Delayed Reaction: The Bay

Premise: A contagion in the water decimates a Chesapeake Bay town.

 

I think this might be the only found footage horror movie from an Oscar winning director. You don't really need a great director for a found footage movie. The reason for using the found footage style is typically a cost cutting measure, so it's more often the realm of directors trying to make a name for themselves. It's a shame though. There's room for more bigger budget found footage movies. For example, I still love Cloverfield in a way that I wouldn't if it had been shot in a traditional style. Bigger budgets mean more resources, even if they use the same cheaper shooting method. The Bay is a great example of this. The microbudget version of this movie doesn't have the fake CDC, clearance for all those large town locations, the extras, or all the nice boats. While still feeling like a box of tapes found in an attic, The Bay has a scope that I don't see in many found footage movies.

 

I didn't even mind that I recognized a bunch of the actors. Kristin Connolly had already been in bigger movies like Revolutionary Road and Cabin in the Woods (which she was the lead in). Kether Donahue and Will Rogers have showed up in more stuff post-The Bay, so, much like how I can't be mad at Cloverfield for having a very recognizable cast now, I can't blame it for getting a few actors early. Because, really, the style ends up being the star. Even if I see a really familiar actor in convincing "found footage", I can suspend disbelief pretty easily.

 

This movie is terrifying in a "it might be a little too close to reality" way. There's nothing supernatural about the movie. It's just about isopods getting in the water and mutating. There are plenty of stories of water supplies accidentally getting poisoned in real life. And, in 2020, when we're in the middle of an actual pandemic and ideas like super spreaders are fresh in my mind, this movie hit close to home and unsettled me. The most disturbing scenes might actually be the ones between the CDC, EPA, and other government agencies where you realize how easily warning signs can be missed until they are too late. Definitely, for any of you that felt inspired to watch Contagion or Outbreak this year, you should add The Bay to your list.

 

For the really picky people out there, I could certainly question some of the footage this movie is able to "find". And, it perhaps leans a bit too much away from horror and into being an eco-warning movie. I personally didn't mind it. I think it stops comfortably short of inserting a title card at the end saying "Call your congressman to save our mother Earth" or whatever. I wish some other high-level filmmakers would play around in this genre to see what they could come up with. It doesn't have to be all shaky cam and jump scares.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend