Bay of Blood (1971)

Episode 79, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd:  Hello, and welcome to another episode of 2 Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig:  And I’m Craig. 

Todd:  Today’s film comes to us courtesy of a request from Ryan. Thank you, Ryan, loyal listener. You have chosen Bay of Blood, the Mario Bava film from 1971. Bay of Blood is a giallo picture, but it, it’s a goes a little further than most of the giallo pictures we’ve been doing so far. Actually, I would say, it is planted firmly in the slasher genre more so than the Oh, yeah. Mystery thriller genre. Yeah? 

Craig:  Oh, absolutely. 

Todd:  And that is what makes this movie a little more unique and notorious. Now Mario Bava is one of our sort of trio of giallo people who were making a lot of these pictures in the seventies. The other 2, we’ve done movies by them, both Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. And Baba, until here, at this point anyway, really wasn’t focusing in on the blood and the gore, anything like this. This was a major departure for him, as well as, I think, a lot of the other films around this time. That’s not to say that there wasn’t there weren’t movies that were doing Blood and Gore. There were some American directors, HG Lewis, probably the most famous, who almost a decade before this got the idea for making Blood and Gore, a kind of exploitation film that could play at drive ins and and be sensational, and he made a lot of money from that. But what he did was, it was kinda cheesy, you know.   It it looks pretty amateurish. It looks kinda silly. This is pretty realistic, and I have to say as I was watching this movie, Friday 13th was all I could think of the whole time. 

Craig:  Oh, yeah. Yep. 

Todd:  As I was reading about it, I noticed that it is pretty well acknowledged that this film was an inspiration for the Friday 13th series. I mean, right down to the setting, which is on this beautiful bay, in some unnamed place. And the whole setting revolves around this bay and the intrigue and stuff that’s that’s going on here. Craig, had you even heard of this movie before? I kinda seen it just because I’m into the giallo stuff, but I never actually sat down and watched it. 

Craig:  Yeah. I don’t know if I   had heard of it before. I mean, the the title Bay of Blood is kind of generic enough that I feel like I’ve heard that, but no. I I didn’t know the movie at all. And you’re absolutely right. I think that, this is could very well be considered kind of the grandfather of the slasher movie. And I was thinking the exact same thing that you were. I mean, it is kind of strikingly similar in style, to the Friday 13th films. So much so that, many people believe that, the makers of the Friday 13th films, at least the first two, were directly inspired, by this movie.   I guess there’s at least one kill in each of Friday 13th part 1 and part 2 that mimic almost exactly kills from this movie. And that doesn’t surprise me because it’s so reminiscent. What I kind of found interesting about this movie was that it almost kind of has a Scooby Doo kind of feel to it. There’s all of this, of course with much more violence and gore but lots of, intrigue and and unexpected plot twists. And, you know, you just about at some point expect somebody to pop up and say, I would’ve got away with it too if it weren’t for you rascally kids. But it does also stand apart from those movies because, to some degree I feel like they were the the makers of this movie were a little bit more concerned with intrigue and plot. Yeah. However, I, think it was Fulci who in an interview somewhere, I think it was Fulci, I hope I’m remembering this right.   I think you’re thinking of Fellini. Fellini. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. You’re right. You’re right. He, in an interview at one point, said that he was approached by a friend and fellow filmmaker who had all of these ideas for Great Kills and he wanted help with putting together a script, for it.   But eventually he ended up just saying, I don’t know. Just shoot the movie and figure out the story later. And, I kinda got a little bit of a sense that, maybe that’s kind of what happened because, I was curious and confused about what was going on in the first half of the movie. And then in the second half of the movie when things kind of started falling into place I was like, Wow. This is a Friday 13th movie or a, episode of Scooby Doo where everybody did it. 

Todd:  Yeah. No joke. Right? 

Craig:  Like, like, who’s, like, who’s the killer? Oh, it’s everybody.   And, and I, I think that the movie is aptly titled, even though, you know, I don’t know what the original Italian title was for it. And I know that they went through a whole string of titles for the American release, and it was actually released under a couple of different titles. One of the titles that they considered, I don’t know if it was, one of the ones that actually got released was, Last House on the Left 2, even though it has nothing to do with Last House on the Left. Yeah. I don’t know. I’m interested to see what you thought of the movie because, I was left, I think, a little bit flabbergasted at the end. I’m not sure how I feel about it, frankly. 

Todd:  Yeah. Well, one of the original Italian titles, translates as Chain Reaction, and I think, man, even though that’s not a very compelling movie title, it it sure is a apt description of how this movie goes. You’re right. It’s it’s just a spider web of a plot that starts to unfold. And I guess the thing about this is much like the Friday 13th movies, you don’t like anybody. I mean, there’s no not all of these people are nasty, self interested people with agendas and have no qualms or concerns about killing people. You know? And so Right. So you you really don’t care who dies in this.   It’s, again, much like a slasher film, much more interested in showing us how people die than, giving us a care. But unlike the Friday 13th movies, as you said, this is much more interested in actual plot, and there is definitely an actual plot. And that is what slides this into the genre. You know, there is a, like you said, kind of a Scooby Doo mystery behind it even though it’s way more convoluted yet. Don’t you think it still makes more sense than some of the Jello pictures we’ve seen previous to this? 

