The Bay (film)

Last updated
The Bay
The Bay (film).jpg
Theatrical film poster
Directed by Barry Levinson
Screenplay byMichael Wallach
Story byBarry Levinson
Michael Wallach
Produced byBarry Levinson
Jason Blum
Steven Schneider
Oren Peli
StarringWill Rogers
Kristen Connolly
Kether Donohue
Frank Deal
Stephen Nunken
Christopher Denham
Nansi Aluka
CinematographyJosh Nussbaum
Edited byAaron Yanes
Music by Marcelo Zarvos
Production
companies
Distributed by Lionsgate
Roadside Attractions
Release dates
  • September 13, 2012 (2012-09-13)(TIFF )
  • November 2, 2012 (2012-11-02)(United States)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million [1]
Box office$1.6 million [2]

The Bay is a 2012 American mockumentary horror film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Michael Wallach, based on an original story created by the duo. It stars Kether Donohue, Nansi Aluka, Christopher Denham, Frank Deal, and Kristen Connolly and premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in theaters on November 2, 2012. [3] [4] To date, it is Levinson's only horror film.

Contents

Plot

The opening text explains the footage shown in the film was confiscated by the U.S. government until an anonymous source leaked it for the entire world to see.

Claridge, a town located on Maryland's Eastern Shore, thrives on its water supply. However, the nearby chicken farm has come under fire for polluting the Chesapeake Bay due to the dumping of chicken excrement and other toxins into the water. As rookie reporter Donna Thompson covers a local Fourth of July celebration, dozens of citizens fall violently ill and exhibit severe lesions. Dr. Jack Abrams, the head of the Atlantic Hospital, is overwhelmed with patients and contacts the Centers for Disease Control, who initially believe the issue to be caused by a viral outbreak. The town descends into chaos as people begin dying en masse within hours. Several citizens, including a teenager named Jennifer, use FaceTime to report bizarre symptoms, including the feeling of bugs in their bodies.

Months beforehand, two oceanographers discovered high toxicity levels in the bay. After encountering multiple eviscerated fish eaten from the inside out, they realized that the true culprit was massive, mutated tongue-eating lice. The isopods have evolved to affect humans due to the high volume of chicken excrement dumped into the bay, the chickens having been fed steroids to promote rapid growth. Because of this, the isopods proliferate tremendously, killing off millions of fish and causing 40% of the bay to become lifeless. The lesions result from the isopods eating their hosts from the inside out. The oceanographers attempted to alert city authorities, but the mayor, John Stockman, ignored the warnings. A swarm of fully-grown isopods eventually killed the oceanographers, and their bodies were discovered shortly before the film's events.

The Talmet family sail to Claridge, unaware of the danger as the town has been forcibly quarantined and local law enforcement has shut down cell towers. Unbeknownst to the family, the isopods have affected wife Stephanie's parents. Meanwhile, two deputies, Jimson and Paul, answer a call concerning someone screaming in pain; in a digitally enhanced audio recording, Jimson encounters an infected family begging to be killed. Having gone insane from seeing what has happened, he euthanizes them and subsequently murders Paul after one of the isopods bites him. After being confronted by Stockman and Sheriff Lee Roberts, the lesion-covered Jimson kills Roberts and himself. Stockman attempts to flee in Roberts' police car, only to be killed in a car accident.

The CDC eventually learns that the water in Claridge likely has a considerable radioactive rating, which had gone unreported. The CDC contacts the White House upon learning about the mutated isopods. Dr. Abrams is told that no additional help is forthcoming and that he and the staff should evacuate. Abrams reveals that he is the sole surviving staff member at the hospital but refuses to leave. Upon realizing that he, too, is now infected, he uses his final hours to document the mass of dead bodies within the hospital, among whom is Jennifer. Meanwhile, the CDC contacts the Department of Homeland Security, who reveal that they themselves had received the report about the oceanographers but did not report it immediately due to not wanting to cause undue panic; they write off the chaos as happening in a "small town" and refuse to offer help.

Donna and her cameraman, Jim Hoyt, continue to document the carnage despite her station's blog being shut down by the FBI. Donna, in narration, reveals that after fleeing Claridge, she never reported anything else and that Jim later died. The Talmets arrive to find the town mostly deserted, with corpses littering the street. Horrified, they manage to contact a friend Bill on Skype to ask for help. However, Alex, who swam in the bay earlier, realizes he has lesions on his neck when Bill points them out. He quickly dies from isopods crawling out of his neck, while Stephanie is able to escape unharmed with their infant son Andrew. They are frightened by a still-living woman hiding in a police car who begs for help before Stephanie hits her, accidentally snapping her neck.

