Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Nigel P How it must have been for a horror film fan to be of cinema-going age in the early 1970s – this is another Italian giallo film that was released into the already bulging world in 1971. Directed by Mario Bava, it contains all the hallmarks – beautiful locations, beautiful people - and someone dressed in black who is killing them all, one by one.Bava is lauded as an inspirational to many more modern film-makers, which is great. I find his work a little hit-or-miss. Perhaps his reputation goes against him for me; I try not to read reviews of any kind before I've seen a film, but it is difficult to avoid Bava's status. Perhaps if he were not so revered, I'd (unfairly) be more open to appreciate his work.That said, this unquestionably contains some gruesome moments and handsome set-pieces for the growing number of killings. Stelvio Cipriani's very rhythmical soundtrack plays its part in cultivating the unnerving moments too.As always with Bava, colour is very important. Garish and lurid, even when muted by day-for-night, it presents my main issue with his work. It is too stylised, giving a stage-bound feel, even on location. Such starkness also robs the sumptuous locations of their natural atmosphere and charms.The story revolves around the lengths people will go to safeguard what they as their inheritance. It's a thin plot, hardly elevated by a very contrived ending. As giallos go, it has enough memorable moments to make it worthwhile (my favourite involves daft and giggly Brunhilda (Brigitte Skay) skinny-dipping, when a bloated corpse brushes against her – dissolving into hysterics. Her fate is also soon sealed), but it is far from the most compelling in the genre.

noonward A beautifully shot proto-slasher that's vividly coloured and is rich in meticulously composed dramatic shots. That alone convinces me that Bava didn't create this for a cheap cash grab like so many of the 80s movies that it influenced were. The gore shown is ahead of its time in terms of realism and it really catapulted the idea that violence that ends in a bloody mess (and not just nodding to the idea of brutality) could be enticing to watch. The ending is hilariously sinister, and it certainly undone everything the movie was building on for the last ninety or so minutes, but the spontaneity is perhaps the point of it.The only major problem is that there are too many characters to keep track of which causes the plot to be loose and hard to follow. A synopsis is really required to get more than the gist of it and that signifies quite poor storytelling. Otherwise, endearingly entertaining.

Michael_Elliott Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)**** (out of 4)Mario Bava's landmark film can now be considered one of the very first slashers and of course a major influence on Friday THE 13TH. The film takes place at a lake-side resort where a variety of people are brutally slaughtered by an unknown maniac. Also known as A BAY OF BLOOD and a dozen other titles, this Bava film mixes the giallo with what would become known as the slasher and the end result is certainly something special and ground- breaking. To say the film was a major influence on the genre to come would be an understatement because there's simply so much going on here that other filmmakers would steal from. Obviously there's the graphic violence, which is scattered throughout the film and this is what got the movie its original reputation. The effects are quite ghastly for their time and especially a couple throat slashings, a memorable beheading and of course a sex scene where two victims are offed at the same time (and later stolen in Friday THE 13TH PART 2). The film is also quite sleazy with not only the gore but a fair amount of nudity and sex. This certainly wasn't the first film to use sex and violence but Bava really puts his own spin on it because the movie just feels so dirty. I say that in a good way because the director adds a certain poetry to the death scenes and he also lingers on them for long periods after the victims are stabbed or whatever else their fate is. Instead of cutting to the next scene Bava just keeps the camera on the victims as they take their last few breathes and this here is quite effective and at times ugly. The film is certainly far from flawless as some of the performances aren't all that impressive and the director goes for way too many zoom shots. With that said, there are enough twists in the story for ten movies and it's constantly catching you off guard. No matter what you call the film there's no question about its importance to the genre and it ranks as one of the best in Bava's career.

Scott LeBrun Mario Bava's highly regarded "Reazione a Catena", which translates as "chain reaction" in English, is rightfully considered one of the principal inspirations for what would become the "body count" horror movie. Here, we have characters often sharing one common trait: unbridled avarice, as they scheme to get their hands on a prime piece of bay side property coveted by all. To meet this end, people are quite willing to kill each other, and any & all potential witnesses to boot. The movie is co-written and photographed by Bava, and it bears the mark of the director's work by being extremely striking visually. Once the haunting music courtesy of Stelvio Cipriani is added, we get an effective melding of soundtrack & image. Right from the start, this aesthetic is stressed with the opening credits. The scenery is certainly beautiful, and the "prowling" camera-work also adds to the experience. It would be fair to say that these elements take precedence over an admittedly fairly simple story. The first nine minutes play out without using any dialogue, and they're riveting. It's hard to forget that image of a squid slithering over a dead body's face. Of course, many adoring horror fans love this movie for its treatment of all cast members as fair game. The gore is very well done - it was the work of future Oscar winner Carlo Rambaldi, who went on to work on such films as "King Kong" '76, "Alien", and "E.T.". If one has seen such slashers as "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" parts 1 and 2 before seeing this film, they'll right away notice how "Reazione a Catena" influenced them. The acting is pretty good, from such principals as Claudine Auger ("Thunderball"), Luigi Pistilli ("The Good, the Bad & the Ugly"), Claudio Camaso ("Vengeance"), Laura Betti ("Hatchet for the Honeymoon"), and Isa Miranda ("The Night Porter"). Brigitte Skay ("Homo Eroticus") supplies some full frontal nudity as a bonus. Overall, this is a fun film, which keeps the carnage going right up until the very end, with a delicious denouement. It may not be among the best of Bava's work, but its status is undeniable and it's nothing if not entertaining. Seven out of 10.