Craig:  I mean, it does. That’s the thing. Like, there are so you’re right. I mean, it is a spider web. It’s it’s it’s so intricate. And in that regard, the way that it’s so intricate, it’s not like it’s particularly believable. Again, because you’ve got all of these people who, as it turns out, have motives for murder, and like you said, have absolutely no qualms about that. So it’s it’s different in that way, but, like, that’s also I don’t know if it’s a criticism, but believability and again, you’re usually the one that gets all tangled up in believability.   I don’t care, you know, I don’t care about believability. And the dots do connect, I mean they really do, for the most part. And obviously, we’re gonna get there probably in about 40, 50 minutes. But, really, it was it was the very, very end of the movie that satisfied me. Yeah. Like like like, I was getting through it and I’m like, okay, okay, okay. And then the very, very end, I’m like, alright.   I can   I can get on board with this as ridiculous as it may be? But, yeah, like I said, I mean, it is an apt title because it is this bay that they’re on really is a bay of blood because pretty much everybody you meet in the movie is dead by the end of it. But that’s that’s alright. The premise of the movie is that there was, this countess. And, you know, I don’t know where this is supposed to be said. I assume somewhere in Italy, but I have no idea. And she lived on this, giant estate. And the movie starts out with these shots, you know, while the opening credits are coming up on the screen. It’s just these shots of, you know, kind of this beautiful location on what looks very much like a bay surrounded by a wooded area.   I read that, they the budget of the film was low enough that they really had to shoot on sets that they had access Todd. Whether it be, you know, one of the summer homes of the producer or just, a lodge that, the director was fond of or whatever. And these exterior shots where a lot of the movie takes place were actually filmed in an area that wasn’t wooded at all. And so he just had to do a lot of camera trickery with, propping up branches and leaves. And, I I have to say it was pretty effective. I would have never have guessed that. I mean, it looks very much like, you know, a wooded kind of bay. But 

Todd:  Oh, yeah. Yeah. 

Craig:  I guess during I guess during the filming, the actors thought that it looked so ridiculous that they, sometimes in scenes, would break because I I don’t know if it was props people or extras or whomever who were just kinda, like, carrying sticks around and holding them up in front of people, to make it look like it was a wooded area. But it worked. I mean, you know, and it just goes to show that a good filmmaker can make do with what they’ve got. I also read that, you know, any, kind of tracking shots that were done, Bava just, put a, camera on a child’s wagon and just pulled the wagon along. And and it doesn’t look like that. I mean, it it it’s very entrenched in the seventies. It looks like a movie from the seventies, but I wouldn’t have guessed that it was made on such a low budget, because it works pretty well. In the opening scene, we see this countess, she’s in a wheelchair, she’s kind of wheeling around her big estate and it looks like she lives in luxury and, you know, it’s a nice big place and at some point there’s a close-up of her face and she kind of gasps gasps like, like she, you know, she sees something frightening.   And then we see a noose, go over her head and her wheelchair gets kicked out from underneath her, and she ends up hanging, which I thought was actually really creative and inventive. I I don’t think I’ve ever seen that, you know? If if she’s paralyzed from the waist down, there would have been nothing that she could have done. I mean, she’s not actually hanging with her feet dangling, you know, she’s just kind of near the ground, but, she can’t get herself up. And she strangles to death, and at this point, I was very much, I didn’t know this was a, Giallo film. But at this point, I realized that it must be because we get that classic Giallo shot of the killer, you know, in nondescript, like a suit and black gloves. And I thought, oh, here we go. Here’s another one of those Giallo pics where, you know, we have to figure out who the killer is. And then it kind of subverted my expectations when it   panned all the way up   past the gloves and showed the guy, who killed her. And I was like, wow. Are we gonna know throughout the course of the movie who the killer is? But as it turns out, we do not because as the guy who killed the countess, who turns out to have been her husband, as he’s kind of setting the scene to make it look like a suicide, somebody shows up and stabs and and kills him. And it’s the very classic, you know, giallo kind of really, really red, like, you know, bright red, not even necessarily realistic looking red blood, that spatters all over the place. And though I had expected this to be somewhat typical or similar to the giallo films we’d seen, right from the beginning, it really kinda started to subvert that, and that had me intrigued. So I was interested to see where this was gonna go. 

Todd:  You’re right. And it was very deliberate because as the camera pans up and you see those black gloves, he he pauses for a moment, actually takes those gloves off before it comes up to his face. It’s like he’s it’s like the director is telling you right there. This is not gonna be your typical picture. But it was really good. So the man who was stabbed to death is Filippo Donati, and his Mhmm. Countess. I don’t know if I ever got her name.   So they’re both dead, and the next shot is a couple in bed. And that’s the thing, you really have to the nice thing about this movie is that everybody looks different enough, and their things are spaced out enough that you just are okay with keeping track of who’s who. I mean, I was taking notes anyway, but as the picture went on with a movie like this that ends up having a huge cast and a lot of people to keep track of, they kinda keep all the characters in these little niches and in their own environments enough so that you never really confuse who’s who. This is a guy named Frank, and, he’s in bed with Laura, who turns out to be his secretary. And they’re in this awesome, like, sixties era house, like, with the decor and the artwork. You can tell this guy’s got some money Todd, and he’s apparently an architect. And they’re chatting a little bit, and you realize that he’s chatting about the countess’s death and how he’s gonna go and have somebody sign something, and this is gonna make things a lot easier now. And he leaves and takes off.   And then immediately, we get another shot of a of close-up of this guy, like, chewing on, looks like a fish, but it turns out to be a squid and tossing it in the lake and pan back out of that. And it’s a guy named Simon, who is in a boat. And the camera then does this thing that the camera does a lot in this movie, and that is it likes to start in a close-up on something and oftentimes out of focus. And then it comes into focus slowly so we could see what we’re seeing. And then it slowly pans out so we get a better idea of what it is we’re seeing. And then the camera likes to move just like zoom out and pan through the environment slowly. And the effect that this has is I’m kinda looking. I don’t know.   I was kind of on the edge of my seat waiting for something significant, you know, to show up in frame. Mhmm. And and he does this a lot and at very suspenseful moments in the movie. This isn’t one of those suspenseful moments, but this has really set you up for this camera move, which happens a ton. And I’m sure that a lot of it is because of his budget. You know, if he’d if he didn’t have the money for a big expensive setup or he also didn’t have the money for big expensive sets, he had to get creative. And so a lot of this camera work comes out of that, but then it ends up giving the movie a real distinct feel. And I think started to effectively add to the tension when it’s when it was really used well.   It pans slowly through the woods and then goes up to, and we see like a close-up on some eyes that are looking through a tree. And it’s it’s a guy’s clearly watching the scene and then you see a point of view of this guy’s view and there’s another guy running and he’s running across the bay with a net towards Simon And they have a little exchange, this guy and Simon. This guy’s name is Paul Vasati, and he’s Mhmm. He’s hunting insects. That is his thing. He seems to be like an amateur scientist or maybe he’s a real scientist, but bugs are his thing. What is that called? Etymologist. 

