I Don't Want to Be Born - 1975
Not Since "Rosemary's Baby"...
Director(s)
Peter Sasdy
Writer(s)
Nato De Angeles story
Stanley Price screenplay
Producer(s)
Norma Corney producer
Nato De Angeles executive producer
Cast
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
Andrew Secombe - Delivery Boy
Susan Richards - Old Lady
Phyllis MacMahon - Nun
John Moore - Priest
Floella Benjamin - 1st Nurse
Penny Darch - 2nd Nurse
López - Stripper
Susie Lightining - Stripper
Val Hoadley - Dancer
Janice Brett - Dancer
Review by Sven Soetemans
Abortion would have been a much better option,
I really hate saying this about 70's Brit horror but…this is a very, very BAD film! Everything that could possibly go wrong actually features here in this lame horror vehicle. A really bad basic idea, for starters, handling about Joan Collins giving birth to an (unusually big) baby possessed by evil and controlled by a dwarf Collins once spurned. This film 'borrows' style and script elements from Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, Don't Look Now, It's Alive and even tiny details from Hammer and Amicus successes. The screenplay is extremely poorly written and Peter Sasdy's directing is the worst of all disasters. What happened to this guy? He was responsible for an endless amount of great TV-movies and a few downright classic Hammer titles (like 'Countess Dracula' and 'Hands of the Ripper') but, ever since Doomwatch, he just seems to make crap. This production is very banal, not the least bit scary or atmospheric and the bloodshed is kept to a minimum. It looks like this film is blessed with a terrific all-star cast, but everybody is performing far below their normal acting skills. Donald Pleasance looks dead long before his character is actually slaughtered and Ralph Bates' character is far too fake. Eileen Atkins triumphs as the worst cast-member though. She stars as an Italian nun (?) and speaks with the most atrocious accent I ever heard. The only one that gets a little sympathy is the beautiful Caroline Munro as the sexy cabaret dancer. I don't Want to be Born is a giant disappointment in every respect and better left unmentioned. Avoid!
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