Amulett des Bösen

"Manhattan baby" is another supernatural horror movie shot during the Maestro's most prolific period.

The movie being accorded only a fraction of the planned budget, it never had the chance to become what its makers probably intended.

Still it contains some beautiful surrealistic and atmospheric scenes which are worth watching. The opening scene in Egypt is just marvelous and keeps up with Fulci's best work. After the Hacker family returns to New York, the little daughter experiences contact with evil through the amulet she got in Egypt. This allows Fulci to devise the movie like "The Gates of Hell" or "The Beyond", meaning as a succession of loosely related scenes depicting strange occurences. Some of those scenes are interesting, such as the snake attack and the blood stains on the wall, announcing the return of "poor Jamie Lee". Others are ridiculous, like Adrian Mercato winding in spasms on the ground. The final attack by stuffed birds is spoiled by the visibility of the wires (in good tradition of other phony attacks by animals).

Although the overall result of "Manhattan Baby" is not as convincing and terrifying as Fulci's previous flics, it still belongs to his strong period in horror film making and is therefore recommended to everyone who likes Fulci's style not just for the sake of gore (as "Manhattan Baby" contains only few).

Hey - it's 1980 and Mr. Fulci wishes to do something 'not so horror'. So he created this tale about an Egyptian amulet which brings terrible tragedy to a New York family. I've seen about 15 of these Italian post-giallo horrors now from Fulci, Bava and of course, Argento. I found this one to be relatively well-dubbed and paced. In other words, the pace wasn't infintessimal and the actors didn't break from Italian into dubbed English and vice versa. For all I know, this was recorded in English given its title. Anyway, the two children in the film are strikingly eerie, remniscent of Village of the Damned's little miscreants, though the boy's voice seems very off (the only exception to my comment about the dubbing)- check out his first few lines in the park in "Manhattan"! Hilarious! The plot, while somewhat draggy as all of these films are (other societies don't demand a new scene every 2.5 minutes and either dialogue or action at all times it seems), it's not that slow. Of course these films are often watched for the unflinching depictions of gore that Italians are not afraid to deliver, and while the violence is a bit more subtle in this one than most, there are three scenes which will satisfy this type of viewer. Ultimately, this film's worst trait is its attempt at more 'psychological' horror in my opinion. However, it is not bad - as long as you are used to these Italians and their significantly different motivations and backgrounds from American directors. Oh, and as you might expect from Fulci, the cinematography is spellbinding at times.

We selected "Manhattan Baby" from the movie library last night, and I realized that it was to be probably the 7th time I have watched this rather uncelebrated Fulci offering in the past 5 years. Yes, this movie is a bit formulaic, and yes, it does move a bit slow in parts. But there is something undeniably menacing in this movie, an atmosphere of claustrophobia, the tightness of the endless close-ups of people's faces, that I enjoy and (obviously) come back to again and again. No, this is not a gory movie, which no doubt comes as a surprise (disappointment?) to fans of Fulci's other (mostly excellent) films. Even the death scenes, of which there are only 3 or 4, have minimal blood compared to something like "The Beyond", not that I would recommend this as hearty family fare by any means. But if you enjoy the uniquely "European" dreamlike atmosphere created by a combination of cheesy effects, plot holes, wooden acting, bad dubbing, and inexplicable motivations of characters, this may be one you revisit again, and again and again... you get the idea.

'Manhattan Baby' is second rate Fulci. People who love/hate Fulci's work usually mention two things - his nonsensical plots and his abundance of gore. Unfortunately this movie has plenty of the former and hardly any of the latter, making it pretty dull and hard going viewing for the most part. It was co-written by regular Fulci collaborator Dardano Sacchetti (who also worked with just about every important Italian horror/exploitation director - Mario and Lamberto Bava, Argento, Lenzi, Deodato,etc.) Sacchetti says that the producers slashed the budget at the last minute, which undoubtedly contributed to making this a poorer movie, but it's hard to know who to blame. The script is certainly very muddled so the viewer has to battle to work out just what is going on half the time, and Fulci himself seems to have deliberately left out his trademark gore. There's only really one notable gore sequence towards the climax of the picture, and while it's pretty good, it's a long time coming, and hardly up to the standards set by Fulci's horror masterpiece 'The Beyond'. Fulci's best movie for my money wasn't even horror it's the giallo 'Don't Torture A Duckling'. That movie had virtually no gore or effects but it had an interesting story and some good actors, neither of which 'Manhattan Baby' has. I wouldn't say 'Manhattan Baby' is a complete stinker, as there are a few effective sequences, but it's extremely disappointing overall, and easily the weakest Fulci movie I've seen to date. Unless you're a die-hard obsessive Italian horror fan, give it a miss.

On a trip to Egypt with her archaeologist father, Professor George Hacker (Christopher Connelly) and photographer mother, Emily (Laura Lenzi), young Suzie (Brigitta Boccoli) begins having bizarre experiences involving things of a mystical nature. With her parents too busy to notice, Suzie encounters a strange person who gives her a very distinctive amulet. Meanwhile, dad has an Indiana Jones-style adventure of his own, getting blinded in the process.

Back home in NYC, it's back to life as usual.

Oh no!

Suzie's new amulet has its own spooky theme music! This can mean only one thing! Yes indeed, she's become the tool of some peevish supernatural entity! It's not long before all manner of weirdness breaks out.

MANHATTAN BABY is another of Director Lucio Fulci's supernatural horror offerings. As such, it's pretty solid, featuring some of his signature gruesomeness and eyeball closeups. The novel story has a few nice twists and ideas.

BEST BITS: #1- Death by elevator! Not in the usual manner! #2- The overdue demise of Emily's utterly annoying, "wacky glasses"-wearing, imbecilic coworker, Luke (Carlo De Mejo)! #3- Snake-cam / death by cobra! #4- "Poor Jamie Lee!" #5- Dead bird attack! Fishing line holding up the birds? You didn't see annnything!...