Not Since "Rosemary's Baby"...

Conceived by the Devil, only she knows what her baby really is!

Pray for the Devil Within Her...before it preys on you!



This weird British hybrid of The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby and It's Alive! stars Joan Collins as a stripper who spurns the advances of a lecherous dwarf and is subsequently cursed by a monstrous baby -- which emits horrifying demonic howls and attacks everyone within reach, including his parents, his nanny and the family doctor (Donald Pleasence). A final exorcism is attempted by a nun (Eileen Atkins), for what it's worth. No clear explanation is given for the link between the spurned dwarf and the demonic influence placed upon the homicidal tyke (even the countless Italian Exorcist knock-offs usually maintained some sort of twisted logic), and the considerable potential for horror in the killer-baby concept is not explored thoroughly enough to keep viewers involved. Also released as I Don't Want To Be Born


I Don't Want to Be Born (U.S. The Devil Within Her) is a 1975 British horror film, directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Eileen Atkins and Donald Pleasence, which tapped into the 1970s fad for devil-child horror films. The film was originally marketed as a straight-faced and serious product, and as such was comprehensively mauled by critics of the time. However it later gained a reputation as a cult film favourite due to its perceived shortcomings, absurdities and unintentional camp comedy appeal.


I Don't Want to Be Born was initially a target of critical scorn. A damning review by Andrew Nickolds of Time Out described the film as "derivative and disastrous in every respect: a poor idea...an abominable screenplay by Stanley Price ("I keep getting these awful premonitions"), ludicrous acting...and worst of all, Sasdy's direction. Almost every foot of film not concerned with the baby is travelogue at its most banal – extraneous shots of Westminster and Oxford Street, plugs for Fortnum & Mason and Holiday Inns. Completing this sorry tale of rip-off is borrowing from The Exorcist...and any number of details from Amicus, Hammer and Swinging London horrors. Give it a wide berth."[1] An American reviewer found the film "sensational and vulgar" and "an unholy cross" between The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby, adding "why decent actors like Eileen Atkins and Donald Pleasence allowed themselves to be corralled into a mess like this is enigmatic."[2]
From the 1980s, the film became a regular feature on late-night TV in the UK and U.S., attracting ironic appreciation from connoisseurs of the "so-bad-it's-good" school of films. The factors which were originally ridiculed now became selling points to this audience, including the incoherent, implausible and ill-explained plot; wild overacting and a general air of absurd hysteria; laughably overwrought, clumsy and stilted dialogue, the bizarre accents adopted by Bates and Atkins; the inclusion of a lengthy, completely gratuitous and archetypally-1970s sex scene between Collins and Bates, and the spectacle of several well-respected actors of the time making fools of themselves. The tongue-in-cheek British Horror Films website sums up the film's appeal as: "There are some films that just defy description. I Don't Want to Be Born ranks very highly among them. The film is...an out-and-out classic. And it was apparently made completely straight-faced. Quite how unbelievable that statement is can only be appreciated when the film is watched."


Release Date: July 6, 1976


Distrib: American International