User Reviews

Worthwhile,off beat, modern Gothic tale centering on a dysfunctional family that emasculates the only male in the family by keeping him a baby:even though he is fully grown. And lucky "Baby", all the women in the film want him for their own reasons. An unusual premise, with effective performances, efficient direction, and good use of location makes for an enjoyably twisted B movie. The movie drags a bit toward the end, and begins to seem a bit thin, but it remains compelling. A real find on budget DVD.

Comer is well-cast in the lead and Roman's performance is classic. As Roman's daughters, cult figure Marianna Hill (Red Line 7000,Medium Cool, High Plains Drifter,Dead People) and Suzanne Zenor are convincingly creepy. And did I mention Beatrice Manley Blau as Comer's mother-in-law? Now, she's scary!

Slick and sick little film that ends with a nice twist. Shelved by the studio;than given a limited theatrical release. A bit difficult to categorize but, definitely worth seeking out. The DVD, regrettably, has no extras but, the transfer looks good.

I first saw "The Baby" on a late night horror show called "Grimsley". It was on TV so of course they had to edit the very few graphic scenes, but it is still nonetheless disturbing. But as a 9 year old kid, watching a man-child in diapers didn't scare me a bit. Monsters scared me. So this movie was just goofy and at the same time interesting. Why would anyone be interested in such a warped conceit as "The Baby". It's just weird and intriguing. But it also has a sweetness to it. The outcome of course is a very eerie twist and touching outlook on love and compassion. Whether or not this film intentionally tried to freak you out or just paint a strangely humanistic picture, it succeeds on the freakish level. But its played with total seriousness. Serious and corny. Don't be surprised if you catch find yourself shaking your head repeatedly at this movie, you will also be surprised at how much it will mesmerize you.

They could never make a film like this today. If they did, it would have an all-star cast, a loud, obtrusive score, and dizzying, roller-coaster camera effects. Back in the 70s they had to get by on talent, imagination and audacity alone. Luckily, they had plenty of that back then. This is not a 'twisted" film, at least anywhere nearly as twisted as say, "Bad Boy Bubby" or "Sonny Boy" (now those movies are reeeeally twisted!), but then what can one expect from Hollywood? This movie is like Diabolique made as a 1970s TV movie-of-the-week with a drive-in sleaze chaser. There's definitely a lack of credibility in this movie's plot - not that a woman couldn't keep her grown son in the mental state of a six-month infant. That's plausible and has happened before, but it's extremely unlikely that the authorities who knew about this kid all those years wouldn't have insisted on special schooling and therapy from day one. But who cares? Here we've got a film with two wicked Barbie Doll sisters who have venom in their veins and just looove to tease men. There's some great bad seventies fashion and a 'wild party' scene (well, wild for the suburbs. Ahh, Hollywood – so out of touch!). And what can you say about Ruth Roman? She's Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine all rolled into one. They just don't make broads like that anymore!

As mentioned by others, there are lots of twists and turns in the plot, but most anyone can figure them out very early on. But again, who cares? This movie works because of its audacity in the face of its conventionality and well, there is an intelligence at work somewhere in the midst of its drive-in movie formula. Take that whole scene with the babysitter for instance (for those who haven't seen this, you'll just have to see for yourself). I knew what was going to happen, but the way it built up so naturally seemed very honest and real. Which is why it freaked me out so much. Every now and then the film slips that comfort rug out from under you. Freak city! Then it relaxes safely in the realms of convention, but that's okay too because the whole movie has such charming camp appeal. Let's make that clear: this is a camp movie, NOT a horror movie! It's stupidly being marketed as horror, so it's understandable that the kiddies who are looking for lots of gore and boobies are feeling disappointed. Stick with Argento, kids! Oh yeah… huge kudos to David Mooney (Manzy – whatever) who played 'Baby'. He should have become a star.

Bizarre, truly twisted tale of a mother who keeps her grown son in a perpetual infant state. Conflict arises when a social worker tries to intervene. Very low budget and flatly photographed yet it's offbeat enough to keep you going all the way to it's twist ending. There are not too many roles requiring grown men to wear diapers, sleep in a crib, and cry, but if there were Manzy would most certainly win the award. Hill and Zenor, as the two daughters, are sexy enough to create some diversion. Roman and Comer make good adversaries, which they play to the hilt!!

The Baby joins a select club of really flaky little films from the poofy-hair-on-guys era, early 70's to early 80's; the best of these was Night Warning, William Shatner's wigged-out Impulse is another, the MST'd Touch of Satan is another. The Baby and Impulse even share the services of the wondrous Ruth Roman, who in The Baby looks more than ever like Victor Mature in full drag. All these feature somebody driving around in a Dodge Dart or a Maverick and plot twists that make you ask, "What were these people ON?"

