For the record, it's English. I was born in Tilbury, Essex, made temporarily 
American citizen?"
Another film from the ‘Found Footage’ genre, only this one comes with a difference, and it’s surprisingly effective.
For those unfamiliar, ‘Found Footage’ is the name now given to films where the conceit is that a video recording of some horrific event has been unearthed and what we see is what was recorded at the time, like a reality event. The Blair Witch Project is probably the one to blame due to its low production costs and its exceptionally high return, but it wasn’t until the first Paranormal Activity hit the jackpot using the same style that
The setup here is that a deadly form of bacteria has invaded the water off the coast of
The way the story is presented is relatively clever. A young female TV reporter who witnessed most of the events pieces together recordings from iPhones, web cams, police videos, 911 calls and anything else that somehow furthers the story of what happened three years ago. We learn that the authorities confiscated any piece of evidence that would tell the story of the disaster to the rest of the world, but somehow this intrepid young reporter has secretly managed to unearth a ton of video evidence and she proceeds to piece it all together in a chronological order. The end result is a harrowing experience. In the same way that Jaws temporarily stopped swimmers wanting to go back in the water, The Bay may make you look twice before turning on the kitchen faucet, let alone dive in the pool for a swim.
The film was directed by Barry Levinson and he’s taken this found footage idea and turned the whole thing on its head by incorporating all elements of video communication available to the ordinary guy in the street and stitched it together. Like most hand-held presentations The Bay is still a tough watch on a huge screen – after all, this style of visual recording is meant for tiny machines, or a TV monitor at the most, not the cinema – and there’s a good chance that motion sickness for some is going to kick in, but as the story continues, the unfolding events become so engrossing there are times when you overlook the hand-held and find yourself totally absorbed in the horror.
The film lets itself down towards the end – you’re hoping for a big payoff, but it merely fizzles – but up until those final moments, The Bay has an undeniable impact. Having said that, how about we call a moratorium on the found footage genre? I think it’s about time.
