The Baby (film)

The Baby

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ted Post
Produced by Abe Polsky
Milton Polsky
Elliott Feinman
Written by Abe Polsky
Starring
Music by Gerald Fried
Cinematography Michael D. Margulies
Edited by Bob Crawford Sr.
Dick Wormell
Production
company
Quintet Productions
Distributed by Scotia International
Release dates
  • March 1973
Running time
 85 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English

The Baby is a 1973 American horror-thriller film, directed by Ted Post and was written by Abe Polsky. The film stars Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill, Suzanne Zenor, and David Manzy. It tells the story of a social worker who investigates an eccentric family which includes "Baby", a 21-year-old man who acts like an infant.[2] The psychological horror is considered as cult classic.[3]

Plot

Ann Gentry is a social worker wracked with guilt about having been the driver of a car involved in an accident that left her husband severely injured. She gets assigned to a new case: the eccentric and mysterious Wadsworth family, and quickly takes a special interest the family's youngest member—a seemingly mentally impaired adult man in his 20s who doesn't have a name and is called only "Baby."

Ann wants to work with Baby, who still acts and is treated like an infant by his mother and sisters, thinking that with the proper treatment he might begin to behave more appropriately for his age group. The Wadsworth clan has been neglectful and abusive to Baby, and while Mrs. Wadsworth has been extremely overprotective of him ever since his father left shortly after his birth, she won't let another caregiver interfere.

Eventually, Ann and her mother-in-law take Baby away from his family. His mother and sisters come after them, but Ann and her mother-in-law kill them. They stab the daughters and bury the mother alive under the pool they are building. It is soon revealed why she is so interested in Baby: so he can be a playmate for her husband, who was left with the mental capacity of an infant after his accident.

Cast

Release

Scotia International released the film in March 1973 in a limited theatrical release.[5] Image Entertainment published the film in the year 2000 on DVD and VHS.[6]

The Baby was released on DVD with a new transfer from the original negative by Severin Films in 2011.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "THE BABY (X)". British Board of Film Classification. 1973-01-16. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
  2. ↑ "EFM 2013: First Casting News for Adrian Garcia Bogliano's Late Phases - Dread Central". Dread Central. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies: The Baby (1973): or, You Oughta Wean Him, He's Old Enough". Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "The Baby". AFI Catalog. American Film Institute. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
  5. ↑ "FilmFanatic.org". FilmFanatic.org. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Amazon.com: The Baby VHS
  7. ↑ http://www.severin-films.com/2011/01/04/two-classic-slashers-one-of-the-most-depraved-films-of-the-70/

External links