Ted Post was already in his late fifties when he did The Baby, so the lame direction can't be written off as a young director learning his craft. It just plain sucks. Anjanette Comer stands around screeching and flapping her hands for emphasis like she's at a community-theater audition; it's hard to see any of the luminescent Aimee Thanatogenos from The Loved One, just eight years before. And Baby is a hoot - this was pretty much the entire career of the hard-working young actor trying to make us believe he's a teenager operating at a 9-month-old level, but somebody decided to dub in the sounds of a real baby coming from his adult voice-box, and you don't buy the bit for five seconds.

But there's just enough here to make it worthwhile to stick it out for the snapper ending. Anybody who says they guessed where this was going is lying like a red dog. It's no Night Warning, but if you've seen Night Warning and you need another sip from the same bucket, it'll do.

A movie sure to have you staring at the screen in shock, The Baby is guaranteed to turn out to be one of the stranger things you will ever see. Here's the deal: Ann is a social worker who stops by the house of a Mrs. Wadsworth, played by Ruth Roman (who was also in one of my favorite little movies, The Killing Kind, though I don't remember who she was there). Mrs. Wadsworth lives with her two daughters, Germaine and Alba, and her son, whom they all refer to as Baby. Baby is a 21-year-old man who has been in an infantile state apparently since birth. He can neither walk nor speak, or really concentrate on anything. His sisters are also, uh, quite something: Germaine, played with wonderful zest by Marianna Hill, is an extremely strange woman with this massive mane of hair, and tiny, evil eyes. If anyone ever had to cast a woman who is revealed to be a real, evil witch at the end, here's your woman. I actually want to see a lot more of her. She was awesome, and she can preen and glare like nobody's business. Which obviously wins her big points with me.

So Ann the social worker shows up for a case visit, and makes it clear that she is "quite intrigued" by the case. The mother and sisters don't want to let her see Baby, but she insists, and we see him for the first time. He is a fairly cute 21-year-old (looked a little younger to me) guy. Ann the social worker continues to visit, and one is surprised how quickly she adjusts to the fact of this adult acting like a baby, and we start to feel a little freaky when she is almost immediately saying things like "That's my baby! He's a good baby!" It soon becomes apparent that Ann is a little more than just interested in this case, and is actually quite obsessed with Baby. This point is driven home by a scene with her supervisor asking her why she is spending so much time at the Wadsworth home and so little time with her other cases. There is a little discussion about some terrible accident that befell Ann's husband, implying that she's all lonely and sexually frustrated now, and one begins to wonder if her obsession with Baby had somewhat of a sexual edge to it. This is further reinforced when we see Germaine take off her clothes and climb in bed with her infantile brother! The sexual thing gets a further boost from a scene in which one of the babysitters is having a bit of trouble with Baby, and soon enough he is sucking her breast! The movie continues to pile on some disturbing suggestions about female sexuality as the woman is clearly aroused by this and lets it go on—-until the mother comes home and beats the living crapout of her! I tell you, this one's a shock a minute! One of the big strengths of this movie is that you REALLY don't know direction it's going to take. There is tension from every direction. On the one hand you know that this is a horror movie and bad things are going to happen. You have this domineering mother and her creepy and violent daughters—-are they going to start killing everyone who threatens to come between them and Baby? And Baby himself is a grown man—-is he going to get angry and really hurt someone? And that Ann, too, does not seem to have all her screws in place, and seem really, REALLY obsessed with Baby—-is she going to try to kidnap him, or what? It keeps you guessing, and that successfully delivers a lot of tension throughout its running time. I truly did not know what was going to happen—and did not expect what DID happen. And how many movies can you say that for nowadays? In the middle of the film, things progress without really going anywhere, and we have somewhat repetitive scenes in which Ann visits and is obviously not welcome, she plays with Baby in a creepy way, and Mrs. Wadsworth gets ever more bitchy. Still, it's all so interesting that it never gets boring or feels like it's wasting your time. There are quite a few good bitchy lines, like when Ann threatens to turn Mrs. Wadsworth in, and she says "You're a damn bitch!" Also, consider this exchage between Ann and a guy who's coming on to her: "Don't tell me you're a dermatologist?" "No, just a skin freak." This takes place during an awesome 70s party, footage of which, as surely you know, is always welcome.

The other strength of this film is the complicated relationships of power and intricate series of compromises each character makes in order to stay close to baby or not get thrown in jail. Also, the score by Gerald Freed is, if not great, at least unusual. It contains a great deal of unusual instrumentation, including a lot of cello and acoustic guitar, and one long stalking scene seems to contain up to 10 minutes of pure music with no dialogue.

There's no way I would even reveal part of the ending to you, but suffice to say that after the one hour mark there are twists and turns that will take you completely by surprise. As I said, it's unusual just for what the story itself is, and it's very unusual to really have no idea where the story is going to end up. If you like it weird, it's waiting right here for you.

Hey, there are lot of other reviews of bad and cheesy movies on my website, Cinema de Merde, which you can find through the URL in my email address.

