Similar to punk rock, there are many different arguments over who invented the slasher film. Some say Herschell Gordon Lewis. Some say Alfred Hitchcock. Tobe Hooper is a name that comes up often. John Carpenter, too. Every now and then someone mentions Mario Bava and their gory evidence is his 1971 trash-terpiece Bay of Blood—and it’s damn good evidence. It’s about a bunch of shady types with conflicting ideas over what should be done with a peaceful Italian lakeside property and how the debate results in a pile of corpses from knife attacks, axe swings and fish hooks to the throat. ANYONE here can die at any moment. If they go outside into Bava’s glistening purple/blue night, they’re definitely getting mulched. The world of this film is a strange kind of Hell and everybody’s getting burned. Especially the stupid kids who show up in the middle of this mess just to party and go skinny-dipping. The only difference between this and later slasher flicks is that Bava comes to his carnage by way of giallo, which means that this is a crime story and the killer’s identity is a mystery to be solved. No matter, it’s still a visually brilliant eyeful of stylized moonlight, flying blood and faces you never trust. The ghoulish ending is the cherry on top.