Sunday, March 23, 2008

FF#5: Manhattan Baby (1982)

Description via Amazon (except I fixed their spelling for "archaeologist"):

"A young girl on vacation in Egypt is given a mysterious charm, causing her archaeologist father to be struck blind inside an unexplored pyramid tomb. But when the family returns home to Manhattan, a plague of supernatural evil and sudden violence follows. Can this ancient curse be stopped before it is unleashed on the streets of New York City?

Italian shock master Lucio Fulci combines elements of THE EXORCIST, THE AWAKENING, POLTERGEIST, and more in this bizarre horror thriller. Also known as EYE OF THE EVIL DEAD and THE POSSESSED, MANHATTAN BABY is notable as one of Fulci's final films to be released in America."

Finally, a genuinely terrible film pretty much from beginning to end. A year after House by the Cemetery, Fulci is back again, with the wondrous Bob in toe (this time, Bob is known as Tommy). Basically Mr. Fulci watched The Exorcist, and tried to copy the slow methodical pacing, but drop the "development" part in favor of that "nothing"ness he is so often fond of. So this time, the movie is slow AND nothing happens, a first for the Fulci. By the end, the film's excitement increased only because my girlfriend's cat jumped on the TV and let his tail dangle in front of the screen--adding an element of "motion" not found anywhere else in the film. I've read that this movie grows on you, but honestly I can't imagine trying to get through it again. Despite the copious amount of 80's laser effects the film just can't hold attention. The only exception being a hilarious scene where once again Fulci shows his creative use of budget constraints. He wants to copy a scene from Hitchcock's The Birds, but can't afford real birds at all, so he has a scene where stuffed birds come to life and peck this guy to death:
In the end, if you watched the The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Awakening, and The Birds back to back, it would seem WAY shorter than one time through Manhattan Baby.

F for Failure

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