I Don't Want to Be Born

1976 "Pray for the Devil Within Her...before it preys on you!"
4.1| 1h35m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 February 1976 Released
Producted By: The Rank Organisation
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Info

A woman gives birth to a baby, but this is no ordinary little tyke. The child is seemingly possessed by the spirit of a freak dwarf who the mother once spurned. Cue a spate of strange deaths, the one common factor being the presence of a baby in pram at the scene...

Genre

Horror, Thriller

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Director

Peter Sasdy

Production Companies

The Rank Organisation

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I Don't Want to Be Born Audience Reviews

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
mukava991 This modest popcorn thriller from Britain boasts a solid performance from that fine actress and world-class beauty Joan Collins as a former stripper who marries Italian money and ends up on easy street, London style – or so she thinks. Unfortunately her firstborn turns out to be possessed by the spirit of a demonic nightclub clown whose advances she spurned shortly before her marriage. Even before the child is brought home from the hospital he has already drawn blood from an attack on his mother. The baby's diabolical screams are technically enhanced with reverb and echo effects, as are those of his victims. Toward the end there is a strong dream sequence in which Collins, under the influence of a sedative, makes her way through her house with space, time and the relationship of sounds to their source imaginatively distorted. Eileen Atkins plays, of all things, an Italian nun who also happens to be the leading lady's sister-in-law. She doesn't quite get the accent and in general seems ill-suited to the role. The English actor Ralph Bates as the Italian husband is equally out of place. Donald Pleasence does better in his supporting role as the doctor who attends to the troublesome infant as does Hilary Mason, so memorable as the blind psychic in "Don't Look Now," as the no-nonsense nanny. The actual baby looks ordinary and does nothing but smile or cry as all babies do, but through editing tricks and cleverly applied sound effects we believe he is indeed evil. Shot in vivid color and with an undertone of urban sleaziness, it's scary, sometimes silly and somewhat naughty fun.
Michael_Elliott The Devil Within Her (1975)* (out of 4)Lucy (Joan Collins) and her husband Gino (Ralph Bates) welcome a new baby boy but right from the start they can tell there's something not quite right with him. Their doctor (Donald Pleasence) isn't sure what's the cause of his super strength and violent outbursts but before long Lucy fears it might have something to do with the dwarf that put a curse on her.THE DEVIL WITHIN HER was the AIP title given to this film, which was originally made as I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN. As you can tell from the plot, this here is basically another child possession movie, which was all the craze after the success of THE EXORCIST. No matter what you call this turkey, there's no question that it's downright awful on many levels. When you make a horror movie the main thing you're trying to do is scare people but that certainly doesn't happen here as there's not a single moment of suspense.So, what went wrong with this film? That's a good question because there's really nothing good here. What's so amazing is the fact that the horror elements are so awful as well. There's no suspense to be found and there's not even the slightest amount of tension. Another problem is that it's very poorly made and especially the various scenes where the baby attacks people. These scenes are poorly shot and poorly edited. In fact, they are at times embarrassing and especially since the baby's arms wouldn't reach some of the people that it is attacking.It also doesn't help that we're given some really bad performances. Collins and Caroline Munro share a really embarrassing scene where they're drinking and it really does seem as if they're going after each other trying to prove which one could overact the worst. Bates isn't any better in his role as the husband. Eileen Atkins is pretty good as Sister Albana and I'd argue that Pleasence was also quite good and especially since you almost made you believe the dialogue that he was saying.THE DEVIL WITHIN HER is a really, really awful movie on many levels. Thankfully it's bad enough to the point where there are a few scenes that you can laugh at. Still, the film really drags at times and there's just nothing to recommend.
moonspinner55 Combination "Rosemary's Baby"/"The Exorcist"/"It's Alive" rubbish from the UK, released there as "I Don't Want To Be Born", is an absolutely ridiculous occult thriller without one single redeeming attribute (apart from the camp factor, as well as a devilish dwarf who pops up dressed like a court jester). Low-rent showgirl Joan Collins is cursed by the little guy after spurning his advances, which leads to the malevolent possession of her newborn infant--who packs a mean right hook!--eventually becoming homicidal. Collins, flashing some skin, looks like she'd rather be elsewhere, perhaps in another naughty adaptation of one of her sister's tawdry books. The incredulous will either scoff or stick around for the unintended amusement, though it feels rather shameful to laugh while all these actors are being humiliated. NO STARS from ****
Cheese Hoven Unbelievable tosh concerning an over-sized baby being possessed by a malicious dwarf. Yes, that really is the plot. I'd love to see this remade by the League of Gentlemen but I doubt they could make it funnier or more bizarre. This infant pushes people to their deaths, lynches his 'father' (played by Ralph Bates with a strange Italian/Scottish hybrid accent) decapitates Donald Pleasance with a shovel and has enough strength to drag his victims out of sight. Laughable dialogue and some strange accents, including one English actress being dubbed by another one, plus some comical 'special' effects make this entertaining for all the wrong reasons. Oddest of all is how so many top notch actors got involved with this drivel which could hardly have looked good even in script form. The scene where Joan Collins is touched up by a dwarf has got to be one of the most ludicrous scenes ever committed to celluloid. Hard to rate but 0/10 as horror and probably 6/10 for entertainment. As it happens I saw this just after Death Wish 3, so obviously there was a 'so bad its good' theme that evening.

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