Manhattan Baby (1982)

User Rating:

4.3/10   

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Elisa Briganti (screenplay)
Elisa Briganti (story)

Release Date:

27 July 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Little Susie is very young, very pretty, and very very evil!

Plot:

An archaelogist opens an Egyptian tomb and accidently releases an evil spirit. His young daughter becomes possessed by the freed enity and, upon arrival back in New York, the gory murders begin.

Plot Keywords:

Daughter | Blindness | Scorpion | Telekinesis | Supernatural

Cast

Christopher Connelly	...	Professor George Hacker
Martha Taylor	...	Emily Hacker
Brigitta Boccoli	...	Susie Hacker
Giovanni Frezza	...	Tommy Hacker
Cinzia de Ponti	...	Jamie Lee
Cosimo Cinieri	...	Adrian Mercato (as Laurence Welles)
Andrea Bosic	...	Optician
Carlo De Mejo	...	Luke
Enzo Marino Bellanich	...	Wiler (as Vincenzo Bellanich)
Mario Moretti	...	Tennant
Lucio Fulci	...	Dr. Forrester
Tonino Pulci	...	Orderly (as Antonie Pulci)

Also Known As:

Evil Eye
Eye of the Evil Dead (USA) (dubbed version)
Il malocchio
The Possessed

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Italy:VM14 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Cairo, Egypt

Company:

Fulvia Film

Trivia:

The name of the character Adrian Marcato is borrowed from Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: On the end of the movie, when Adrian Mercato is attacked by the birds, a thread is visible, holding one of the birds.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Beyond the Living Dead (2001) (V)

Strangely, one of my favorites...

We selected "Manhattan Baby" from the movie library last night, and I realized that it was to be probably the 7th time I have watched this rather uncelebrated Fulci offering in the past 5 years. Yes, this movie is a bit formulaic, and yes, it does move a bit slow in parts. But there is something undeniably menacing in this movie, an atmosphere of claustrophobia, the tightness of the endless close-ups of people's faces, that I enjoy and (obviously) come back to again and again. No, this is not a gory movie, which no doubt comes as a surprise (disappointment?) to fans of Fulci's other (mostly excellent) films. Even the death scenes, of which there are only 3 or 4, have minimal blood compared to something like "The Beyond", not that I would recommend this as hearty family fare by any means. But if you enjoy the uniquely "European" dreamlike atmosphere created by a combination of cheesy effects, plot holes, wooden acting, bad dubbing, and inexplicable motivations of characters, this may be one you revisit again, and again and again... you get the idea.