Sharon's Baby (1975)
"I Don't Want to Be Born" (original title)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Peter Sasdy

Writers:

Stanley Price (screenplay), Nato De Angeles (original story)

Stars:

Joan Collins, Eileen Atkins, Ralph Bates

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Collins	...	Lucy Carlesi
Eileen Atkins	...	Sister Albana
Ralph Bates	...	Gino Carlesi
Donald Pleasence	...	Dr. Finch
Caroline Munro	...	Mandy Gregory
Hilary Mason	...	Mrs. Hyde
John Steiner	...	Tommy Morris
Janet Key	...	Jill Fletcher
George Claydon	...	Hercules
Derek Benfield	...	Police Inspector
Stanley Lebor	...	Police Sergeant
Judy Buxton	...	Sheila
Andy Secombe	...	Delivery Boy (as Andrew Secombe)
Susan Richards	...	Old Lady
Phyllis MacMahon	...	Nun (as Phyllis McMahon)

Storyline

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...

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Plot Keywords:

baby | dwarf | mother | supernatural | homicidal baby | 

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Taglines:

Not Since "Rosemary's Baby"...

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1975 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Devil Within Her

Filming Locations:

32 Wellington Square, Kensington, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rank Organisation, The, Unicapital

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 90 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
1st Nurse: What's wrong, sir?
Dr. Finch: This one doesn't want to be born.

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Connections

Featured in 42nd Street Forever, Volume 5: The Alamo Drafthouse Edition (2009)

User Reviews

Great title, shame about the movie!!

I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN

(USA: The Devil Within Her)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Mono

A nightclub stripper (Joan Collins) is cursed by a dwarf (George Claydon) whose attentions she spurned, and she later gives birth to a murderous baby possessed by a demonic spirit.

Clearly inspired by the contemporary vogue for satanic shockers, this slapdash concoction - memorably dismissed by UK journalist Nigel Burrell as a 'crapulous farrago'! - was thrown together by Hungarian director Peter Sasdy, previously responsible for such superior offerings as "Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1969), "Countess Dracula" (1970) and "Hands of the Ripper" (1971). Here, his contempt for the material is obvious in the weak storyline, feeble horror scenes and lackluster staging, and his concessions to the exploitation marketplace (strippers at work, a gory decapitation, etc.) are shoehorned into proceedings with reckless abandon.

Quite apart from its ridiculous premise (unlike the mutant creature in Larry Cohen's similarly-styled IT'S ALIVE, sweet little babies simply aren't frightening, no matter how much filmmakers try to make them seem otherwise!), the movie is further stymied by indifferent performances and half-baked characterizations: Collins runs the gamut from A to B and back again, Donald Pleasence provides little more than marquee value as Collins' doctor, and Ralph Bates (playing the heroine's husband) is a blank slate throughout. Hilary Mason - the blind lady in DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) - plays the wary housekeeper, and Eileen Atkins is Bates' sister, a nun who performs the commercially-dictated climactic exorcism. Support is offered by Caroline Munro as a fellow stripper (though she looks far too glamorous to be playing such a lowbrow Cockney strumpet!) and Euro-favorite John Steiner as one of Collins' former boyfriends. There's enough campery to entertain die-hard fans, but the sloppy production values and leaden pace will certainly limit the film's appeal to anyone else.

Oh, and watch out for abbreviated prints: If you don't see the head come off in the aforementioned decapitation sequence, you're viewing a censored version...