The Baby 1973 (B-) #193

1973 was a good year for movies, but at first I was not fully sold on this one.  The end had me feeling the vibe of Rosemary's Baby (not just because of the titles)....so it got better.  But for my first impressions however, I had a few gripes.  The actor that plays "Baby" makes this dreadful fake baby noise throughout the film.  Some part of me feels any actor could do a better job then this guy.  Even Jim Caviezel or Brendan Sexton III.  Actually, in a remake effort, Brendan would be a great choice.  Anyway, I tried my best to get by the whiney adult baby noise aspect.  Now onto the plot.  It seemed weak.  I'm used to the more elaborate plots of today, even when not always done well.  I ended up really rooting for the crazy family.  Opposite of what the director probably had in mind.  To me, they were more entertaining and had a more robust character build.  As the movie droned on, I just found myself hoping for them to win.  Perhaps it would make the movie good?  With that said, I could have used some more crazy 'Pink-Flamingo-type' events rising out of them - to give it that whacky edge it seemed to be missing throughout the first hour.  This was part of the hype I thought would endure in The Baby prior to pushing play.  The family was fairly tame compared to today's sick movie portrayals existing on the big screen.

There was some 70's thriller suspense towards the end, with added in awesome music, as the family searched around for Baby in the case workers house.  It seemed like a 20 minute scene, with congo drums, and tenor saxophones - perhaps some fancy oboe work.  Then they classically cued up the rapid psycho violins and ordered jars of splatter ketchup for the actors to share!!

Then came the ending.  Wow, totally awesome demented ending!  Great job 70's movie!  Pretty typical for a thriller from this era, build slowly, not much happens worth getting excited about....and then WAM.  The ending happens and you smile realizing that the people who were the forefathers of horror had it right back then.  They knew how to create suspense and capitalize on it.  I can't stop smiling right now.  Seriously this movie took me for a ride I didn't expect.  If only they could put The Baby into a 25 minute short film, I would not have had to waste so much time with the first hour of the film.  I suppose it was necessary, but just tedious.  Worth a watch.