The Baby

Director: Ted Post Ted Post

Overview

TV-movie perennial Ted Post served as director for the low-budget theatrical feature The Baby. Ruth Roman plays a boozy nutcase who, out of hatred for the husband who ran out on her years earlier, forces her teenaged son (David Manzy) to dress and behave like an infant. Social worker Ann Gentry (Anjanette Comer), understandably put off by the sight of a fully grown boy chewing on his toes in a playpen, sets about to rescue him. When sinister forces try to claim the "baby" from Ann, she resorts to murder.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/25/2018
UPC:	0760137166184
Original Release:	1973
Source:	Arrow Video
Region Code:	ABC
Time:	1:24:00
Sales rank:	25,054

Special Features

Brand new Audio Commentary by Travis Crawford; A Family Affair - a brand new interview with actor Marianna Hill; Nursery Crimes - a brand new interview with nursery painting creator Stanley Dyrector; Down Will Come Baby - a new retrospective with film professor Rebekah McKendry; Tales from the Crib - archival Audio Interview with Director Ted Post; Baby Talk - archival Audio Interview with star David Mooney; Theatrical Trailer; Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Pataki	Actor
Anjanette Comer	Ann Gentry
Ruth Roman	Mrs. Wadsworth
Marianna Hill	Germaine
Suzanne Zenor	Alba
David Manzy	Baby
Tod Andrews	Actor
Erin O'Reilly	Actor
Virginia Vincent	Actor
Joseph E. Bernard	Actor
Beatrice Manley	Actor
Gerald Fried	Conductor

Technical Credits

Abe Polsky

Ted Post	Director
Jesse Corallo	Production Manager
Bob Crawford	Editor
Elliott Feinman	Executive Producer
Gerald Fried	Score Composer
Ralph Hirsch	Executive Producer
Byrd Holland	Makeup
Michael D. Margulies	Cinematographer
Abe Polsky	Producer,Screenwriter
Milton Polsky	Producer
Dick Wormell	Editor

Editorial Reviews

The Baby is the kind of queasy thriller that could only have been born in the psychosexually sick '70s. Quite possibly the only exploitation of infantilism to hit the screen (aside from some specialty porn titles), it still stands up as an engaging sleaze flick and retains its power to disturb. When a social worker challenges the Wadsworth family for the legal guardianship of a 21-year-old man in diapers, all sorts of prickly issues are carelessly raised simply to make the audience squirm. The women at war have both sexual and maternal needs to satisfy, and the way these desires blur is what gives The Baby so much squeamish power. As Baby, David Manzy holds character admirably, wearing an appropriately dazed look on his face throughout the film (although his crawling skills are a bit too athletic for someone who can't walk or stand on his own). Ruth Roman is also in rare form as the bullying Mrs. Wadsworth, a woman with instincts more criminal than motherly. Director Ted Post builds up speed as the film progresses, beginning with a simple eccentric character study, taking time out for a wild, psychedelic birthday party and ending with pure horror. The twist ending is truly a twist, and it colors all of the events that previously transpired, without seeming too labored. A truly unique entry into the horror canon, The Baby is a great example of how a twisted premise can be more effective than graphic violence or plastic monster masks.

All Movie Guide - Fred Beldin