Craig:  Oh, god. I was afraid you’re gonna ask that. Entomologist. Is that right? 

Todd:  Yeah. I think you’re right. Yeah. Entomologist. Alright. We’ll never use that word again in case it’s wrong. 

Craig:  He’s a bug scientist. 

Todd:  That’s right. He’s a bug catcher, and it’s a little goofy. He’s like, I see you’re still chasing that insect. Yeah. It’s the one that I, you know, caught, bagged, and tagged, and then released so that I could explore and see what he does. And I’m thinking, how on this huge bay in this forest are you gonna be able to track down a tiny little insect like this? 

Clip:  You’ve changed. You know? Why? Because Since the countess was murdered. It is suicide, mister Fassati. Suicide. The police said suicide.   Oh, of course. Of course. I’m sorry. Mhmm. I was asleep. 

Todd:  So, right away you wonder, does Paul know something? And then, Simon taking such immediate offense to it, you kinda wonder what’s going on there Todd. And then, it cuts from here to a great shot of these teenagers in a car, which is total classic slasher movie. 

Craig:  Yeah. 

Todd:  Four teenagers and the camerawork is really kinetic here. I mean, they’re they’re in a it’s a convertible. I don’t know what kind of car this is, but person who knows cars would probably know what this is, a very distinct car. And they’re running through and they’re excited, and we spend about the next 20 minutes with these 4 kids mostly. It turns out that they are just coming to the bay to hang out, and at first you think, oh, they’re friends or they’re here on vacation or maybe one of them has a cabin here.   But, no, it seems like   2 guys who who literally just picked up 2 women that they don’t really even know, and they’re just out to get laid and have fun. Mhmm. And so they disembark from the car and they start wandering around all these different locations and they kind of have this function of introducing us to all the locations in this movie. But, this is where you really start to get a sense that this bay, as beautiful as it is and as nice as this little mansion is on the on the edge of it, that it’s really filled with a lot of decrepit abandoned areas, like a resort that at one time, was booming and now is not. Or I think as we later find out, there was an attempt to make the bay kind of a resort, but that ended up falling a little flat because the countess who own and who owns the whole area really didn’t want that. So they go in, and and they’re bouncing around. I I love the music. I I actually like the music in this era.   And, you know, and it’s just really fun, jazzy, kind of, boppy, almost, Bossa Nova at times. Right? 

Craig:  It was also, you know, in in in a lot of places, it was almost symphonic. Like, somebody would get murdered brutally, and then there would be this beautiful sym symphonic music just like, oh, now we’ll look at the bay. Like, it was weird. And I have to say, you know, all this stuff that you’re describing, you have described it very well. I mean, the the series of events that happens, but I was getting so confused Yeah. Because they were introducing so many characters and they weren’t introducing them by name. Like in my notes, I’m like squid eating guy, bug guy. Like, you know, like, who are these people? And then there’s, you know, the like you said, there’s a man and a woman watching all of this going on and I didn’t know who they were.   And then it cuts to, these kids and we have no idea who these kids are and you know, we call them kids as is usually the case. Of course, the actors, looked much older than they were probably supposed to be. But, you know, it and and you’re right. It almost felt like a a hostile type situation where these 2 guys are traveling around together just trying to pick up chicks who are also traveling around together. And it it was just kind of bizarre. Like, I I I couldn’t figure out what was going on really. 

Todd:  Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s confusing because you’re getting so many characters thrown at you, and you’re you’re you’re waiting for the connection and you’re not seeing it yet. 

Craig:  Simon. Like, he was biting a squid and, like like, why? Like,   what are you doing?   Like, I didn’t even understand it. And I felt like he, kind of explained it to the bug guy. He was like, well, at least I eat the things I kill. And like I’m thinking, okay. Maybe that’s supposed to be significant. And, like, the bug guy, mister Fazade or whatever his name is, you know, he’s looking for this one particular bug and, like, it’s this bug that has eluded him or something. And then later on in the movie, like, he’s got all these bugs and, like, he has one that’s his pet. And I’m I like a like a cockroach that he carries around a little box that his pet is his pet.   Yeah. And, like, I felt like I should be understanding why this is relevant. Mhmm. But even in the end, I had no idea Yeah. Why why these things were relevant or if they were. And if they were, it totally went over my head. Well I guess maybe it was just supposed to be the quirks of the characters. I don’t know. 

Todd:  I I kinda felt like maybe they were deliberate red herrings, you know, things that were thrown in, and that that might be what they are. But you’re right. It’s like a you get a sense that it maybe everything is supposed to be significant. You’re just confused Right. As to how at this point. It really focuses you in on the movie though, doesn’t it? I mean, I don’t think it’s so confusing that you kinda throw your hands up in the air and lose interest or or was that what happened for you? 

