Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Black Comedy
Review: Twitch of the Death Nerve is a black comedy. It finds humor in things that wouldn't usually be funny. Bava toys with the cliche's of the genre. Contrary to other reviewers, Twitch of the Death Nerve was not the first body count film. Bava's own Blood and Black was. I saw Blood and Black Lace before this. This has one of most ingenious giallo scripts, on par with Dario Argento's Tenebre. Without Mario Bava there would be no Dario Argento. Yes, Friday the 13th series did copy much of the methods of death in this movie. The ending is the most obvious bit of black comedy, the others deal mostly with the cliche's of the genre. A superb giallo. This has some substance, dealing a lot with human greed. A must-see for die-hard horror fans interested in tracing the evolution of the genre. Yes, the sound is horrible, but as for the movie itself I give it a very high rating. You have to have a black sense of humor to enjoy this. Those who take themselves too seriously should pass.
Rating:
Summary: bava forever
Review: I reviewed this movie a few months ago under one of its many alternative titles - Twitch of the Death Nerve- it seems to have fallen off amazon.com's catalogue but now we have this fab new release under the title Bay of Blood. This frenzied phantasia on ancient evil was banned in my country of birth (UK) and to my knowledge is still not available there uncut. I saw the movie last year at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, What a wonder - See how Sean Cunningham ripped off Bava to create the infintely inferior Friday the 13th ! Bay of Blood echoes those Jacobean revenge tragedies - a gory meditation on all-devouring greed, its characters locked in a bizarre danse macabre of hate and malice, driven by compulsions that all come down to "I want that ! Give it to me!" - if you've ever been involved in a dispute over a family inheritance - this one's for you. And what Bava was able to do with his camera - the angling and prowling and nervous probings into the heart of darkness ---as if the lens were a living animal and Bava its splendid trainer. Essential for fans of Cinema, of Horror, of the real art of moviemaking.
Rating: 
Summary: SOUND PROBLEMS
Review: The movie itself I actually give 5 stars... it's totally fantastic! BUT... did anyone else have problems with the SOUND on this DVD? It's unbelievably screwed up and un-adjustable. It literally makes the DVD unwatchale! It's kind of shocking that anyone would let this happen. Is it a mistake? I would love to get my money back but it's too much of a hassle. Otherwise, this is a GREAT Mario Bava film... really great... go fo a DVD from another company or the VHS copy though.
Rating: 
Summary: If you don't GET it - You won't like it..........
Review: Seeing 90% of Mario Bava's films and liking 80% of them, I sat there wondering, "WHY would Mario even BOTHER to make a film like this ?!?!" Up until the VERY LAST SCENE, did I FINALLY understand WHY he would make a film like this...Because of THAT - I would recomend this to Bava fans...BUT - BAVA FANS ONLY !! I can't see where ANYONE would enjoy this type of feature, with the cheep acting, not so good dubbing, and a SCRATCHY, TERRIBLE sounding audio track ! For a DVD, this has the WORST audio track I have EVER listened to....THAT alone makes the film tough to watch. Plot ??? Easy enough to follow...Just another mad slasher picture - (which was so popular in the 1980s)...So just WHO is doing all the killing ????? We have seen it all before...Bava was the FIRST, though...You can see the similarities in 'Friday The 13th' FOR SURE, just by looking at the opening shots ! Only THIS is done with more style and suspence. So we have a TERRIBLE audio on the dvd, a passable film transfer on the dvd, pretty bad dubbing, cheap acting, poor dialouge, a nice amount of GORE (for THAT time period), and some BAD 70s characteristics !!! BUT - Its entertaining ! If you don't really 'understand' this picture, I'll give you a HINT on HOW to view "Twitch Of The Death Nerve" : Take it as a very DARK comedy...It works !!!!
Rating:
Summary: YOU MAY NOT WALK AWAY FROM THIS ONE!
