The Bay (2012)
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A small town's water supply becomes a breeding ground for mutated, flesh-eating parasites.
The story
In the town of Claridge, located on Maryland's Eastern Shore, a local chicken farm's pollution of the Chesapeake Bay leads to a sudden and violent outbreak of illness. As rookie reporter Donna Thompson covers a local celebration, dozens of citizens begin exhibiting severe lesions and dying en masse. Overwhelmed, the head of the Atlantic Hospital contacts the CDC, who initially suspect a viral outbreak. The town quickly descends into chaos as the death toll rises, and reports surface of bizarre symptoms and mysterious attacks, leaving the community in a state of terror as they struggle to understand the source of the catastrophe.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The footage, leaked by an anonymous source, shows the town of Claridge suffering from a horrific outbreak. Oceanographers Sam and Jaqueline had previously discovered high toxicity in the bay caused by massive amounts of chicken excrement and steroids, leading to a proliferation of mutated tongue-eating lice. These isopods eat hosts from the inside out, causing the lesions seen in the town. The Talmet family arrives in the quarantined town, only to find it deserted and littered with corpses. Alex Talmet is infected and dies as isopods crawl out of his neck, while Stephanie escapes with their infant son. The CDC eventually discovers the water has a radioactive rating and the government chooses not to intervene to avoid panic. Years later, Donna reveals the government killed the isopods with chlorine and covered up the incident as 'unusually high water temperatures,' paying off survivors for their silence.
- First release year
- 2012
- Runtime (minutes)
- 85
- Production countries
- United States; Canada
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Barry Levinson
- Writers
- Michael Wallach · screenplay; Barry Levinson · story; Michael Wallach · story
- Cast and characters
- Kether Donohue · Donna Thompson; Kristen Connolly · Stephanie Talmet; Will Rogers · Alex Talmet; Stephen Kunken · Dr. Jack Abrams; Robert Treveiler · Dr. Williams; Nansi Aluka · Jaqueline; Christopher Denham · Sam; Frank Deal · Mayor John Stockman
- Genres
- horror; thriller
- Themes
- environmental consequences; government cover-up; biological horror
- Tone and mood
- gruesome; atmospheric; horror
- Setting
- Claridge, Maryland, 2009
- Premise and plot tags
- found footage; eco-horror; body horror
- Source material / true-story basis
- original story
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews, being described as a cleverly utilized found-footage eco-horror flick.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 76% · review count: 86; Metacritic · score: 65 · scale: 100 · review count: 20
- Production trivia
- The film was inspired by a documentary Barry Levinson was asked to produce about the Chesapeake Bay.; Roughly one third of the film was shot by the actors themselves.; The film was shot on locations in North Carolina and South Carolina despite being set in Maryland.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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