It takes Director Barry Levinson to hit a high mark with a "found footage" horror movie. Sure some shaky camera and a few plot holes concerning different opinions; but THE BAY is a keeper. A news reporter narrates and gives context to webcam, newsreel, security cam and digital cam footage to convey a documentary feel and atmosphere.

A small Maryland town on the Chesapeake Bay has its July 4th celebration interrupted by an ecological situation that has ugly large parasites, invading the bodies of fish and humans. The community is contaminated by the "poop" of steroid enhanced chickens. These bugs eat their new found hosts from the inside out. Down right gruesome! Not a creature feature actually. Not a vampire or zombie flick; but a terror by disease movie. Even with gross and very disturbing images; you'll want to watch again with a couple of friends.

The cast includes: Christopher Denham, Nansi Aluka, Stephen Kunken, Kristen Connolly, Frank Deal, Kether Donohue and Dave Hager.

Let's get this out of the way: in spite of what synopsis and trailers may (mis)lead you to believe, this is not a found-footage monster movie. So, if you wanted Paranormal Activity: the Dagon Edition, don't bother.

The Bay is a competent, unnerving ecological thriller, a disaster movie about a sea community devastated by polluted water and plague-bearing parasites.

Unlike your typical found footage flick, a veteran director (Barry Levinson) is at the helm, and it shows: it's much better filmed than the average level for the genre. The final act, with hideous overgrown parasites crawling around the deserted town, has a truly nightmarish quality to it.

7/10

The latest 'found footage' movie and it's a great one! Directed by MEN IN BLACK's Barry Levinson, of all people, this is a fake documentary charting the outbreak of a terrible disease in a small American town. What follows becomes increasingly horrifying as it progresses, working well by hiding the threat for the most part and yet showing us truly repulsive glimpses of a terrifying and all-too-believable creation. THE BAY doesn't have to rely on jump scenes too often but when they do occur they're real wowzers, and one moment towards the end had me jumping in my seat.

The thing I really like about this film is its format, with the whole documentary look and feel to it. Kether Donohue's inexperienced reporter holds everything together, while the various sub-plots mingle together really well, particularly the scenes with the exasperated doctor at the local hospital.

But the real reason it works so well is that the focus is on the horror all the way, gradually building up the tension throughout, keeping the really horrible moments off-screen (like the bit at the house where the police pay a visit to) and never letting the viewer off the hook, not for a moment. In this respect it's one of the most simple and yet most effective of all found footage movies, a film that really speaks to me.