Review: Mario Bava's movies are like songs by The Beatles: every one of them is a mini-masterpiece that in one way or another changed the way music was made (or in this case, horror movies). With BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, Bava singlehandedly created the giallo, probably THE greatest facet in Italian horror next to the Zombie Holocaust subgenre. But TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE (aka A BAY OF BLOOD, CARNAGE, LAST HOUSE-PART 2, REAZIONE A CATENA (CHAIN REACTION), ECOLOGIA DEL DELITTO (THE ECOLOGY OF MURDER) and ANTEFATTO (BEFORE THE FACT)) is by far the most revolutionary of Mario Bava's horror films. Made in 1972, a banner year for the giallo (Fulci's excellent DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING and Argento's FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET, just to name a few), TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE was the blueprint for the tidal wave of slasher movies in the late '70s and early '80s (e.g., the FRIDAY THE 13TH series, THE PROWLER, MADMAN, THE BURNING). In fact, FRIDAY THE 13TH producer/director Sean S. Cunningham even confirms the fact that all these slasher movies owe a debt to Bava (according to Tim Lucas, the leading expert on Bava, in his commentary for BLOOD AND BLACK LACE)! But on its own, TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE is a darkly funny commentary on greed and the preservation of nature and mostly murder!
There are no likeable characters in TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE. Everybody, from Countess Frederica to those four teenagers, is so dire and self-centered that it's damn near impossible to identify with any of them. But that's what makes it so damn good. Their eventual killings are not so much fueled by greed as by karma. As with a good EC Comic, those who refuse to play nice are gonna get what's coming to them, and boy do these people have it coming to them! Those awesome gore effects, like the spearing and the decapitation, come from none other than Carlo Rambaldi, who did the effects for E.T., ALIEN, POSSESSION, and Argento's DEEP RED, just to name a few. I like the humorously ironic ending; that ending makes TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE the DR. STRANGELOVE of horror movies, but I wouldn't dream of giving away the joke.
Yes, TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE is so evocative and scary (what else would you expect from Bava?) that I can forgive the sound quality for being a little off. I hope Bill Lustig's Blue Underground can secure the rights to Mario Bava's work because this company always does such an excellent job with their DVD releases. I bet that they can clean up and remaster the soundtrack with at least a 2.0 stereo surround mix (or maybe an EX surround and a DTS mix), maybe add a commentary from Lucas among a few extras. They could even give anamorphic enhancement to BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, THE WHIP AND THE BODY, LISA AND THE DEVIL, and HOUSE OF EXORCISM; I'm speculating but I sure hope this will happen in the foreseeable future. But for now, Image Entertainment's DVD, with a glorious anamorphic transfer and trailers for this and other Bava goodies like the aforementioned LISA and EXORCISM, does the trick. In any case, TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, the most influential movie from the founding father of Italian horror, is a definite must-watch for slasher buffs!
Rating:
Summary: Average Film, Atrocious Sound...
Review: I looked forward to this release for a long time, having just missed out on getting the "Bay of Blood" version and being interested in seeing the film that inspired so many rip-offs in the early 80s (especially Friday the 13th - shot for shot in one sequence). I sat down with some expectations, but not too many and what I got was a very boring, killer film with a few excellent setpieces. The film kicked off brilliantly and the first ten minutes were quite something, but then the plot kicked in and the film bogs down and then bogs down some more as we are introduced to a variety of cardboard characters that youn couldn't give a ---- about. It was interesting to see Bond Girl Claudine Auger 7 years on from "Thunderball" though. Being Bava, this has some great sequences (opening titles, the deaths, and an awesome scene involving a nude girl, swimming and some fishing line), the music too is really moody yet cruisy, and the killer is not your usual mad-slasher variety. However, the audio on the DVD is AWFUL!! Characters sound like they're whispering and you turn the volume up, only to have them start shouting and almost shatter your living room windows. The print isn't bad (Not great though), and it has some good extras like an Acid Drenched 70s trailer etc, and best of all a death menu (where you can access all the deaths in the film at a push of a button), but really you can save your money and go and buy a better film than this. Historical curio only.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, shame on image entertainment!