Craig:  No. I didn’t lose interest, but that’s really kind of when I started to feel like, oh, it’s it’s really Scooby Doo. Yeah. Because, you know, in those in those old and I love Scooby Doo. That was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. But it it was I think you’re right. Right, it was red herrings and I think that that’s what it was intended to be, and to be fair, it played out in a way that I didn’t expect. Now I don’t know if it’s entirely logical or feasible, but it was unexpected for me and and, I don’t know.   Maybe I’m giving myself too much credit, but I feel like generally I can kinda figure out what’s going on. And in this movie, I I did not. Yeah.   No. You’re I didn’t like you. What’s going on? 

Todd:  You’re not alone. I was the same way. And I was taking furious notes. I’ve got this huge piece of paper, and I’m like, this must be important. Who’s this guy’s name? And I went back and I’d fill people’s names in, you know, just so we could talk about 

Craig:  it. Me too. 

Todd:  But I think if you’re watching the movie and you’re not worried about talking about it for a podcast later. Yeah. You you won’t have any trouble keeping track of who’s who. 

Craig:  Right. 

Todd:  So these youngsters are hanging out and they’re at this abandoned nightclub, but then there’s an eye. You know, there’s always this this eye shot that somebody is watching, but you don’t know if it’s a man. You don’t know if it’s a woman. And then, like you said, it immediately it jumps to a tarot reader, somebody who’s putting down tarot cards. And we get yet another character who’s this, like, this this middle aged woman, and, she’s finding something significant in the tarot cards. And she walks around through the house to call Paul and you realize, okay, Paul is her husband. And so you get this contrast. There’s this mystic woman here who’s, thinks there are ominous things happening in the bay, and then her very serious scientist husband who’s studying the bugs, and they clearly don’t really get along or even talk much. 

Clip:  You little hateful Ferdie.   It would be absurd to pretend that you are capable of loving something.   Me? I love many things, but you could never understand.   We can’t understand anything. Right, Ferdinando?   The clouds are swirling. There will be tears shed over the bay.   Really? Oh, good Lord. Just think of that, Ferdinando. Now what? 

Todd:  Last week, you said that everything was going to be wonderful and beautiful. This week, everything’s gonna be terrible and horrible. So, but then Paul makes some ominous words here too. He complains about Frank, the   Architect that we saw several scenes back. 

Clip:  You hate Ventura for the exact same reason, dear. You hated Frederica’s husband because he knows how to enjoy life. And you don’t.   Be careful. You spill the acid. And the only reason I hate him is because he wants to transform the bay into a sea of cement,   but I won’t let him even if I have to. 

Todd:  And then we’re back with the kids for pretty much, the next 15 or 20 minutes. And and I I this part is is so Friday 13th. Like, this was 

Craig:  Yes. Oh my god. 

Todd:  It’s a mini movie in and of itself. It’s these people who are these kids who are just running around. They’re breaking into houses. Right? 

Craig:  They’re Right. 

Todd:  The one girl, Broomhilda, wants to run off and swim. Nobody else wants to swim. They keep referring to her as the German girl. 1 guy says, you’re getting the kraut girl. Remember? I’m getting they they clearly don’t even know these girls’ names. It’s it’s so funny. 

Craig:  Oh, and they’re all in sweaters and coats, and she just goes and takes off all her clothes and jumps in the lake, which I thought was, pretty funny. 

Todd:  I was I was waiting for her to get killed. I thought, oh, woman goes off on her own, strips down, jumps 

Craig:  to 

Todd:  Mike, and, and so she does that while the rest of them are breaking into this house. And it turns out the house they’re breaking into at first, I thought, well, maybe this is another abandoned location, but it turns out it’s Frank’s house. And they’re drinking the alcohol, and they’re turning on the alcohol, and they’re turning on the music, and they’re dancing without a care 

Craig:  at all. And then the 2 

Clip:  guys are fighting over who’s 

Todd:  gonna get this girl, and that’s the point at which Mhmm. The French girl. Right? Yeah. In the meantime, that’s the point at which 

Craig:  The French girl. Right? 

Todd:  Yeah. In the meantime, we switch back to the, to Hilda who is swimming around in the lake naked, and I’m waiting for her to get it. But as she swims up to the dock, her foot hooks on like a rope. And Yeah. It’s kind of a neat scene where, unbeknownst to her, she’s pulling this this body that’s been tied down up toward the surface and the hand of it comes and brushes up against her, which scares her and and sends her running. She’s running, back to where she last left them, which is at the lodge, was it not abandoned nightclub or whatever? And I used to she’s naked. Did she ever throw clothes back on or she 

Craig:  she She did. She she threw her teeny, teeny, tiny little dress that didn’t fit her at all. She she threw it back on, but not her panties. And that’s so funny. I mean, these are the little details that I notice. You know, like when she goes and she gets undressed, she takes off her dress and she takes off off her panty. And then, of course, when she gets out of the water, she throws her dress back on. And she’s scared, so it makes sense.   But all the time, I’m thinking, she didn’t put on her panties, and that dress comes up to, like, her waist. Like like like it wasn’t covering the lower half of her body at all.   That’s funny.   And she’s she’s running, back to the house. And you know what it is? It’s classic Friday 13th. Like, she’s getting close, but you know somebody’s following her and she’s almost there. And then somebody gets her from behind with, like, a machete and and cuts her throat. And, the practical effects, in the movie are pretty typical of a Giallo film or at least the ones that we’ve watched because I haven’t seen nearly as many as you. Yeah. But they’re pretty darn good. You know, it’s all practical.   No CGI. So it’s all done with makeup and prosthetics and stuff. And it’s good. And and she just ends up laying there on the lawn and is dead. And then, the other folks, the other kids that are still inside, I think it was Duke and Denise, the French girl, they go off and start having sex. They go off and start having sex in a bedroom. And so Bobby, the other guy is alone, and I feel like maybe he hears something, so he goes to the door. And immediately, he gets, like, a meat cleaver or a machete to the face, and, like, you know, almost cuts his cuts his head almost perfectly in half.   And then immediately, I mean, like within seconds after that, we get one of the classic Friday 13th kills where Denise is on top of Duke and they’re having sex, of course, in a bed and they’re naked, and they get speared through both of them and it goes all the way through the bed and you see the spear coming down through the bed. And I feel like that was recreated almost exactly in one of the Friday 13th films. And then, I understand why. You know, it’s it’s gross and scary and and effective. The thing that I you know, looking back on it now, I enjoyed the part with the kids because it was reminiscent of the movies that I watched when I was a kid. I liked the Friday and I still do. I like the Friday 13th series. It’s not the smartest series, but creative and interesting kills.   And so I appreciated those elements. But I also, having watched it and then going to read about it, I almost felt like this part of the plot was just inserted 

