The Monster (I Don't Want To Be Born / The Devil Within Her)

Color, 1975, 93 mins. 52 secs.
Directed by Peter Sasdy
Starring Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Eileen Atkins, Caroline Munro, Donald Pleasence, Hilary Mason, John Steiner
Network (Blu-ray & DVD) (UK RB/R2 HD/PAL), Scorpion Releasing (Blu-ray) (US RA HD) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9), Scorpion Releasing (DVD) (US R1 NTSC), Carlton (UK R2 PAL) / WS (1.66:1) (16:9)

Few films can boast a more confusing hodgepodge of titles than this ridiculous but hugely entertaining Rosemary's Baby and The Exoricst rip-off from the UK. Shot under the title I Don't Want to Be Born, it was retitled The Devil Within Her by AIP for American audiences (also one of the titles assigned a year earlier to Beyond the Door). Then it was reissued as Sharon's Baby (despite the fact that there's nobody named Sharon in the movie) and first released on British DVD from Carlton with a print sporting the confusing title of The Monster, while an earlier UK tape edition was called It Lives Within Her. Needless to say, regardless of the alias under which it was lurking at the time, few viewers have ever forgotten the moral lesson of this film: never, ever turn down a lusty Satanic gypsy dwarf at a strip club.

Lucy Carlesi (Collins) is having a baby, as we see in histrionic detail over the opening credits. However, something's amiss right away as the newborn lashes out at its new mom; since this is a '70s horror film, you can bet it's only going to get worse from there. Indeed, Lucy - who's apparently retired or at least on maternity leave from her gig as one of those movie strippers who stays fully clothed - doesn't get much support from her twit husband (Hammer regular Bates, wrestling with a hilarious Italian accent), and to make matters worse, her nun sister-in-law (Atkins, with an even funnier accent) tells her that the bundle of joy Lucy delivered is actually some sort of hellspawn bent on mangling everyone around it. Blood flies, the family doctor (Pleasence, of course) can't explain a thing, Lucy's stripper friend Mandy (Munro, dubbed for what wouldn't be the last time in her career) passes the time sleeping with their boss (Tenebrae's Steiner); and soon the awful truth comes to light: Lucy spurned her former nightclub dance partner, a creepy dwarf, and now he's possessing her baby. What can a helpless mom do?

At the time of this film's release, director Peter Sasdy was one of the most promising of the new stable of British horror directors. He had just come off a trio of Hammer's best films during its autumn years (Taste the Blood of Dracula, Hands of the Ripper and Countess Dracula), and he'd also delivered one heck of a TV ghost story with the Nigel Kneale-scripted The Stone Tape. Granted, his two non-Hammer features, Doomwatch and Nothing but the Night had their flaws, but they remain fascinating experiments all the same. However, something obviously snapped here as the film goes way past full-tilt insanity in the first few minutes an d never looks back. From here it was just a long, weird, spiral for Sasdy back to TV until 1983 when he finally begat one of the most lovably ridiculous Hollywood films of all time, The Lonely Lady. Leading lady Joan Collins also headed the same direction, though her camp destination proved to be far more lucrative on TV's Dynasty; the rest of the overqualified cast also went on to bigger and better things including some familiar faces on the sidelines like the always busy character actress Hilary Mason (Don't Look Now and Dolls). Also entertaining in all the wrong ways is the brash, very '70s music score by TV composer Ron Grainer (most famous for co-writing the theme for Doctor Who), who also dabbled on the big screen with the classically funky The Omega Man and The Assassination Bureau. He'd also been listening to Paul McCartney and Wings' Band on the Run an awful lot to judge by the opening credits.

