The Bay – Eco-Review

The Bay 2012.

A seaside Chesapeake Bay town nestled on Maryland’s Eastern Shore thrives on water. When two French researchers find a staggering level of toxicity in the water, they attempt to alert the mayor, but he refuses to create a panic. As a result, a deadly plague is unleashed, turning the people into hosts for a mutant breed of deadly parasites.
Director: Barry Levinson
Writers :Barry Levinson (story), Michael Wallach (story)
Stars: Will Rogers, Kristen Connolly, Kether Donohue
Taglines: Panic feeds on fear.
Runtime: 84 min

The Eco Disaster flick The Bay turned out to be an enjoyable foray into the realm of found footage horror. The film uses a variety of techniques and mediums in an effort to deliver an unique experience in what is essentially an over saturated sub-genre of horror. Skype, Facetime, Google, Youtube, Webcams, and Blogging are all used to compile the tragic story of a small Chesapeake Bay town undergoing, what appears to be a viral outbreak. It was nice to see other avenues used to deliver the ‘found footage’ element of the film; other than the standard night vision equipped DV cams of the genre. In fact the entire film is an eyewitness account given by a young intern journalist Donna Thompson(Kether Donohue) via Skype after the events of The Bay take place.

V/H/S

V/H/S. 2012.

V/H/S is a 2012 American anthology horror film. It features a series of found-footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the directing quartet known as Radio Silence.
Release date: January 22, 2012 (initial release)
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, David Bruckner, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez
DVD release date: October 18, 2012
Running time: 116 minutes
Screenplay: Ti West, David Bruckner, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Glenn McQuaid
(Wikipedia)

Checked out V/H/S last night and enjoyed it very much, despite hating anthology based flicks. The film is a grainy grindhouse(ish) mash-up of several genre’s of horror held together by a shaky not-so cohesive main plot. The main section of V/H/S has a dark and gritty 80’s feel to it, though I found it to be the weakest part of the film it does not detract from the individual storylines presented throughout. Each segment is portrayed via found footage compiled on a V/H/S tape and involves different characters and locations. Here is a general breakdown of each story minus any spoilers ofcourse. Courtesy of Wiki.

The Gerber Syndrome

The Gerber Syndrome. 2011.

“The Gerber’s Syndrome is an contagious viral disease that was discovered in Germany in 2008 and spread all over the world. It is extremely contagious, fast spreading, and deadly. This syndrome is very difficult to spot, because it’s like a normal dose of the flu, with all the subsequent symptoms that most of us are familiar with; but later, the virus affects the brain cells causing serious damage to the central nervous system. A TV crew is making a documentary about the disease and the way society is coping with it by documenting the stories of three people who are dealing with Gerber’s Syndrome: Melissa is a young girl that has been infected, Doctor Ricardi is the doctor who is following her and Luigi is a member of the CS, the security organization that has to deal with infected people. The TV crew follow the lives of this characters, becoming characters themselves since they are constantly in the action. We see how the syndrome progress in Melissa and the way her family and Doctor.”   Indastria Film.

Directors: Maxi Dejoie, Maxì Dejoie
Writers: Maxi Dejoie, Maxì Dejoie
Stars: Valentina Bartolo, Elisabetta Fischer, Pia Lanciotti
Runtime: 88 min

Rec pretty much started my love of foreign found footage horror flicks. Most of them are pretty bad, but you get the odd decent entry (nothing is coming to mind at the moment). I actually ended up posting this after surfing Youtube in search of obscure horror trailers. There really isn’t much info on this film other than what can be gleaned from the trailer. A camera crew is following some type of disease (CDC type) control unit around some foreign country investigating the spread of a wierdly named virus, The Gerber Syndrome. The Gerber Syndrome @ IMDb.

Next Up: actually find and watch this thing…..

The Bay

The Bay. 2012. In Select Theatres.

A seaside Chesapeake Bay town nestled on Maryland’s Eastern Shore thrives on water. When two French researchers find a staggering level of toxicity in the water, they attempt to alert the mayor, but he refuses to create a panic. As a result, a deadly plague is unleashed, turning the people into hosts for a mutant breed of deadly parasites. (Wiki) The Bay @ IMDB

DO NOT Watch: The Amityville Haunting

The Amittyville Haunting. 2011.

The Amityville Haunting is a direct to video film released in December 2011. It is the tenth production to be inspired by the 1977 book The Amityville Horror. The film was produced by The Asylum and Taut Productions. The film was directed by Geoff Meed, and stars Tyler Shamy, Devin Clark and Jon Kondelik. The tagline is “The family did not survive. But the recordings did.” It claims to be based on “actual found footage that documents the horrifying experiences of a family that moved into the infamous haunted house.”

What an absolute waste of time this was. I tend to take alot of chances on unheard of or micro/no budget movies and it’s really hit and miss. More misses than hits really, but that’s part of the fun. So when my brother called me up for some Netflix action (the wifey’s were gone) I took him up on the offer and we decided on Amittyville Haunting.

If I had $100 I could write, direct, act in, produce, edit, cast, mix audio, program the cgi, cater, grip, 2nd direct, 2nd assistant direct, market, drive, scout locations, conduct still photography, score and distribute The Amittyville Haunting without a doubt, and I’m not exaggerating here, at least a billion times better than they did.

In my humble opinion I think it is a travesty that the name Amittyville is even attached to this piece of garbage, let alone having a picture of that iconic house on the cover; needless to say it is never even shown at any point throughout the movie. The acting if that’s what it’s called was atrocious, constant stumbling, stuttering and over emphasizing . Which brings me to the father; what a trainwreck. I actually despise him, as far as movie dads go this guy gets the award for the biggest prick of the year. If you see this pop up on crackflix please do yourself a big favour and run……run as fast as you can….

Next Up: A real horror movie….