Years later, Donna leaks the gathered footage, revealing that the government managed to kill the isopods by filling the water with chlorine; they then covered up the incident as the result of "unusually high water temperatures" and paid off the few survivors (including Donna) in exchange for silence. She then reveals that Stephanie is still living but refused to participate in the film. The movie ends with shots of civilians innocently enjoying the water of the bay, unaware of the dangers, as 40% of the bay remains lifeless.

Cast

Production

The film came about as a result of a documentary Levinson was asked to produce about problems facing the Chesapeake Bay. [5] Although Levinson chose to abandon the documentary upon learning that Frontline already covered the same issue, Levinson instead decided to use the research to produce a horror film which he hoped would shed light on the issues facing Chesapeake. [5] As such when promoting the film he noted that it's "80 percent factual information." [6]

According to script writer Michael Wallach, the script originally started out as a short story about a young couple who comes across a dead town. After having pieced together what happened from footage scattered across town, they realize the town had not fully died yet. [7] Levinson was happy with the script, and sent Wallach the movie JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America and asked if the movie could be made into a documentary. [7]

Levinson chose to use the found footage format after thinking about the Pompeii disaster [5] and noting that if such a disaster happened today there would be much more evidence of what happened with him telling Yahoo! "For the very first time in history, you can get a picture of that town, if you collect all the footage from everyone's cell phones and their digital cameras and the Skypes, and the texting and everything else" [6] A byproduct of the format was that much of the footage was able to be shot by the actors themselves as opposed to a more traditional camera crew. According to Levinson roughly one third of the film was shot this way. [5]

Though the film is set in Levinson's home state of Maryland, it was shot on locations in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Reception

The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with a 76% approval rating and an average rating of 6.6 out of 10 on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 82 reviews. [8] The website's critical consensus states that "Barry Levinson's eco-horror flick cleverly utilizes familiar found-footage methods in service of a gruesome yet atmospheric chiller." It also holds a score of 65 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 20 reviewers. [9] David Cox of The Guardian awarded the film five out of five, and called it a "horror film for grown ups". [10] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times , however, was less positive, awarding the film two-and-a-half out of a possible four, stating "Although there are some scary moments here, and a lot of gruesome ones, this isn't a horror film so much as a faux eco-documentary". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Rockwell</span> American painter and illustrator (1894–1978)

Norman Percevel Rockwell was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of the country's culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over nearly five decades. Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter, The Problem We All Live With, Saying Grace, and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his 64-year relationship with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), during which he produced covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations. These works include popular images that reflect the Scout Oath and Scout Law such as The Scoutmaster, A Scout Is Reverent and A Guiding Hand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Troma Entertainment</span> American film production and distribution company

Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, or "B movies", primarily of the horror comedy genre, all geared exclusively to mature audiences. Many of them play on 1950s horror with elements of farce, parody, gore, and splatter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Nelson</span> American actor

Barry Nelson was an American actor, noted as the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akiva Goldsman</span> American screenwriter, director and producer

Akiva Goldsman is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels.

<i>Super 8</i> (2011 film) 2011 American film

Super 8 is a 2011 American science fiction action thriller film written and directed by J. J. Abrams and co-produced by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, and Kyle Chandler and tells the story of a group of young teenagers in 1979 who are filming their own Super 8 movie when a train derails, releasing a dangerous presence into their town. The film was shot in Weirton, West Virginia, and surrounding areas, portraying the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio.

<i>Blood Bath</i> 1966 American horror film by Stephanie Rothman and Jack Hill

Blood Bath is a 1966 American horror film directed by Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman and starring William Campbell, Linda Saunders, Marissa Mathes, and Sid Haig. The film concerns a mad painter of weird art who turns into a vampire-like man by night, apparently as a result of a family curse, and believes that he has found his reincarnated mistress in the person of an avant-garde ballerina.

<i>Homicide: Life on the Street</i> (season 1) Season of television series

The first season of Homicide: Life on the Street, an American police procedural drama television series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between January 31 and March 31, 1993. The show was created by Paul Attanasio, with film director Barry Levinson and television writer and producer Tom Fontana serving as executive producers. Adapted from David Simon's 1991 non-fiction book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, the season followed the fictional detectives of Baltimore Police Department homicide unit and the murder cases they investigate. The show was broadcast on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST, with the exception of the series premiere, which aired immediately after Super Bowl XXVII.