Clip:  Yeah. 

Craig:  So that they could have more kills. I mean, it’s really there it’s it’s completely inessential. And when it comes right down to it, I didn’t realize it was Frank’s house. I was thinking that it was the countess’s estate that they broke into. But you’re right, it was Frank’s house. So, you know, it was fun to watch, but really Frank could have just showed up and said, get out of here.   Yeah. You know? Yeah. Exactly. There was really there was really no   reason to slaughter these kids, but it was fun to watch. 

Todd:  Well, you’re right. And and in that case, the slaughters themselves become kind of a red herring because you think, okay. Well, maybe we’re dealing with a serial killer who doesn’t have a motive, or maybe these kids are finding out what they shouldn’t or whatnot. But you’re right. It was totally unnecessary for these guys 

Clip:  to die. 

Todd:  Yeah. You could cut them out of the film completely, and the only thing that we wouldn’t have is bodies to discover later. That is it. Exactly. But, you know, the way that this was filmed was still really quite good. I thought that when Hilda is running back to the house, he really gets this effect that she’s being pursued by shadows. You know, instead of of showing us the legs of the killer, the arms of the killer, kind of behind her, you just every now and then in the foreground crossing like as say, maybe she’s in the background running, in the foreground, you see just like a shadow go across, you know, something, a tree or or a piece of furniture or something. It does a really good job, I thought, of creating this tension and this pursuit without ever showing you a little bit of the killer’s body, you know.   It was it was pretty well filmed, I thought. And especially so, considering apparently they weren’t really in a very wooded area, you really get the sense that she’s going through the woods from one location to this house, and then gets hacked right there in the yard, and then is left there in the yard almost to morning. Then, you know, nobody notices. It’s it’s it’s really, again, that really bleak kind of slasher movie feel to it. And something that might confuse people as they’re watching this is that there’s a lot of day for night shooting going 

Craig:  on here. A lot. I noticed that too. 

Todd:  Yeah. So there are times when you think maybe it’s it’s the sunrise or you maybe think that it’s morning again, but actually then the next shot you see is clearly night and so you realize that previous shot was just a day for night. So that it it honestly, it’s not that confusing once you get adjusted to it, but, but it is there. 

Craig:  Yeah. And and I would say, you know, like like we said, you know, this is kind of a predecessor of, the American slasher films that we got in the early eighties especially. It that chase scene in particular reminded me it did remind me of Last House on the Left. Mhmm. And it also reminded me of, I Spit on Your Grave. Okay. It it had a similar quality, and I’m sure that that has to do a lot with the time period and and and the film that they had available, but it was really reminiscent of those. Yeah.   And it and it was it was suspenseful. You know? It was it was good. You know? I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I I figured she was gonna get killed. I figured all these kids were gonna get killed. The second I saw them the second I saw them, I knew they were all dead meat. And and and that was, you know, that was fine. I and like you said earlier, there’s really nobody likable in the movie, so you’re kind of waiting for people, to get killed.   And and it pays off in spades. You do get some very bloody, very gory and violent kills. And then I feel like, so Mrs. Fazati, you know, is doing more tarot readings and it’s all very heavy handed that you’re seeing like the death card and whatnot. But then we cut to that couple who we saw watching, Simon and Apollo, and it turns out that they are Albert and Rene. And Rene, the woman, is the daughter of the miss of, of the countess’ missing husband. And they they they have kids. I mean, it’s just like, it’s kind of a throwaway thing.   Oh, oh, we’re we’re leaving the kids in the camper. And and you got to see the kids’ silhouette in the camper, and they go off. And they go to talk to who do they go to talk to? Do they go to talk to the Fazatis, mister and, like, Apollo and Anna? 

Clip:  Is that who 

Craig:  they go to talk to? They go to talk 

Todd:  to the Fazatis. Yes. 

Craig:  It turns out that, the countess’ husband, who was Rene’s dad, had planned Todd turn turn the bay and the countess’s estate into a resort, but she didn’t want to do that, and they think that maybe that’s why she ended up dead. And they, if I remember correctly, they kind of suggest, Renny says that she’s just there to find her missing dad because her dad has been missing since the countess, died. She says she’s there, but they kinda suggest that maybe she’s there to claim the inheritance of the estate. 

Clip:  Inheriting isn’t always so easy. Maybe Frederica’s will leaves everything to her illegitimate son. Her illegitimate son? Your stepmother did have her brighter moments. Didn’t you know that Simon is the offspring of her secret affair? Uh-huh.   But who is this son?   Oh, he’s a fellow who lives here in the shack on the bay. He’s part watchman, part fisherman, and even part petty thief. Anh, 

Craig:  who is the squid biter.   Simon’s squid biter. 

Todd:  That sounds like a great film. 

