sari, Roberto Pace; SO: Eros Giustini; B: Guglielmo
Giorgio and Candida flee the title’s haunted man-
Smeraldi; Mix: Bruno Moreal; SS: Rita Agostini;
sion and take refuge in a hotel on the coast; but
DubD: Pino Colizzi. Cast: Christopher Connelly
upon entering their room they find themselves
(Prof. George Hacker), Martha Taylor [Laura
again inside the villa, in a spatial short circuit
Lenzi] (Emily Hacker), Brigitta Boccoli (Susie
that recalls those to which the main characters
Hacker), Giovanni Frezza (Tommy Hacker),
of Operazione paura and Danza macabra fall vic-
Cinzia de Ponti (Jamie Lee), Laurence Welles
tim.
[Cosimo Cinieri] (Adrian Marcato), Andrea Bosic
The movie underwent minor tampering in
(Eye doctor), Carlo De Mejo (Luke), Enzo Marino
order to receive an “all audiences” rating: pro-
Bellanich (Wiler), Mario Moretti (Tennant), Lucio
ducer Vittorio Cecchi Gori agreed to eliminate
Fulci (Dr. Forrester), Tonino Pulci (Orderly); un-
a few lines of dialogue featuring four- letter
credited: Martin Sorrentino (Caretaker). PROD:
words, for an amount of six seconds—further
Fabrizio De Angelis for Fulvia Film (Rome). PM:
evidence of the ongoing taming of comedies in
Palmira De Negri; PS: Paolo Gargano; PSe: Luca
order for them to be accessible to younger au-
Santolini; ADM: Otello Tomassini. Country: Italy.
diences and be more commercially viable to the
Filmed on location in Egypt, New York and at De
general public. Nevertheless, some critics com-
Paolis In.Ci.R. Studios (Rome). Running time:
plained about Pozzetto’s foul language, “repeti-
89 minutes (m. 244). Visa n. 7808 (8.0.982);
tive to the point of boredom.”3 La casa stregata
Rating: V.M.4. Release dates: 8.2.982 (Italy),
02 1982: Manhattan
..982 (Spain), 7.2.983 (Australia), 7.27.984
984). But this time the director had a new
(USA); Distribution: Fulvia Films (Italy), 2st
“blonde in peril,” Laura Lenzi (billed as “Martha
Century Corporation (USA). Domestic gross:
Taylor”) replacing Catriona MacColl. As with
409,424,67 lire. Also known as: The Possessed
Quella villa accanto al cimitero, the story featured
(UK), La malédiction du pharaon (France),
a couple of kids, played by Giovanni Frezza, in
Amulett des Bösen (West Germany), L’ensorcelée
his second and last Fulci film, and Brigitta Boc-
(Canada).
coli (who became a noted showgirl together with
Cairo, Egypt. The young Susie Hacker, daugh-
her sister Benedicta) in a role originally devised
ter of archaeologist George Hacker, is given a mys-
for Silvia Collatina. Fulci never got along with
terious medallion by a blind old woman. Meanwhile
Brigitta and her domineering mother, who fol-
George explores a tomb of an Egyptian evil deity
lowed her on the set, and with his usual mor-
called Abnubenor, which results in the death of
dacity he nicknamed the girl “la nana” (the
his assistant and in him being blinded by a ray of
midget).
blue light. Back in New York, while George slowly
The script retained at Rome’s CSC, titled
recovers his sight, Susie and her younger brother
L’occhio del male and dated February , 982, is
Tommy experience strange phenomena and a series
very similar to the finished film but with several
of gruesome deaths ensue, which involve their build-
interesting differences, most notably the absence
ing’s caretaker, a journalist friend named Luke, the
of the blind sorceress who gives Susie the medal-
kids’ babysitter Jamie Lee, and Hacker’s colleague
lion (we see Emily losing sight of her daughter
Wiler. George and his wife Emily ask for the help of
in the crowded Cairo market, then finding her
antique dealer/occultist Adrian Marcato, who tells
again with the girl already donning the pendant),
them that Susie’s medallion is a powerful talisman
and a different ending: in the script, George re-
which unleashes the forces of evil. Marcato exorcises
turns to the pyramid to defeat the millennial evil
Emily, but in turn he falls victim to the curse of Ab-
entity.
