Twitch of The Death Nerve

 

 Twitch of The Death Nerve (Bay of Blood, Carnage) Directed By Mario Bava. Starring Claudine Auger. (1971)

Lately I’ve been trying to see more Mario Bava films, Black Sunday has always been one of my favorites. After seeing the original Friday The 13^th on the big screen, it made a huge impact on me and was more effective then I remembered. It inspired me to check out its originator.

            The trailer for this film under one of its billion alternate titles: Carnage, is one of the best solarized, acid soaked music videos and highly recommended for repeated viewings (it’s on the Mad Ron’s Prevues From Hell DVD). When I sent video comps to friends in the days of videotape trading I would always include it.

            Sean Cunningham blatantly steals from Bava with similar murders, shot scenarios in later Friday sequels a scene where two people having sex are impaled by one long spear. Hooking up with Wes Craven he also borrowed from Bava’s brilliant Rabid Dogs with some forced humiliation (“Piss your Pants” scene).

            Where is that guy now anyway? While Bava remains an innovator of stylistic Technicolor murder who influenced numerous Italian horror directors. Bay Of Blood (or Twitch of the Death Nerve) has the basic storyline and irrelevant dialogue as any other later slasher film. It was however the first to inspire many later ones during the 80’s.

            From the first couple of minutes it’s got gore galore and rampant cruelty as a woman in a wheel chair is hung up and strangled. Mod looking teens frolic naked (shades of Friday the 13^th), and a faceless voyeuristic killer watches from behind the trees. There is a guy in an itchy sweater responsible for some mayhem on the island (he’s the obvious inspiration for the Mrs. Voorhees character). Almost every character is on edge and at each other’s throats! One of my favorite scriptwriters Dardano Sarchetti wrote the story concept and Carlo (E.T., Possession) Rambaldi assisted with the makeup. There’s a genius moment when a guy gets a machete plunged into his face and falls over, reminding me of the axe in the face death from Friday part 1. Highly Recommended and available on Youtube (link)

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