Craig:  So yeah.   That sounds like a good movie on its own. We should watch that one next. So Renny and Albert are gonna go see Simon. Well, when they go to see him, we see that Frank has been visiting Simon and is now leaving, and actually gets out of there before Renny and Albert realize he’s there. And as he’s leaving, he says to Simon something like, Well, we’ll settle tomorrow. So we know there’s something going on with Frank and Simon. We don’t know what. We know that Frank wants to get his hands on the estate, so there’s something going on there.   And so the so Renny and Albert are talking to Simon and they’re asking about the dad. They follow him out to the docks in the bay, and he’s like, nope. I don’t know anything. And then Renny just kinda looks off to her side and sees something moving under a tarp and she throws the tarp aside and underneath the tarp is her dad is her dead decaying dad with a squid on his face. And and she’s like, I thought you said you didn’t know what happened. And Simon’s like, oh, I found him in the sea. Like, oh, wait. Yeah.   I just I forgot to mention I found him. That it’s not suspicious at all. And that’s really no. Not suspicious at all. Then, Albert and Renny go to Frank’s cabin where Albert goes off somewhere. I don’t remember where he goes, but he leaves, Renny there. 

Todd:  I think it was another one of hey, you go get the car moments. 

Craig:  Yes. Yes. Yes. And Renny goes to the bathroom like she’s been sick or something, and she’s, like, washing her face and she sees in the reflection of the mirror behind her all those dead kids that we saw before. And then Frank tries to attack her with an axe. 

Todd:  Doctor. Yeah. 

Craig:  Doctor. And at this point, I was like, What? Like, Frank is the killer? What is happening? Like, 

Clip:  I 

Craig:  had no idea. And like, so he tries to attack her with an ax, and she’s like holding him off from the other side of a door. And she’s in the bathroom, and she sees these great big long scissors. And, like, she stabs him with the scissors. 

Todd:  Through the door. 

Craig:  Through the door. Yeah.   And it looked to me like he was dead. Like, I thought she had killed him. I’m like, wait a second. Does stabbing somebody in the leg kill them? Like, I I was really confused. And and really, I guess that kind of leads up. I I would say at this point, there’s maybe 20 minutes of the movie left, and, everything just all of the intrigue starts getting explained at this point. And it’s super, super convoluted. 

Clip:  Yeah. 

Craig:  But it makes sense. Yeah. I mean, like, it’s not like it’s so convoluted that it doesn’t make sense. It’s just like, oh, okay. We’re dealing with all terrible people. There is there is no good guy in this movie.   Yeah.   So I I don’t know. Tell the folks how it all plays out. 

Todd:  Alright. So, Paul eventually oh, there was an earlier scene where Paul’s wife had been looking for Paul, and he was missing. I think this was shortly after the teenagers were murdered. And, when she looks into his office, his little beetle is stabbed with a with a pin. I thought that was 

Craig:  Oh, Todd.   I didn’t even notice that. 

Todd:  Oh, you that was a really I I you know, again, a little troubling, injury to animals thing because that wasn’t a mechanical beetle, you know, and I think Right. Mario I read that Mario Baba really regretted that moment. It seems like this is a common thing for these giallo pictures. Wasn’t there another one that we saw earlier where somebody had stabbed a a salamander or something to the ground with a pin as well? 

Craig:  Yes. Yes. You’re right. 

Todd:  Later regretted doing that. I mean so Paul pops in, and he finds Frank’s body. And again, Frank’s I think he’s laying there with his eyes open, seems completely dead, so he runs out. And then, the daughter now this is the point where we realize that, Renny is completely and utterly doesn’t care who dies, she she’s got this bloodlust. All she wants is the inheritance and the money. She tells Albert to hunt, Paul down and kill him because he’s he’s seen this. And, actually, the only guy who’s even somewhat good in this is Albert, who’s the only one who seems to have any qualms about killing anybody. 

Clip:  Hurry before he calls the police. Stop me before he ruins everything, Albert.   I can’t just how am I going to   Go on. Move. Go ahead. 

Todd:  And he runs off, and does kill him. Paul’s wife is prowling around, and she gets her head cut off, you know. Actually, it’s a pretty cool scene. And you don’t know initially who’s doing it, and you’re thinking wait a minute. That doesn’t make sense, like why did she die? And it is a close-up of her neck, like after the head is cut off spurting blood. And as it falls forward, there is a it’s basically like a breaking pot, and it’s a shot of the kids that we had left in the trailer. That just came out of nowhere. It was like this sudden reminder.   Oh, yeah. By the way, there are still kids in a trailer over here. And Mhmm. You know, they’re goofing off in the but it was a it was a really cool transition. This movie actually has quite a few really cool, transitions and that’s one of them. Then Albert comes back to meet Renny and she makes a comment to him and it turns out it’s it she must have killed the wife. Right. She’s killed the wife.   He’s killed the husband. So now they think that they’re fine. All they have to do now is get rid of Simon. So they go down to, the cabin Todd get rid of Simon. But at this moment then, it switches to a gas station, and Laura, who we haven’t seen since the very beginning of the movie, she’s Frank’s secretary, is getting gas pumped, and she’s making a phone call. And Frank, you know, obviously, nobody answers at Frank’s house because everybody at Frank’s house is dead. So she gets in the car and returns, comes into Frank’s house, and Frank starts crawling towards her. He’s not dead after all.   This is the only part of the movie that I was like, what? Of course this guy was dead. Like, 3 people have discovered this guy’s dead body. He he hasn’t been moving, you know. His his eyes are open. Does he sleep with his eyes open? Was he playing possum? I don’t know. But in any case, he decides to crawl towards her and, he tells her to go get Simon. So even as he’s dying and he needs help, all this guy cares about is the bae, and getting Simon so that he doesn’t get killed as well. I mean, he knows what’s gonna happen, and he still wants his man, his hands on this bay. 

