The Bay

Jaws meets Cloverfield in this convincing but unremarkable horror film. While it features a more grounded (heh) premise than your average found footage film, which certainly works in its favor, any sense of immersion is overshadowed and nullified by the cliched structure, flat script and amateurish acting. Far too much time is spent explaining the nature of the threat and not enough on the characters being affected by it. Like Incident at Lake County, it feels like a student project.

As far as found footage movies about viral outbreaks go this one worked rather well, but the element that makes The Bay refreshing is also what hurts it in the end; the threat is rather passive. People either contract the Bad Thing and die offscreen, or they don't and they seem pretty safe from harm. It's realistic, and thank god it didn't have virus-zombies running around, but it won't satisfy if you're looking for thrills. Having a summary of the film's plot two-thirds in was rather insulting.

I found this imitation found-footage film believable and terrifying. There are no standout performances here, but that's really beside the point. It builds slowly, one little piece at a time, to a disturbing conclusion. This is an ecologically conscious horror film, and a very scary one.

The Bay promises a monster movie, a zombie flick, and an outbreak story and delivers on exactly 0 of those things. I wouldn't have enjoyed another stupid found footage zombie movie, but it would at least make sense.

One of the most realistic found footage horror movies I've seen. The Bay gives off a creepy atmosphere, that besides for one scene, relies more on creepy disturbing images rather than jump scares. Of course the movie decided to give plot summaries which don't work, and the end of the reporters story, while fitting for her barely likable character, ends to abruptly.

The music they use for almost all of this sounds like the opening of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. It drove me to madness.

I heard this described as "Jaws for grown ups". It isn't. The mish mash of found footage and lack of characters to identify with, made this entirely uninvolving. Not to mention the very amateurish acting - I'm shocked that a pro like Levinson made this.

Much to my disbelief, this is a decent found footage movie with some good disturbing scenes (especially for any viewer who actually lives near water) and a satisfying amount of detail about the actual cause of the outbreak.

Why is this held up as a overlooked gem by so many horror fans, it's absolutely terrible with maybe two or three decent scenes.

This experience felt as grounded and real as any found footage movie I have seen. The end unsatisfyingly peters out, but that backs up the reality that the movie is striving for.

I really wish we had been given more found footage movies like this. It's a genuinely disturbing mockumentary that captures the uncertainty and terror of a rapid outbreak. It's even more disturbing watching it in 2021.

It's kind of silly to not like a movie because a different movie with a completely different plot did what it does better, but like, Noroi came out 7 years earlier. Noroi was not directed by Barry Levinson. Barry Levinson is a professional filmmaker man who knows better. Noroi owns. The Bay drones. Plus, now that the shit that happens in The Bay is reality, the movie seems quaint. If ONLY we were beset by murderous rolly pollys...oh, The Bay is scary, but so is lead in Flint.

It’s not very well connected, and thus a bit hard to get into, but it’s one of the most realistic films of the genre. It’s also interesting to see such a big director try something so different.

56.3.

Why are you people picking on this nice little movie?

Hope you aren't planning on eating while watching this.

The best you can say about it is to compare it to other found footage movies, but there's not a lot of stiff competition in that realm. Otherwise, it's a relatively decent scare fest of the variety that I completely forget about after a few days. There's a lot of disposable horror movies out there, the world needs them to fill the time between Oscar winners, case in point: when was the last time you thought about "Deep Rising," and so it will be with "The Bay."

Ostensibly an eco-thriller, it also raises questions about the parasitic nature of consumer society. Nit-pickers will find plenty to complain about, though.

Standard found footage ecological disaster created by man horror. Passes time but pretty uninspiring, lacking originality in plot and style and with no particular characters to empathize with.

Would've preferred the footages were strung together by something other than a grainy video-call, and less montage. There's some good stuff amongst it but the dodgy dialogue and amateur acting broke too much.

Solid CGI draped over a layer of solid found footage goodness.

Some of the most truly terrifying, I mean, fucking marrow-chilling moments in recent movie memory. And I've been watching a lot of horror flicks recently too.

The real Zombies are the personnel of the CDC.

wow that was quite above my expectations. hard to describe this as a movie. looks so thrashy, but it's still a mockumentary thriller. more of that in fact. you can sense the essential talent in it. strongly recommended if you're open for experimental stuff.

Engaging during the first half hour, as the viewer tries to make sense of it all, only to be hit with a gigantic fist of ham during the rest of the film. Jump scares abound, with little actual terror to be found. How milquetoast.

Some good moments but the narration kills it.

It started off as a relatively effective eco-mockumentary thriller before eventually devolving into a far-fetched, amateurish, and ridiculous mess.

66.000

A fantastic found footage movie dealing with an outbreak of horrible bugs. Some heavy handed "think of the environment" stuff sets up the causes of the movie. The makeup and effects of the infections were horrifying and the movie walks down into the body horror territory of Cronenberg which always gets me.

Never go In the water again.

There is a lot I like about this film, and a lot I don't. I found the more pathological scenes of the outbreak a lot more interesting (or maybe just more novel) than the horror aspects, which were totally uninteresting and very rarely fit the tone of the mockumentary conceit of the film. And while I'm down with the message behind the film, at times it felt ham-fisted, to the point where it was like they decided to pause the movie briefly to hammer it home and it weakened the film considerably.

Set in my home state, so bonus for that. It was effectively creepy, and a decent use of found footage when that type of film is a dime a freaking dozen.

A decently entertaining outbreak flick with only a handful of genuinely disturbing bits. If you're a big fan of the found footage genre and have some time to kill you might want to check it out, but it's definitely not a must-see and I assume I'll forget all about it in a couple of weeks. (2.5/5)

For a horror flick--not generally my thing at all--not bad.

Good found footage film BUT at a few points they go over the top with the montages and it loses it a bit towards the end. Enjoyable film though and they are smart with the reveals and gore levels.

Bugs, gross.

We've all seen this a hundred times, but hey, The Bay has mutant isopods - the only sea creature never before featured in an aquatic horror film! Isn't that exciting?

Obviously running along the same lines as films such as Paranormal Activity. Quite well done and had me squirming in my seat when watching some scenes. Not bad.

A pretty good, very somber and atmospheric found footage film, the shaky cam and glitching effects can be pretty annoying but by and large it's a good watch with some great gore.

Interesting take on the virus outbreak genre, but all the shaky cams are too much. Even the cameraman of a professional news team cannot keep his cam steady. Annoying.

quite interesting topic for the found footage" genre; outbreak of isopods in a small town during July 4th festivities.