Don't bother looking for a single sane character in this twisted, demented sickie, because there isn't one; you just keep watching and waiting to see who will prove to be the most perverse of them all. If you can accept the hard-to-swallow premise, then the film is fairly entertaining. Plus, it has an AMAZING ending. You won't see it coming, no matter how good you think you are at predicting plot surprises. (**)

"The Baby" is one of the oddest films you will ever see. A social worker is suspicious of a family that includes a grown man called "Baby" who behaves like an infant and wears diapers. The women in the family seem invested in his remaining baby-like. The mystery of this horror film lies in learning their true intentions. Or does it?

"The Baby" feels like the second offering in a grade B, drive-in horror double feature. Some of the production values are adequate, but they are undermined by the rambling background music and the incessantly annoying and fake baby sounds that supposedly come from Baby.

The film has its roots in "Psycho", but falls far short of Hitchcock's mastery. The director does use light effectively and he is able to frame a scene, but otherwise the film is nearly laughable.

The ending is a surprise, but it falls short of delivering on the film's promise of shock or horror.

A social worker gets her most insane case to date when she checks in on a 20-something boy who's being kept to live like a baby by his insane mother and abusive sisters. It's the kind of movie that you can't imagine ever got made in the first place, but the sleaze is offset by the sense of humor and campy performances.

Even after viewing the most pathetic cinematic dreck, I try to avoid the word "stupid" (I once had an English professor who discouraged its use), but that's ultimately the best way to describe "The Baby," a film that's either weirdly stupid or stupidly weird. It is sporadically interesting, but simply doesn't go far enough in its tale of a perky social worker trying to gain custody of 'Baby,' a grown adult male cared for by a gravel -voiced mother and two 'weird' sisters. Director Ted Post seems to have been shooting for a "Spider Baby" vibe, but comes up short on all counts; if this were a carnival sideshow, I'd angrily ask for my money back. The pace frequently drags, there's nary a likable character, and too often it feels like the movie is just killing time in the blandest possible way (to make that idiotic ending seem all the more 'exciting,' perhaps?).

How can you go too far wrong with a film that centres much of its action around a fully grown man in a nappy!

On many levels this is a mess, and yet it's still utterly fascinating, shocking and very very funny. Could be read as an early feminist backlash film given the way that women feature as utterly exploitative and controlling figures who seem to want to do nothing other than mother and infantalise men. Ted Post's direction is typically rough and ready, though you can see a little of the influence of Peckinpah (for who Post was a regular cinematographer) in the over-blown, lurid quality of the film and the way it tends to handle female characters. It also owes a fair bit to Russ Meyers and other exploitation film makers of the late 60s and early 70s. I highly recommend it - I promise you will never have seen anything quite like this before and you certainly won't see it's like again.

This is a low budget thriller about a bizarre family: a woman and her two grown daughters who are raising ?Baby,? a fully grown man in diapers. Supposedly he's mentally retarded, but a social worker who visits has her doubts. She starts to investigate the family. The film delivers some surprisingly good performances: the looks exchanged between the mom and her daughters and the social worker are terrific, and reveal a lot of creepy subtext. You begin to wonder about the motivations of everyone involved. The ending is a nice little twist that's unexpected and worth the wait. This not high caliber art, but it is fun, and delightfully twisted.

I went into this one totally blind- I was actually expecting a cheeseball, low budget ripoff of "Rosemary's Baby." Boy was I mistaken.

This movie is totally strange and uniquely disturbing; and I mean that in a good way. The image of the baby playing ball and trying to stand up will be forever burned into my psyche. The day after viewing, I found myself thinking of his awkward movements and his upsetting cries.

Nice little twist at the end- not on the level of some flicks today. but hey for '73, it definitely impressed me.

Recommended for fans of early John Waters, 70's TV horror movies, etc. Would make a good double feature with "Bad Boy Bubby." 8 out of 10, kids.

Social worker Anjanette Comer (as Ann Gentry) has a new case. She is to oversee government assistance going to the weird "Wadsworth" family. The client receiving checks is a young adult man called "Baby" (played by David Mooney aka David Manzy). Baby is well-named as he has remained intellectually a baby for 20-some-odd years. Baby's mother is deep-voiced Ruth Roman. She has two sexy grown-up daughters who have aged normally – relatively speaking...

Meeting Baby on a "routine" visit isn't enough for Ms. Comer. She becomes unusually attached to Baby and begins visiting him frequently. Her boss worries about the time Comer spends with Baby and thinks about changing his social worker. Comer responds by telling him she has some suspicions about the case and begins investigating. Presumably, Comer suspects the wacky Wadsworth family has kept Baby infantile on purpose...

This is a very strange film. The adult Baby wears diapers and speaks in genuine baby gibberish. He is so strange you're wondering what went wrong and where the story is headed. It sure fooled me. The other characters are interesting, too. Filmmakers and director Ted Post give it a naughty Gothic TV Movie atmosphere that works like a charm.

******* The Baby (3/73) Ted Post ~ Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, David Mooney, Marianna Hill