Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Devil Within Her (1975)


Introduction:
This is one of those movies with a bunch of different names. It’s also known as Sharon’s Baby, I Don’t Want to be Born, It Lives Within Her, or simply Evil Baby. That’s right folks, it came out in the middle of the horror movie craze that encompassed evil children and possessions by the devil. Is this a wonderful hunk of cheesy good fun, or one of those movies that slogs its way to the finish. All I can say is that the plot contains an evil dwarf and a man beheaded by a shovel-wielding infant.

Summary:
You’d think that Lucy Carlesi (Joan Collins) would be skipping through London with her husband Gino (Ralph Bates) now that they have a healthy baby boy in their lives. But alas, Donald Pleasence is in the movie, so you know things are going to get sinister. Turns out that back when Lucy used to be a stripper, she spurned the advances of a little person named Hercules (George Claydon). The frustrated man cursed her, saying that her first born would be evil! And wouldn’t you know it, the curse comes true with the baby growing abnormally fast and scratching everyone in sight. Has Lucy gone mad? Can her friend Mandy (played by a badly dubbed Caroline Munro) help with her awesome ‘70s fashion sense? Or will the helpful Sister Albana (Eileen Atkins) be able to use holy powers to purge the infant of Satan’s wicked ways?

Good Points:
  • Takes the premise of the evil baby and just runs with it
  • The whole cast is committed to making an entertaining film
  • Moments of pure cheese make this a hilarious viewing experience 

Bad Points:
  • Uh, yeah… the main antagonist is a possessed baby
  • Actual horror or terror is no where to be found
  • The 1970s fashions, hair and decorating will be the scariest thing for some viewers.

Overall:
No, this isn’t a good movie, but it is a really fun one. I love that the baby looks like he’s too busy drooling on himself to kill anyone. The music is so dated and mod that it hurts. Then there’s the scenes where the dwarf appears wrapped in a blanket and grinning in the playpen. Hilarious stuff! And once you try to imagine what a baby welding a shovel would look like the whole thing makes for fun viewing on bad movie night.

Scores (out of 5)
Visuals: 3
Sound: 3
Acting: 3
Script: 2
Music: 2
Direction: 3
Entertainment: 4
Total:  3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.   

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