8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyably Twisted, May 19, 2008
This review is from: The Baby (DVD)
This might be one of my all-time fave camp movies, and is also one that leaves me disturbed after watching it. Lovely Anjanette Comer is a social worker who seeks out the assignment of looking into a family of 3 women who are raising an adult man who still functions as a baby. Turns out the women - a violent mother and her two deranged daughters - don't seem to want the "baby" to learn how to walk and talk. At the same time, one of the sisters doesn't mind slipping into his crib at night . . . The mother is played by Ruth Roman, who played a beautiful and feminine socialite in Hitchcok's Strangers on a Train; here, she is a seedy, chain-smoking, trash-talking old gal in a role that could have been played by a latter-day Shelley Winters. One of the daughters has a hairstyle that looks like it could have been part of a horror movie get-up, and the other one is a characters who likes to punish her brother by shocking him with some kind of electric prod, and who will only let her boyfriend kiss her if he lets her hold a lighter flame to his hand first. So, yeah, a really sick family - and then there's the "baby," a grown man in a crib. When the movie gets really warped is when you realize that the one "sane" person here, the social worker, might actually be a little off herself, and seems to have some unusual interest in the "baby." This movie is a great campy romp that fans of warped cinema will enjoy, but don't blame me if you can't shake the creepiness of it out of your system for a while after watching.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Three Stars Because It Looks Faded and Dull, August 7, 2011
"The Baby" has been one of my favorite films of the '70s ever since I first saw it nearly 30 years ago back in the early days of VHS rentals. It is strange, perverse, hilarious, sickening and heartbreaking all at once, and really defies classification. Not quite a horror film, not quite exploitation, nor a full-fledged social drama, "The Baby" plays like a demented mix of ABC Afterschool Special with a touch of grindhouse cinema thrown in.
Ruth Roman is an indomitable force as Mrs. Wadsworth, a bitter, chain-smoking harridan who lives with her two grown daughters Germaine (Mariana Hill) and Alba (Suzanne Zenor). Together these three partake in the care and feeding of Baby--a twenty-something man who exists in an infantilized state, his world consisting of diapers, bottles and life in a playpen. Concerned social worker Ann Gentry (Anjanette Comer) arrives on the scene to investigate and quickly becomes obsessed with giving Baby a chance to live up to his potential. Things escalate until the story becomes a struggle of wills between Ann and the Wadsworths over Baby's welfare, which results in kidnapping and murder!
The story may be somewhat slow-moving for those born after 1980 who are used to non-stop action and excessive editing in their films, but for those who appreciate "old-school" technique and character development, stick it out because the payoff is HUGE. I am somewhat jaded but even I didn't see the twist coming (I won't reveal it here and spoil it for first-timers).
The two lead actresses really play well off each other (the interview with director Ted Post found among the bonus features hints that Roman may have purposely caused some friction so that the tension between Ann and Mrs. W would be amplified onscreen) and the film transcends its limited budget. The sorrowful cello score is wonderful throughout, especially heartbreaking during the scene when Comer looks at old vacation slides of she and her husband.
The best scenes involve over-the-top abuse as when Alba uses a cattle prod to discipline Baby, and when the women return home to find the babysitter suckling Baby in the nursery (Roman is scary as all-out brandishing that whipping-rope).
Five stars for the movie itself based on originality, entertainment value, and performances.
The new 2011 release from Severin Films however is a whole other story. I already owned a discontinued full-frame release from Image Entertainment that was put out about 10 years ago and was eager to own a remastered version so I purchased the new release. While the specks and blemishes have all been removed from the picture, the entire film looks desaturated. It's as though they used a beige filter on everything and the colors are not strong or vibrant at all. I immediately compared the two and the colors are much brighter and vivid on the old release. **NOTE** I posted two comparative screen grabs in the images section of this product. Judge for yourself. Also, since the film wasn't originally created in widescreen, they have cropped off part of the picture for this release. I am glad I didn't sell my old copy because if I had to choose, I'd rather watch it in fullscreen with some dirt and specks rather than a faded, washed out print.
There are two short audio interviews with director Ted Post and with David Manzy Mooney (who played Baby).
If you have never seen this before and love weird, offbeat '70s flicks, by all means get it. If you already own the Image version, be warned this one looks washed out.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Wooden Cage..., June 27, 2011
A social-worker gets involved w/ a strange family w/ a "BABY" who is actually an adult. Many strange occurrences and even stranger characters abound. THE BABY is a black comedy w/ horror elements. While the siblings are definitely insane, the mother is downright scary! If you enjoy bizarre movies and subject matter, then THE BABY belongs in your collection!...
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