<i>The Collingswood Story</i> 2002 American film

The Collingswood Story is a 2002 American computer screen supernatural horror film written and directed by Michael Costanza, and starring Stephanie Dees, Johnny Burton, Grant Edmonds, and Diane Behrens. Its plot follows a college-aged couple who attempt to maintain their long-distance relationship via video chatting; however, a chance encounter with an online psychic plunges their lives into a world of nightmarish supernatural phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perdue Farms</span> American meat processing company

Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States. Perdue AgriBusiness ranks among the top United States grain companies. Perdue Farms has 2021 annual sales of $8 billion.

<i>Cloverfield</i> 2008 monster film by Matt Reeves

Cloverfield is a 2008 American found footage monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams, and written by Drew Goddard. It stars Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, and Odette Yustman. The plot follows six young New York City residents fleeing from a massive monster and various other smaller creatures that attack the city during a farewell party.

<i>Cujo</i> (film) 1983 film by Lewis Teague

Cujo is a 1983 American horror film based on Stephen King's 1981 novel of the same name and directed by Lewis Teague. It was written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Barbara Turner, and starring Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly and Danny Pintauro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kether Donohue</span> American actress

Kether Donohue is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lindsay on You're the Worst, as a cappella leader Alice in Pitch Perfect, and as the exocomp Peanut Hamper on Star Trek: Lower Decks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radioactive Chicken Heads</span> American virtual band

The Radioactive Chicken Heads are an American virtual band formed in Orange, California in 1993.

<i>V/H/S</i> 2012 American found footage horror anthology film

V/H/S is a 2012 American found footage horror anthology film and the first installment in the V/H/S franchise created by Brad Miska and Bloody Disgusting and produced by Miska and Roxanne Benjamin. It features a series of found footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the filmmaking collective Radio Silence.

<i>Sinister</i> (film) 2012 film by Scott Derrickson

Sinister is a 2012 supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by C. Robert Cargill and Derrickson. It shows Ethan Hawke as a struggling true-crime writer whose discovery of snuff films depicting gruesome murders in his new house puts his family in danger. Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D'Addario appear in supporting roles.

<i>Hollow</i> (2011 film) 2011 British film

Hollow is a 2011 British found footage horror film, directed by Michael Axelgaard, starring Emily Plumtree, Sam Stockman, Jessica Ellerby, and Matt Stokoe. The film was distributed by Tribeca Film via nationwide On Demand outlets. Hollow premiered at Fantasia Festival. The film also screened at the Raindance Film Festival and was nominated for British Independent Film Award.

<i>Shadow People</i> (film) 2013 film written and directed by Matthew Arnold

Shadow People is a 2013 American supernatural horror thriller film written and directed by Matthew Arnold in his feature directorial debut. It stars Dallas Roberts, Alison Eastwood, Anne Dudek, and Mattie Liptak.

<i>The Gallows</i> 2015 American supernatural horror film

The Gallows is a 2015 American found footage supernatural horror film written and directed by Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff. The film stars Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos and Cassidy Gifford.

<i>Downhill</i> (2016 film) 2016 Chilean film

Downhill is a 2016 Chilean thriller film directed by Patricio Valladares and written by Barry Keating and Valladares.

References

  1. ↑ "The Bay After: A Chat With Barry Levinson". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  2. ↑ "The Bay (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  3. ↑ Wong, Tom (September 13, 2012). "TIFF 2012: Barry Levinson's The Bay at Midnight Madness Diaries". Toronto Star . Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Bay Trailer, News, Videos, and Reviews". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on November 6, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Watercutter, Angela. "The Bay Spikes Cellphone Footage With Environmental Horror". Wired. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  6. 1 2 Crow, Jonathan. "Barry Levinson on his environmental horror movie 'The Bay' – 80 percent of this is true". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Exclusive Interview with the Bay Screenwriter Mike Wallach". 23 October 2012. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  8. ↑ "The Bay (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes . Flixster. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  9. ↑ "The Bay". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  10. ↑ Cox, David (February 28, 2013). "The Bay – review". The Guardian . Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  11. ↑ Ebert, Roger (November 7, 2012). "The Bay Movie Review & Film Summary (2012)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.