10 Best Slasher Films Of All Time

Also known as Blood Bath, Carnage and, confusingly, Last House On The Left II, Bay Of Blood is the prototype for the modern slasher film. All of the elements are in place: after being lured to a remote mansion, a group of not particularly interesting people die in increasingly unpleasant ways at the hands of an unseen predator. Of particular interest to fans of Friday The 13th Part II will be the machete to the face and the young lovers who are impaled mid-coitus, both of which are seen in gory detail.

Unlike the Americanized versions, Bay Of Blood’s tongue remains firmly in its cheek and director Mario Bava, known for his playful sense of humour, pulls the rug out from the under the viewer at several points, most notably during the memorable conclusion. Later films would do away with Bava’s contrived plot and focus exclusively on the murders, with the killer little more than a cipher whose superhuman strength (and healing ability) was always a given.

Under its American title, Twitch Of The Death Nerve, the film found its audience in Drive-ins and grindhouses, where it played for years. Strangely for such an influential picture, the film was reviled on its release, with even Christopher Lee (who’d appeared in Bava’s The Whip And The Body) voicing his concern at the film’s content.