I had noticed this one in the "Drama" section of my local DVD outlet some time ago, but I decided to look it up this week and discovered that it's considered something of a cult item, and a sick one at that - so I just had to go out and rent it sooner rather than later!
Well, as it turned out, it's got one of the silliest premises ever - a full-grown man with the mind of an infant is jealously guarded by his immediate family (mother and two 'normal' sisters), until a female social-worker (played by Anjanette Comer) takes a special interest in the baby and determines to 'cure' him!! The sight of a man in diapers emitting baby-ish sounds - obviously, and unconvincingly, dubbed on the soundtrack by a genuine toddler - is enough to give anyone convulsions of laughter but this is augmented further by the jealous fits of rage displayed by the gorgon-like matriarch (with a scary wig to match!) played in the grand manner of a Joan Crawford (indeed, the film can be considered a late addition to the "Baby Jane"-type of horror films which proliferated in the 60s) by raspy-voiced Ruth Roman who viciously whips a baby-sitter caught breast-feeding her precious 'child' (unbeknownst that one of her own daughters has a tendency to 'sleep' with him)!!
Its open-matte transfer and soft look give THE BABY the flat atmosphere of a TV movie, while the plot is too superficially developed to have any lasting effect; what's more, its 70s attitudes date the film no end (particularly a hilarious party sequence, held by the child's family to celebrate his birthday, featuring a lot of bad hairdos and even worse dancing)! The twist at the end - which sends the film briefly (and very mildly) into 'slasher' territory - is clever enough under the circumstances but, at the same time, it can be seen as just another bizarre idea in a film that is so preposterous that it has to be seen to be believed!
Well, as it turned out, it's got one of the silliest premises ever - a full-grown man with the mind of an infant is jealously guarded by his immediate family (mother and two 'normal' sisters), until a female social-worker (played by Anjanette Comer) takes a special interest in the baby and determines to 'cure' him!! The sight of a man in diapers emitting baby-ish sounds - obviously, and unconvincingly, dubbed on the soundtrack by a genuine toddler - is enough to give anyone convulsions of laughter but this is augmented further by the jealous fits of rage displayed by the gorgon-like matriarch (with a scary wig to match!) played in the grand manner of a Joan Crawford (indeed, the film can be considered a late addition to the "Baby Jane"-type of horror films which proliferated in the 60s) by raspy-voiced Ruth Roman who viciously whips a baby-sitter caught breast-feeding her precious 'child' (unbeknownst that one of her own daughters has a tendency to 'sleep' with him)!!
Its open-matte transfer and soft look give THE BABY the flat atmosphere of a TV movie, while the plot is too superficially developed to have any lasting effect; what's more, its 70s attitudes date the film no end (particularly a hilarious party sequence, held by the child's family to celebrate his birthday, featuring a lot of bad hairdos and even worse dancing)! The twist at the end - which sends the film briefly (and very mildly) into 'slasher' territory - is clever enough under the circumstances but, at the same time, it can be seen as just another bizarre idea in a film that is so preposterous that it has to be seen to be believed!