The Bay

John Chard

Cymothoa exigua. As someone who has always struggled to get much from “found footage” movies, I entered Barry Levinson’s The Bay with some trepidation. Levinson’s standing as a director prompted me to take a look. And I’m glad I did. Chesapeake Bay was home to a toxic led catastrophe that created horrors unbound – but the government covered it up… Levinson brings considerable class to the camcorder horror phase by having his film unfold in multi stranded documentary style. Using many of the electrical appliances that people use in everyday life, Levinson and co-writer Michael Wallach piece together a horrifying tale of parasite infestation and society meltdown, all in one day! The editing (Aaron Yanes) ensures the number of stories that are running concurrent never disrupt momentum of pic, the parasite scares and illness scenes are superbly constructed, while dashes of humour sit alongside the very plausible and reality warnings of such an occurrence. 8/10