The Bay ~ Film Review
I feel like I’ve been searching for a great virus movie for ages! The Bay, released in 2012, is a film about a small Maryland town that falls victim to a fatal virus on the Fourth of July. Told through multiple devices — using found footage — a reporter who survived the incident aims to make this story public years later. Donna, speaking on a Skype video, narrates over footage from the attack. This includes news footage, personal video cameras from victims, cell phone videos and more. It becomes clear throughout the faux-documentary that the virus is a result of extremely polluted Chesapeake Bay water. So polluted, in fact, that abnormally large flesh- eating parasites are populating the water.
From the first few minutes of this film, the audience is hooked. What happened to this small town? Why did 700 people die over the course of one day? As the pieces click together, the story becomes more and more grotesque. A film that begins with kids running through sprinklers, a happy woman in a dunking booth and groups of people swimming in the bay spirals out of control over the course of 90 minutes, leaving the audience with only the irony of all those people enjoying the water and then dying from it. The cinematography is perfect, full of beautifully framed shots. The pacing is exceptional; the film doesn’t rush the information or the story. The viewer starts the film curious and intrigued, but ends it…