Review: In short, another masterpiece from horror maestro bava and a beautiful widescreen transfer dvd with one litte exception, in terms of sound quality this is the worst dvd ever released!!!
The music is as loud and distorted as each dialogue is low and barely audible unless you have a stadium sound equipment of course. So DON'T BUY IT and go for a vhs or dvd english edition of this one, it's not uncut but the sound is perfectly OK. Shame, shame, shame Image Entertainment!!!
Rating: 
Summary: One Star Off For Cruddy Audio
Review: Italian director Mario Bava (1914-1980) is one of the giants of the horror film genre. Bava's big break into came with his 1960 black and white classic "Black Sunday" starring Barbara Steele. This was only the beginning, as Bava churned out a series of gruesome shockers over the next seventeen years. His films always promised great style mixed with scenes of murder and mayhem. The Bava legacy continued with son Lamberto, one of the guiding lights behind "Demons," an instant cult favorite with gorehounds worldwide. Perhaps Mario's biggest contribution to horror movies was his 1972 picture "Twitch of the Death Nerve," also known as "Bay of Blood." It doesn't take too long to realize "Friday the 13th" shamelessly cribbed from Bava's bloodbath. At least two of the murders in this film appear almost unchanged in the first installment of the Jason Voorhees franchise. That's right: Mario Bava gave birth to the modern slasher film. The Countess Frederica Donati is a wealthy woman who owns most of the land around a beautiful bay. It is quite unfortunate for her that there are many people interested in gaining control of the land in order to build shopping malls or a resort then in keeping the bay in pristine condition. Donati refuses to sell out her interest, however, and this sparks a jealousy and greed with tragic consequences for anyone in the area. Someone will have Donati's land, even if they have to murder anyone who gets in their way. The first murder (there are ultimately thirteen of them'ring any bells? Remember the trailer to the original "Friday the 13th" trailer that counted up the murders?) claims the countess herself, strung up with a noose in a particularly cruel way. Throw in a greedy lawyer and his secretary, an illegimate son who fishes for squid in the bay, a nature lover and his loony, tarot card reading wife, a quartet of kids looking for some fun, and a family of four with a personal stake in the disposition of the bay's land and you have the makings for a non-stop blitz of murder and mayhem. Just when you think you know who the murderer is, Bava throws a curveball and reveals a little more of the background concerning the struggle over Donati's inheritance. By the time you get to the conclusion you have no idea where this thing is going to end up. I am still shaking my head over the last minute of the film, trying to decide if what I saw is the most ridiculous ending in film history or one of the most brilliant. "Twitch of the Death Nerve" may have loads of graphic killings, but it also has one of the most convoluted plots in horror film history. The secondary elements of the film, namely gore, atmosphere, and acting, are all well done for this type of movie. You don't often expect great acting with Italian horror films, and you don't exactly get that here, but it is above average. The atmosphere is spectacular, with lots of fade-ins and outs, excellent use of colors, and an oppressive sense of doom hanging over the entire movie. "Twitch of the Death Nerve" is definitely not made by some yuck with a video camera looking to make a few bucks on the straight to video market. Mario Bava knows how to craft atmosphere and scenery, and he does a great job here. The gore is slightly more problematic, with some scenes really working while others looking decidedly cheesy. Still, the intention is here, as the film possesses a streak of cruelty not seen in many horror films. The biggest difficulty in watching "Twitch of the Death Nerve" falls squarely in the lap of Image Entertainment, the company that released this DVD version of the film. The extras aren't the problem, as there are enough goodies here to satiate every horror aficionado. Image throws in a "murder menu" where you can go straight to the grue, a funky trailer for the film under the title "Carnage" that is one of the most inventive movie trailers I have ever seen, two cheesy radio spots, a biography and filmography of Mario Bava, and trailers for SIX other Bava films released under the Image banner. How can it all go wrong after such a bonanza? It's the sound, my friend. The audio for the film is the worst I've ever heard on a DVD. Dialogue is tinny, drops out with cringing regularity, and then swells up so much I feared my system would explode. In fact, I thought my sound system wasn't working correctly until I saw other reviewers complaining about the sound on the DVD. I cannot imagine any company releasing a product with audio this bad. There is a "Bay of Blood" DVD released under the Scimitar label that supposedly has good audio, but the picture quality on that disc is reportedly mediocre. If we can find a way to transfer that audio track to this disc's picture quality (which is pretty good with a minimum of grain), maybe "Twitch of the Death Nerve" would be the total package. Yes, the audio is THAT bad! What a shame, too. The soundtrack for this film is excellent, with lots of drums and orchestral movements that really add a suspenseful element to the movie. I'm looking forward to seeing other Mario Bava films in the future, hopefully with better sound quality than this. Mario was quite the technician with his films, not only sitting in the director's chair but working on the special effects and scripts as well. He's probably rolling in his grave right now over Image's mutilation of his movie.
Rating:
Summary: The sickle of death is about to strike
Review: And it does so many times in this movie. A double-murder within the first ten minutes of a movie gets the pace going in what has been called the utmost in Mario Bava's ouvre of horror movies. Minutes after Countess Federica is murdered by her husband Filippo Donati, he himself is killed by an unknown person and his body dragged away. Many people then come down to the bay. There's Albert and his wife Renata, the latter being Donati's daughter. Frank Ventura is the scheming architect who wants to turn the bay and the area into some unspecified development project. There are also some teenagers who arrive in a yellow dune buggy and carouse in the abandoned night club by the bay. They are murdered most foully. It is the scene involving these people that served as the guiding inspiration for the Friday The 13th series, you know, brainless teens getting chopped up. But they are quick and brutal, or surprising in one case. Brunhilda, a German girl who looks like Penny Irving (House of Whipcord, Are You Being Served?) has a nice nude swim and a shocking surprise before her demise. She's actually one of the more decent of the four. Of the residents, entomologist Paolo Fosatti, who is too involved in his Coleoptera (that's the taxonomic order of beetles, BTW) than in his complaining, wine-bipping, fortune-telling wife Anna, and when she was alive, Countess Federica, are opposed to turning the bay "into a sea of cement," the former for the insect life, the latter for its natural beauty and serenity. Simon, the Countess's illegitimate son, hunts squid and lives by the bay. This movie is also known as Bay Of Blood, Carnage, The Last House On The Left Part II, Ecology Of A Crime, Reazione a Catena, and Antefatto, so take your pick, but Twitch Of The Death Nerve is the official English title. Whatever the title, this film sports a very high body count and brutal blood flow. Despite the cover boasting it being the uncut version, running 84 minutes, I read in one of my film books that the running time was 90 minutes, so a discrepancy there. The only face I recognized here was Claudine Auger (Renata), who played vivacious Domino in the Bond movie Thunderball. Here though, there is not a shred of decency or compassion in this Lady Macbeth of a woman. Mario Bava's stylish technique on lingering on victims and blood plays a large part here, as does Stelvio Cipriani's piano score, which resembles that of the Rachmaninoff-like love theme in his first movie, Black Sunday. It's difficult to filter out the message of human greed and also that of preserving the environment. Simon says it best: "Man should live and let live and without any interference." When Fosatti points out that the squid he was eating was alive, Simon retorts, "At least I eat my squid. I don't kill as a hobby like you do. If you kill for killing's sake, you become a monster."
Rating:
Summary: Gets 2.5 for being so funny.
Review: Yes Friday the 13th riped-off the idea, but it did it more effectively, and Friday the 13th was actually scary. This one is just another cheezy slasher flick that tries to scare you with gore instead of suspense. This was however one of the funniest horror films ever made. It's not the first body count film, and is incredably predictable, the acting sux, and the gore is laughable, but then again all gore is. It fun watching people get killed and mamed. Sad to say this is how people of this day and age feel about these types of movies. Instead of being grossed out or disturbed by gore, we laugh at it and find it entertaining to see other people suffer and die. But then again this isn't real so it's okay to laugh. Go ahead buy it it and laugh it. Just don't expect anything special.
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