BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

qmtv This movie has atmosphere. The story needed work. Acting is fine. Production is good.Good cinematography, and music will raise the ratings on this. The story needed more work. The acting was good. Fx were good. Great set designs. Take a look at the apartment and the antique shop.This is a B movie, the rating is a B – for the story, or 6. 7 given for balance.

jtk57 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.

anxietyresister Oh my word, this is bad. I want nothing to take away from the sheer awfulness of this.. well, I'd stretch to call it a 'film'. Describing the plot is impossible because what transpires is completely incoherent, but at the start a young girl on vacation in Egypt receives a medallion from a mysterious figure. All kinds of weird stuff happens, all depicted by awful dubbing and truly rubbish special effects. How anybody thought this mess was worth distributing I'll never know, but I bet those involved would pay good money to keep it off their CV. Nothing else left to say really apart from: if you love being confused and depressed at the same time.. this is the 'movie' for you.. 0/10

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.