Craig:  Right. 

Todd:  Anyway, so she goes down to the cabin, and finds Simon. And this is, again, this is the this is the big explanation moment. Yep. And we see the weapon in Simon’s hand. A lot of what has been doing many of these killings is this, like, sickle type machete. It’s like a machete, but it has kind of a a a a corner to it at the top. 

Craig:  Yep. 

Todd:  And, we get this we get the explanation from her and him also through some flashback, which is kinda nice. It breaks up a little bit of the action, and we see what’s happened previously. And in a nutshell, what had happened? What I don’t know. You explain it, man. Can you explain it? 

Craig:  Well, I don’t know. I hope so. Okay.   So so Simon says to her 

Clip:  You finally came back to the bay.   What do you mean?   You and Ventura convinced Donati to murder my mother.   Your mother? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know this.   Don’t you play innocent with me? No. You no good, filthy whore.   Listen, Simon.   You made the naughty killer. No. You wanted to marry him, you slut. You were even ready to screw Ventura.   No, Simon. You’ve got it all done. Shut up,   you bitch. You thought you could take my mother’s place, didn’t you? No. But I’m going to kill you like I did tonight. I have nothing to do with it. 

Craig:  And then we get these flashbacks where we see both Frank and Laura had met with the countess and had tried to negotiate with her, but she was unbudging. And then we get another flashback where you know, I think Donati would be in for it, but I don’t think I can convince him. He seemed, you know, we’ve been at parties with him. He seemed to, like, take a liking to you, so you need to seduce him. And she claims to Simon that she didn’t wanna do that, but she was kind of pressured into it by Frank. And so we get another flashback where we see Laura and the countess’s husband, Donati, and he’s like they’re in a car and he’s trying to, you know, make the move on her and she’s like, no. No. No.   Not unless you do this deal or whatever. So it turns out that she kinda did seduce him and tried to get him into this. And then there was something that I didn’t really understand. 

Todd:  About the diary? 

Craig:  Well, no. The diary I understood. Okay. So so I thought that because there was a suicide note. From the very beginning there was a suicide note from the countess. And we see in one of these flashbacks that, Laura sees this diary and she swipes it. Now what I thought that she was doing was that she was trying to get it so that she could mimic the handwriting. But as it turns out, there was an entry in the diary that said something like, life is just isn’t worth it anymore.   It’s all over it for me. You know, it wasn’t, it wasn’t a suicide note at all, but it sounded enough like a suicide note that it was dated February 13th. And he’s like, next February 13th, we’re gonna get her killed or whatever. And and that’s what they did, and that’s why the authorities thought that it was, a suicide. What I didn’t understand was somehow Frank, after the countess and her husband were killed, somehow Frank blackmailed Simon. Did you catch how that because what I remember seeing was that, like, Simon dumped a body in the bay 

Clip:  Mhmm. 

Craig:  And then Frank said something like, oh, I can make this all go away. All you have to do is sign the papers, and he did. What do you do you know what that was? 

Todd:  No. I’m not quite sure. My thought was perhaps because Simon didn’t have anything to do with killing the stepfather, but as far as we could tell, but maybe they had him do the dirty work and then use that to blackmail because at the end of the day I don’t know. I think there’s a lot of implication here. And and it could be taken a couple different ways. It could be taken that Simon was really happy that all this happened and was more than willing to help get rid of the body, but, in exchange for, you know, for all that, he had to sign over the property. Or it could also be that Simon’s the illegitimate son of this woman, and he’s not living in the house with her. There’s something earlier on about how and and it’s also in her gaze upon his cabin.   He he’s living in this crummy little cabin on the edge of the lake and it’s kind of the family shame basically. And so there’s apparently a lot of guilt and stuff. So it could also be claimed that now that both of those people are out of the way and everything falls to Simon, that Simon can have all the money that he needs to leave the bay and leave this life behind. All he has to do is sign his inheritance over to Frank and then they will give him the money, basically, a huge chunk from it. And that’s what I think it was. He wanted to get out, he wanted to get away, but he didn’t have any money. And by signing over the inheritance, he got that, and was able to leave, leave and and start a new life. That that was my idea, but I don’t think again, that was my idea.   I don’t think it was ever completely spelled out. 

Craig:  And it doesn’t matter because just then everybody dies. Simon that’s right. You know, Laura and Simon are having this tense exchange, and and she takes a pot of boiling water off the stove and throws it in his face. And you think she’s gonna get away, but she doesn’t. He Simon attacks her and strangles her, and and she’s dead. But then Albert shows up, I guess. 

Todd:  Well, he kills Laura. 

Craig:  He kills her, and then and then Albert shows up and kills Simon with a spear Suddenly. As Renny watches. 

Todd:  Suddenly. I mean, it’s it’s like Simon, like, finishes killing Laura. He walks out the door, and he the door is barely closed behind him when suddenly the spear goes through him right right into the wall outside the cabin. Uh-huh. Right? It’s crazy. 

Craig:  Yes. And and and again, I I think I’m very reminiscent of Friday 13th. I think this may be the second kill that they almost copied identically because the imagery was so familiar to me. Yeah. It is Albert, right, as as Renny watches. And then Albert and Renny pull a body out from the bay. Again, I wasn’t really sure who that was. Do you know? No.   I I I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.   It could’ve,   but Todd doesn’t matter. Another teenager. Who knows? So Renny and Albert are alone in one of the houses, and all the lights go out. And Renny says, Albert looks out, and the lights, and the lights are out. And it’s Frank and Frank attacks attacks Albert and they struggle and the winner of the struggle gets up and you don’t know who it is. Renny’s standing there looking at them, but you’re not sure which one wins. And then it cuts to a scene in full daylight outside, and it’s Albert and Renny, and they are burning the documents. I guess the documents that Frank and Simon had signed, signing it over to Frank.   They’re burning the documents, they have won, everybody else is dead, they are Todd, you know, they’re like, oh, I do it all over again for our children. And then you just see the barrel of a shotgun pointed at them, and it goes off, and they both go down like they’re both dead from this shock shot. And I swear to Todd, this is my favorite part of the movie. If I had any qualms about the movie whatsoever, like, this just wipes them all away.   It it it it cuts to a   shot of these 2 kids in this camper pointing the gun at their parents who they’ve just shot. And one of them, it’s a boy and a girl, and one of them says, 

Clip:  geez, they’re good at playing dead, aren’t they? Hey. Let’s go down to the bay. 

