less prolific. "Bay of Blood" is a good example of the genre in the hands of a master. This is one of my favorite Bava films, although I must concede that I don't think it's his best. As always, he makes the most of his limited resources, but this film doesn't quite match the ideology or scope of say, "Black Sunday," "Kill, Baby, Kill," or "Beyond the Door Pt.2." "Bay of Blood" almost, but not quite reaches the same crescendo of delirium. However, if it did, then it would be one of the greatest horror films of all time.