nubenor. At the end, the blind old woman passes on
The Egyptian framework, however, was not
the medallion to another girl…
in Elisa Briganti and Dardano Sacchetti’s original
The last movie Fulci shot for Fabrizio De
story, about a girl who has the gift of ubiquity
Angelis’ Fulvia Film marked a departure from
and is able to travel into different dimensions
the ultra- gory style of his previous works and
during her sleep, pushing her astral body into
was an attempt at a more subdued and ambitious
the beyond; her travels become more and more
Gothic horror story. Manhattan Baby was ini-
physical, as the girl brings back objects from the
tially conceived as the most expensive film of
otherworld; in doing so, she turns into an in-
the lot, with many special electronic effects: in
strument for obscure entities to reach our own
a way, it was an effort on the part of De Angelis
reality. In a way, Sacchetti was referencing
to win a more mainstream audience. But the
L’aldilà, while at the same time exploring the
project underwent drastic budget cuts (from 800
Henry James–like quality of Quella villa accanto
million lire to about 400, according to Dardano
al cimitero (something which the finished film
Sacchetti), and the downsizing weighed heavily
somehow retains, starting with the two children
on the result. Shooting took place between
at its core). It was De Angelis who insisted on
March 8 and the end of April 982, partly on lo-
adding the Egyptian framework, and the theme
cation in and around Cairo, then in New York
of the ancient curse (by way of the evil god Ab-
and finally at the familiar De Paolis studios, for
nubenor) because, according to the scriptwriter,
the interior scenes. During the New York shoot-
“he didn’t know what an astral body was, and
ing, De Angelis had also another crew filming
was afraid that the audience wouldn’t understand
second unit work for Enzo Castellari’s 1990—I
it either.”2 After the producer’s intervention, the
guerrieri del Bronx, a project the producer likely
starting point (an archaeologist’s daughter pos-
cared more about, and whose success would
sessed by an Egyptian spirit) recalls Mike
pave the way for another successful filone.
Newell’s The Awakening (980), based on Bram
The cast comprised a few recurring Fulci
Stoker’s story Jewel of the Seven Sta
rs, released
actors, such as Carlo De Mejo and Cosimo
in Italy in February 98, which had been a mod-
Cinieri: the latter, already seen in Lo squartatore
est success in the country thanks to the presence
di New York, would turn up again in I guerrieri
of Charlton Heston (Fulci even cast a Heston
dell’anno 2072 and, as Lieutenant Borges, in
lookalike of sorts, Christopher Connelly, for the
Murderock—Uccide a passo di danza (both
role of the archaeologist).
1982: Manhattan
03
Manhattan Baby opens with a quote attrib-
death” in Damien: Omen II (978, Don Taylor),
uted to H.P. Lovecraft, “Il mistero non è attorno
to the point of making the victim a black man.
alle cose, ma dentro le cose stesse.” (Mystery is
The opening in the Egyptian tomb with its dan-
not around things, but within things them-
gerous devices and traps vaguely recalls Raiders
selves.) That said, there is little of the world of
of the Lost Ark (and Connelly would later star
the Providence writer in Manhattan Baby be-
as an Indiana Jones–type in a couple Italian rip-
sides the notion of a powerful evil harking from
offs of Spielberg’s film, namely Ruggero De-
centuries back and ready to be unleashed in
odato’s I predatori di Atlantide and Antonio
today’s world. The opening sequences set in
Margheriti’s La leggenda del rubino malese, re-
Egypt sweep away the Lovecraftian and Chris-
leased respectively in 983 and 98), but the
tian references of the previous films and replace
death of the archaeologist’s guide evokes also
them with nods to Oriental religions, including
the director’s own Black Cat. On the other hand,
the use of the “Eye of Horus” (a symbol of pro-
Fulci’s film does not, as some have surmised,4
tection, royal power and good health) as the cat-
draw from Poltergeist, as the latter was only re-
alyst of evil through the medallion which is the
leased in the U.S. the following November.
starting point for a series of horrific events.