Despite popping in and out of video stores during the VHS era with great regularity, The Devil Within Her took its sweet time getting delivered to American DVD. Scorpion's release from 2011 turned out to be far from stillborn thanks to a solid, colorful anamorphic transfer thankfully presented at 1.66:1, with more information visible at the top and bottom than what was seen on American prints. It's also one of the first titles in the label's "Katarina's Nightmare Theater" line, which features the wrestling star and horror hostess offering amusing but surprisingly respectful, trivia-packed, and witty wraparounds for the feature; her noted resemblance to the film's co-star, Caroline Munro, is a definite plus as well. Current Hollywood real estate agent Steiner also appears here for his second video interview (15m50s), after his ribald chat on the special edition of Caligula, in which he covers everything from Joan Collins' glamorous star quality to his back-and-forth career between England and Italy. Unlike the bare bones U.K. disc, this also includes the U.S. theatrical trailer as well as several bonus horror previews including The Pyx, Final Exam, Humongous, Nothing but the Night, and Human Experiments.

In 2017, Scorpion revisited the film for an expanded, upgraded Blu-ray release featuring a fresh scan of the film's interpositive. The new transfer looks darker, richer, and cooler compared to the bright and often gold flesh tones of the prior DVD, so personal taste will likely dictate which one is preferable. The 1.78:1 framing adjusts a bit compared to prior versions, revealing more on the bottom of the frame for most of the running time with a sliver less on top. The DTS-HD MA English mono audio sounds modest but fine considering the film's basic sound mix. Ported over from the DVD are the Katarina wraparounds, the trailer, and the Steiner featurette, but also included is a welcome new interview with Munro (27m56s) with lots of thoughts about her various cast members, including warm memories of the late Bates and the "smaller than expected" Pleasence. As for the film? "It was a job," of course, "and some parts are quite amusing." If you're a Paul Naschy fan, be sure to stick around all the way to the end, too. The Blu-ray also included bonus trailers for Humongous, Silent Scream, and House on Sorority Row.

In 2021, Network brought the film to Blu-ray and DVD in the U.K. in a robust special edition that doesn't overlap with the U.S one at all. The transfer looks markedly different, reinstating the original 1.66:1 framing (with that extra room at the top restored) and featuring more consistent, natural color timing, particularly during the bedroom climax that now has a darker, spookier look versus the sun-blasted appearnace on the American transfer. The English LPCM mono track sounds as good as always, now finally augmented with optional English SDH subtitles (particularly handy if you want to follow along and practice a dodgy Italian accent). A new commentary with Laura Mayne and Adrian Smith from the Second Features podcast is a loose and sometimes giddy accompaniment to the film as they provide background on the major players on screen, note the joys of the ultra-'70s production design, and tie it to other British genre films of the era. As they note up front it's a very podcast-style approach here that yields some surprising moments, especially a great bit where Smith notes that his own family was purportedly under a gypsy curse and he was born near the same time as the baby in this film! You also get at trio of new interview featurettes starting with "Sasdy's Baby" (23m30s), in which the director chats about his overall horror career including his time at Hammer while offering a fair bit about this film (including his deliberate choice not to show the baby itself looking menacing on camera). Then in "The Excisist" (10m14s), editor Keith Palmer goes into the film's origins under the title The Baby and its placement in his busy career including Doomwatch, plus the financial and production issues that beset this production. He also explains the rationale for those long, long shopping scenes on the streets of London, which were added when the running time came up too short. Finally in "Holding the Baby" (14m29s), continuity supervisor Renée Glynne and wardrobe supervisor Brenda Dabbs share their own memories of the production with a focus on the actors, particularly the very nice Pleasence who was quite different from his typical dark demeanor on camera. Finally the disc rounds out with the alternate British I Don't Want To Be Born credit sequence (versus The Monster still seen on the main feature), the crazy U.K. theatrical trailer (as I Don't Want To Be Born), and a hefty gallery (4m53s) of promotional material from around the globe (plus some great glamour shots and a couple of candids of Collins and a very young Sasdy hanging out). The disc playback also begins with trailers for The Possession of Joel Delaney and Death Line, indicating the former should be coming along sooner rather than later. The limited edition first pressing also comes with an insert booklet featuring an essay by Smith as well.

NETWORK (Blu-ray)

SCORPION RELEASING (Blu-ray)

Updated review on October 6, 2021.