Review of The Bay (2012) by Gordon L — 03 Nov 2012

You're either in the 'found footage' camp or you're not. I enjoy the technique as long as the rest of the film is up to snuff. The Bay's got snuff to spare.

Well-paced in tandem with the storyline, The Bay builds quite slowly at first, giving the viewer information in bits and pieces in the same manner as they would in any large emergency situation. I found myself feeling frustrated at times - "What the hell is GOING ON???" The hospitals don't know, nor do the police department, marine biologists, or even the CDC. That's when you know you're pretty much screwed.

With regard to character development... it's just not that kind of storyline, so I don't find any fault in the lack of it here. We 'meet' people through the footage in which they appear, but none are on screen a great deal of the time.

I was a bit disappointed with the acting of Kether Donohue as the pivotal character Donna Thompson - specifically in the 'present day' footage. I suppose it's plausible that Donna was so traumatized by her experiences that she's still in a state of shock, but she turns in a very flat performance, almost devoid of emotion.

Special effects are key to a film like The Bay. Here, they are good enough that at one point, I did have to turn away to curb a dry heave. Urp. That's pretty high praise.

One of the best things I can ever say about a film is that it held my interest throughout. While watching The Bay, I'm not sure if I blinked. Good stuff.