The Bay (2012)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

As scientifically accurate as The Flintstones. But at least the acting wasn't very good! Seriously though, the people behind this terrible "found footage" film did absolutely zero research into anything. No government entity or service provider in the film performs as they normally would in such circumstances. The "cause" of the outbreak is, literally, just a jumbled mish mash of hot button eco issues. It is the film equivalent of someone running down a deserted street yelling "synergy" and truly thinking that's a good marketing campaign for jeans. The only "reality" to be found here is that small town mayors can be dumb and microscopic organisms can indeed kill us. Outside of that, they might as well have had Scooby and the Mystery Machine as the central figure in the movie.There is nothing plausible or intelligent about this movie.

While many found footage films rely on gimmicky things too hard to believe, The Bay covered all its bases to ensure it was a truly gripping and horrifying mockumentary.From the beginning we have the scientists trying to warn the people, the elites trying to cover it up and keep the profits flowing, the farmers not taking care of their sewage properly, an ancient creature that actually exists on this earth, the news crew that was filming (not some random teen deciding to film a trip in the woods). The sum of all of these things left you truly feeling that this could have actually happened and the government is covering it up.The only thing I wish had been different is the ending, though I had no real problem with it, personally would have done it different.

Found footage films are my favourite sub-genre of horror, and they're cropping up more and more given the ubiquity of cellphone cameras and tablets. "The Bay" takes this phenomenon to heart, as nearly all of it was shot to mimic a typical cellphone vid. For the most part, it works, and for this, "The Bay" is a horror movie worth your time.This movie is not without its weaknesses, however. The found footage sub-genre is a tricky beast. At its best, it offers the viewer a sense of authenticity which can be easily botched if the actors are too self-aware.Which they are in this film.Our lead, a 30+ communications major from "America University" (?!!) has a tediously simpery voice while every other actor constantly spouts interjections ("uh, well, err, you know") into their dialogue, to try to make the "found footage" feel more real. But it doesn't work because the actors take it too far. When the lead isn't halfheartedly asking her cameraman "Was that too much?" or "Did I come off too strong?" during every of her interviews with the citizens of town, we have a marine biologist constantly deriding the accent of the one other scientist. This was meant to come off as cheeky joking between colleagues, but it's just snarky and gets in the way of the plot.The doctors in this film constantly question one another after hearing a statistic ("Twenty people died today." -- "What?" -- Stare.) It's all fake, distracting, and pale attempts at characterization. To be fair however, I liked it when the lead runs a circle around the fountain. Easily the best part of the movie. Acting" aside, there are some good shock-scares in this film, which the found footage quality does add to. The parasites are creepy crawly (spray painted roaches?) and are based on a real life horror called "cymothoa exigua." Look the creatures up online and smile the thin grin of death: nature has presented you with a monster more frightening than anything Hollywood could ever dream up.The film's message is that no matter how badly we poison her with our unsustainable, destructive way of life, the earth and its inhabitants will adapt to whatever environmental changes we make, and live on. The film's creatures are mutated by chicken excrement, laced with steroids to artificially augment growth. If it sounds disgusting, destructive, and dangerous, it is. And it's happening right now-- all for a profit.Hope those "McNuggets" were worth it.

The Blair Witch Project cursed us with found footage and the whole raft of truly awful films. So when I discovered it was a found footage film my heart sank and the TV presented saying "there is something in the water that does not want to stay in the water" my heart further sank I thought we would have Godzilla on found footage. This is more of a horror documentary which does not overdose on gore, I watched the awful Into the Storm which made the mistake of having a really flimsy sub plot which did not work, The Bay has no real sub plot but has a claustrophobic terror and a few jolts such as when the creature jumps from the fish's mouth, the blood dropping down onto the reporter and the woman in the back of the police car. This is an excellent concept and although classed as found footage does not go overboard with jerky camera work.