This is another film that gets down-graded unfairly because of the popular films such as "The Beyond", "Zombi" and "City of the Living Dead". Gorehounds expect--naturally--the same gore-levels as these films, which is also unfair. Besides, it's better to watch a film with no-expectations whatsoever. That-said, "Manhattan Baby" is a unique film for Lucio Fulci, and bears some resemblance to "The Awakening" and even "Rosemary's Baby" (hence-the-title?). The production was troubled by producer-interference in plot-elements, and then a reduction of the budget by 3/4's, dropping it to a cost of $300,000. That Fulci was able to rescue his and co-writer Dardano Sachetti's original-core is amazing, and the film still bears the mark of both creators in a good-sense. There is the continued-theme of the supernatural, and an unsettling-sense that normal "cause-and-effect" has been undermined by the unknown. This is a crucial-link between films such-as "The Beyond" or "City of the Living Dead", but the horror is not metaphysical, but isolated to one-family (then-another...). Much of Fabio Fabrizzi's score is recycled from the "opus" Fulci-films, and there are some new-additions, such as the title-theme which is really seductive and lush. What really throws most Fulci-fans off with this film is the combination of ancient-technology and the supernatural--it is extremely-unique, and I can only recall "Stargate" picking-the-up in later-years. But, I think Fulci explores this concept the best, and even transcends obvious-possibilities. Yes, the children of the archaeologist discover a portal to another-dimension, but it is almost an afterthought beside all the other narrative-subplots he throws-at-us. There actually is a lot of gore in this film! One scene stands-out: the attack of an Occultist by his own stuffed-birds, and boy is it nasty. And so, this is not really a film that can be called purely "horror", nor purely "science-fiction", etc. . It's my guess this is why so-many Fulci-fans and others don't like it--it's not easily-described, or understood. Like Fulci's "The Black Cat" (1981), it deserves reassessment and a better-reputation as a solid story of the fantastic. Check the final-scene, it was copied-by Clive Barker for the frame-piece of "Hellraiser" (1986). The Anchor Bay DVD is great. An entertaining, and bizarre film.
Review of Manhattan Baby
