Manhattan Baby (1982)

A long time ago, during the ancient nineties, people actually hated Manhattan Baby. Said it was the beginning of all the bad movies Fulci made after his gore-soaked horror-career (that only included 4-5 movies, the “fans” had no idea about the movies before that). But now it’s a different time, and even some of his even later movies have got the blessing from the nasty nerds out there in the void. I saw Manhattan Baby on a VHS-bootleg the first time and was even then impressed by its visuals, but the sound was bad and it was hard to concentrate. Some years ago I bought the DVD and since then I’ve learned to fully appreciate the amazing little movie that Manhattan Baby is.

Christopher Connelly is Professor George Hacker, an archaeologist who brought his daughter and wife to Egypt for some work and vacation. During a mysterious event, his daughter gets a gift – an amulet with enormous powers. At the same time Hacker and his colleague is involved in a terrible accident inside an old pyramid and Hacker is left blind…
Back in New York the treatment for his eyes starts, and it’s looking good. But his daughter has shown the amulet to her little brother and together they start use it, for “journeys”… Soon people start to die around the family, is it possible to stop the curse?

Manhattan Baby isn’t as confusing as some people will say, the story is quite clear but they just left out a lot of details, a lot of explanations. I’m happy for that, I want to fill in the blanks myself. I guess the thought is something supernatural, something occult, but for me it always has been connected to ancient technology. The stories about the Egyptians and their unknown, lost, technology is famous and some even claim they was aliens (no, I don’t think so – I didn’t even believe in Santa or God as a kid). The amulet, according to me, is not so much a supernatural thing, but a technological thing. Maybe connected with radioactive power. A time machine, or a dimension portal, highly dangerous in the wrong hands. The occultist, Adrian Marcato (the always awesome Cosimo Cinieri), reacts like he’s been exposed to strong radioactivity (blood from nose and ears, spasms) after touching the amulet for example.

Manhattan Baby is also, as usual with Fulci, a beautiful movie with so much atmosphere that even James Whale deserves to be a bit jealous. The opening in Egypt, is among the best sequences in a horror movie Fulci ever directed! Everything is perfection, a flawless use of camera and lightning. Compared to his other horror flicks it’s quite low on gore, but the the little that is looks great, from the nice impalement in the beginning to the nasty and ultra-gory bird-scene in the end. In-between Fulci gives us a lot of nice set-pieces with cool effects and that special Italian movie-poetry that we learned to love from him.

Manhattan Baby is another proof that Lucio Fulci was a master storyteller, who could show stuff with only his camera that other directors only could dream of. Now when I come to think of it, he should have done a silent movie! That would have been very, very cool.