Craig:  And then these 2 kids just frolic off to the bay. Boldly pretty simple. The music plays, and and that’s the end. 

Todd:  Oh, and I have to say, 

Craig:  I thought that ending was freaking hilarious. Like, it was so out of left field. It didn’t make any sense at all, but it was actually kind of nice to see these people who had been so ruthless kind of get their come up ends. Like, I was like,   yeah. Yeah.   But it’s it I mean, it’s utterly ridiculous. But I I felt like that was the perfect cap for the movie. Because really, in hindsight, the whole movie is ridiculous. And so then to end it with something that’s just kinda so over the top and Todd really was. Watching 

Todd:  It really was. Watching this movie is so much like watching a slasher because at the end of the day, the, enjoyment that, I guess, I could say that you’re getting out of the movie isn’t really figuring out the plot. It’s really just who’s gonna get it next and how are they gonna get it, you know, and and maybe who did it. But it’s not a a detective story like like we like we’ve explained. Everybody did it. Everybody was nasty. Everybody deserved what was coming to them. The only 2 incidents in this whole movie are the children. 

Craig:  Who didn’t blow their parents away at   the end of the movie. 

Todd:  Now Renny, beautiful woman, she is actually a former miss France from about, I don’t know, 5 almost almost, 12 years before this. And her name is Claudine Auger, and you might recognize her also as the Bond girl in thunderball. 

Clip:  She Ah. 

Todd:  Just just a few years before this, she was, she was in that movie. So, you know, it’s got it’s got a few names in it. 

Craig:  Christopher Lee, I was reading, 

Todd:  was a big fan of Baba’s. He had been in a movie of his of a few years before, this movie came out and was really excited to go see this film when it premiered at Cannes or something like that. And so he went to see the premiere, and he was utterly disgusted by it. He thought Mhmm. 

Craig:  He just walked out, didn’t he? 

Todd:  Yeah. And a lot of critics felt that way. A lot of critics, at the time were just like, all this this movie is about is watching people die and really dwelling on their gruesome deaths. Of course, later on, we get a whole genre based on that. So nobody’s Oh, yeah. Nobody’s terribly shocked by it, But I can you know, if you transport yourself back to the time and especially to see a movie like this come out of a of a well respected director who just kind of takes a huge left and does this kind of thing. You can imagine that it probably got some mixed reviews and and, you know, people didn’t really know what to think of it at the time. But, again, as we’ve been saying, the fingerprints of this film are all over the movies that have followed it.   I mean, all over. 

Craig:  Oh, yeah. 

Todd:  So it’s pretty significant. I’m really glad we watched it. I’m really glad Ryan recommended it. 

Craig:  Me too. 

Todd:  It’s it’s not my favorite giallo movie, because it doesn’t have a lot of those elements that I really like about Giallo. But, it has enough of it. And again, it’s just it’s just a fun movie to watch and it’s really well made. I mean it again, very skilled director. This isn’t a hack job film. It’s a guy who’s clearly very skilled working within a budget and again, like I said before, he makes great use of his limitations and the cinematography is so interesting. It’s different and it’s stylish and it adds to the suspense. So many times when a person just like opens the door and bam, they’re killed.   It it shocks you and it doesn’t just shock you because of that, but it shocks you because of what came before it. Oftentimes, it’s this like slow pan of the camera through the house showing you what this guy is doing and then what this guy is doing and then what this guy is doing and what this guy is doing is going to the door and suddenly boom, he’s dead. Really cool or really really good. There’s a lot to like about this movie. 

Craig:  Yeah. I agree. I can’t say that I loved it, but as a fan of horror, I’m I’m really glad to have seen it because it feels like an artifact. Like, I I feel like, if you were to take a class on the history of horror, this would definitely be on the syllabus. Like, it it really seems like it paved the way for a lot of what we got in the eighties. And, you know, those are the movies that I grew up with, and those are the movies that I loved. And I think that they owe, a great debt of gratitude, to this movie. Who knows how things would have turned out of this or or something like it, hadn’t come around.   And, you know, it’s got a huge fan base. You know, people people love this movie. You know, they are huge fans of this movie. Would it be something that I would sit down and watch again? I don’t know. Maybe. You know, we’ve we’ve watched other movies that I’ve said, you know, I I don’t need to see this again. But this one had enough intrigue and and as I’m sure our listeners know at this point, there were a lot of things that I was still kinda left scratching my head about. Mhmm.   And I think that maybe upon a second or third viewing that some of those things might become a little bit clearer. So, overall, I I would say yeah. Again, thank you, Ryan, for for suggesting it because, as a fan of horror, I’m glad to have seen it. 

Todd:  Yeah. Me too. Me too. Well, thank you again listeners for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend. You can, like us on Facebook. You can find our podcast on iTunes, on Stitcher, on Google Play. Please share it with anyone you think might be interested, and also reach out to us on social media and let us know if there are any movies you would like us to review in the future.   Until that time, I’m Todd. 

Craig:  And I’m Craig. 

Todd:  With 2 Guys and a Chainsaw.