AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
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.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Michael_Elliott
Manhattan Baby (1982)** (out of 4) Professor Hacker (Christopher Connelly) is in Egypt where he opens up a tomb, which sets loose a spirit, which possesses his young daughter.MANHATTAN BABY is pretty much a forgotten film from director Lucio Fulci. This film was made after his notorious "gore era" that started with ZOMBIE and lasted up to THE NEW YORK RIPPER (before starting again later in his career). More times than not people stumble across MANHATTAN BABY and are disappointed by the lack of gore but there are more issues than just that.It's strange but while I don't really care for this movie I do think it's much better than its reputation would have people to believe. I think the biggest problem with the film is that the director was obviously going for more atmosphere/scares than anything else and I don't think he pulled it off. There's really nothing scary about the movie and I'd argue that none of it is overly creepy either. There had already been so many possessed children movie and this here simply doesn't do anything new or original.As I said, those expecting gore are really going to be letdown because you get a creative death scene early on and then nothing else up until a gory sequence at the end. One really has to wonder why Fulci went away from the gore and especially since it pretty much jump started his career and got it back on track. Even the non-horror films from this era were full of nasty things yet here's MANHATTAN BABY with very little.There are some nice performances scattered throughout the film and I'd argue that the music score is quite effective. Still, there's no question that the film just doesn't have enough to keep it entertaining.
MovieGuy01
I really enjoyed seeing Mannhatten Baby which was directed by Lucio Fulci. Whilst On holiday in Egypt with George and Emily Hacker (Christopher Connelly and Martha Taylor), her archaeologist father and journalist mother, a 10-year-old girl called Susie Hacker (Brigitta Boccoli)is approached by a mysterious blind woman, who gives her an amulet with a blue-jewelled eye in the middle of it. after, Not long after her farther George is made blind by a bright piercing blue light when he enters a unexplored tomb. Back in New York, George is told that the loss of his eyesight will only be temporary. Susie begins to act strangely,and her younger brother Tommy (Giovanni Frezza), who stayed behind in New York,is also affected by the amulet. Emily their mother discovers that both of them are appearing and disappearing out of their rooms every day and night.Susie and Tommy have gained supernatural access to doorways. A few days later, George's eyesight returns, and he describes the design on the wall of the tomb he'd entered to a friend called Wiler, he guesses that it may be the Sacred Symbol of the Grand Shadow, a sight of terrible evil.
Matthew Janovic
This is another film that gets down-graded unfairly because of the popular films such as "The Beyond", "Zombi" and "City of the Living Dead". Gorehounds expect--naturally--the same gore-levels as these films, which is also unfair. Besides, it's better to watch a film with no-expectations whatsoever. That-said, "Manhattan Baby" is a unique film for Lucio Fulci, and bears some resemblance to "The Awakening" and even "Rosemary's Baby" (hence-the-title?). The production was troubled by producer-interference in plot-elements, and then a reduction of the budget by 3/4's, dropping it to a cost of $300,000. That Fulci was able to rescue his and co-writer Dardano Sachetti's original-core is amazing, and the film still bears the mark of both creators in a good-sense. There is the continued-theme of the supernatural, and an unsettling-sense that normal "cause-and-effect" has been undermined by the unknown. This is a crucial-link between films such-as "The Beyond" or "City of the Living Dead", but the horror is not metaphysical, but isolated to one-family (then-another...). Much of Fabio Fabrizzi's score is recycled from the "opus" Fulci-films, and there are some new-additions, such as the title-theme which is really seductive and lush. What really throws most Fulci-fans off with this film is the combination of ancient-technology and the supernatural--it is extremely-unique, and I can only recall "Stargate" picking-the-up in later-years. But, I think Fulci explores this concept the best, and even transcends obvious-possibilities. Yes, the children of the archaeologist discover a portal to another-dimension, but it is almost an afterthought beside all the other narrative-subplots he throws-at-us. There actually is a lot of gore in this film! One scene stands-out: the attack of an Occultist by his own stuffed-birds, and boy is it nasty. And so, this is not really a film that can be called purely "horror", nor purely "science-fiction", etc. . It's my guess this is why so-many Fulci-fans and others don't like it--it's not easily-described, or understood. Like Fulci's "The Black Cat" (1981), it deserves reassessment and a better-reputation as a solid story of the fantastic. Check the final-scene, it was copied-by Clive Barker for the frame-piece of "Hellraiser" (1986). The Anchor Bay DVD is great. An entertaining, and bizarre film.
bensonmum2
Lucio Fulci made some real stinkers in his career and Manhattan Baby comes close to being the worst. The problem is the incoherent plot that I'm not even going to attempt to explain. The plot centers around an Egyptian amulet with evil powers. The evil powers manifest themselves in a series of totally unrelated events. In fact, almost every event in Manhattan Baby is completely unrelated to what came before or what is yet to come. Fulci and screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti had some wonderful ideas, but there is nothing holding these ideas together. As a series of standalone set-pieces, Manhattan Baby isn't that bad. But trying to make sense out of a plot that's all over the place can give you quite a headache.It's too bad. The movie gets off to a good start with some nice looking and mysterious Egyptian scenes. But don't let that fool you. Once the movie gets back to New York, things fall apart.As I wrote previously, there are some good set-pieces in Manhattan Baby. Among the highlights – the tomb exploration, the opening of the children's door by a friend of the mother, and the final bird attack. As I've said before though, a few good set-pieces cannot save a movie.
