A Bay of Blood

Master Mario Bava Directs and Shoots another Film that Transfigured and Ignited Horror Cinema in the Decades to come. This is Without Doubt (so many times these sort of proclamations have doubt) the First "Slasher" Film. Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960) can be Sighted as a Spark but without the Fire that Bava sent Blazing.

It's a Sub-Genre of Horror that Survives to this Day. It has Survived Critic and Parental Wrath and Disdain and is one of the most Profitable.

The Movie is Famous for its Body Count (13) that was used in Advertising Campaigns, Bloody Gore, No Redeeming Characters, Excellent Makeup and SFX, Haunting Mood and Cinematography (Bava), Fast Pace, and an Ending that No "Body" saw coming.

Viewed Today it seems Familiar, due to the Hundreds of Imitations and Followups Churned Out in the last 35 Years. Bava's Emphasis Turns to Blood Bathing and Gruesome Gore after He Reinvented the Gothic Gloom Cinema in the Sixties.

He Ushered in the 1970's and Wrote the Training Manual that made a lot of People a lot of Money. Mostly Hacking the Maestro with Little Style and Wit and No imagination with Eyes Only on Box-Office Receipts.

The "Slasher" Genre does have its Restraints with Repetition Punctuating the Pictures and One Upmanship the Order of the Day. Objectively even Bava's Movie is Missing certain Elements of Plot, Character Development and Overall Concern for Complexity. The Checklist Style, Invented here, has made "Slashers" the most Guilty of Guilty Pleasure Exploitation.