As in L’aldilà, the film makes ample use of
On the other hand, Kim Newman points
animals (scorpions, snakes, birds) as agents of
out a couple of additional interesting literary
horror. The scene where sorcerer Adrian Mar-
references, as the film “retreats into childhood
cato—a name which nods to Polanski’s Rose-
fantasies derived from C.S. Lewis and Ray Brad-
mary’s Baby, also referenced by the Italian title
bury (The Veldt) as the nursery becomes a
and vaguely hinted at through the medallion
children- only limbo into which adults venture
given to the protagonist, which recalls the tannis
at the risk of their lives.”3 Whether Sacchetti was
root necklace Minnie Castevet gives Rose-
aware of this or not, the Bradbury reference pro-
mary—is attacked and killed by his stuffed birds
vides a stronger nod to literary Gothic. His 90
was a last- minute addition to the script (origi-
story The Veldt—adapted for the screen as part
nally, Marcato had his skull transfixed against
of The Illustrated Man (969) and inspiring the
an iron bar, while escaping from a wolf that had
Mr. Tiger episode in the 973 Amicus horror
materialized in the room).
anthology Tales that Witness Madness—is an
The most obvious antecedent to the scene
example of Bradbury’s employment of Gothic
is The Birds, but Fulci dismissed the reference
tropes within a sci- fi setting, to unsettling
(“It’s not Hitchcock, the birds here are stuffed”)
results. In addition, Newman acutely underlines
and claimed that he liked the idea that the char-
one of Manhattan Baby’s central motifs, the in-
acter would be “killed by the animals that he
sistence on the horrors of childhood and their
forced to stay around him.” The use of editing
detachment from the world of the adults. In one
and suspense also draws from L’aldilà (the spider
of the most unnerving scenes (and a key one in
scene), but another less- explored, surprising
order to grasp the story), Hacker and his wife
analogy, quite possibly unbeknownst to the di-
are at their little girl’s bedside while Susie is ap-
rector himself, can be found in a similar se-
parently experiencing some terrible nightmare,
quence in Jess Franco’s Count Dracula (970),
screaming and trembling; in the next bed her
where the stuffed animals in the house rented
brother Tommy—indifferent to the situation
by Dracula near the clinic come to life and attack
and calmly reading a comic book version of Jaws
Harker and Quincey Morris (a scene conceived
(97), in one of Fulci’s typical ironic touches—
by Franco during shooting). Fulci claimed that
says there’s nothing to worry about, as “Susie al-
Marcato’s death was his favorite bit in the movie,
ways screams when she goes on a voyage” and
and “among the best sequences I have ever
adds, “it’s part of the rules. The game she in-
filmed,”6 despite the all- too-obvious sight of
vented.”
wires guiding the birds in some shots (the
In addition to this, the film assembles the
special effects crew used fishing rods and nets
usual array of references to other movies, in an
to make the birds “fly”).
even more complex and cannibalistic layering
Even though Manhattan Baby has its share
than Fulci’s previous works. Take, for instance,
of gruesome effects, the gore is not nearly as co-
the nod to The Exorcist, which climaxes in the
pious as in Fulci’s previous horror films. The di-
medical examination scenes, or the elevator se-
rector prefers to create a constantly unnerving
quence modeled upon an infamous “creative
mood, and his obsession with eyes here reaches
04 1982: Manhattan American lobby card for Lucio Fulci’s Manhattan Baby (1982), released in the U.s. as eye of the evil Dead, featuring a moment of the climactic bird attack on occultist Adrian Marcato (Cosimo Cinieri).
a peak: a good part of the story is characterized
Susie’s fingers in one of the opening scenes, in
by extreme close- ups on corneas and pupils
the film’s most iconic image. Quite often, the
(sometimes opaque and blind, like those of
viewer is lost among unexplained events and
Emily in L’aldilà), and the “Eye of Horus” also
gropes in the dark just like Christopher Con-
acts as a red thread throughout the film. Even
nelly’s character. How can it be, for instance, that
circular elements that recall the eyes take center
no one asks what happened to the character
stage, as the pulsating lights in
the elevator se-
played by Carlo De Mejo, who disappears with
quence. The Scope format is thus compressed
no trace from the children’s bedroom and turns
and saturated to the point of imploding with
up dead among the sands of a desert which re-
such details, and the camera almost becomes a
calls the desolate lands of L’aldilà? The potential
speculum, trying to zoom into the impenetrable.
of Sacchetti’s elliptical ideas is evident, but at the
Formally, Fulci masters his use of space, jumping
same time one has the feeling of a botched script
from long shots to extreme close- ups with sug-
that, possibly due to the last- minute rewrites and
gestive results, especially in the Egyptian se-
patch- ups, ultimately goes nowhere. Fabio
quences; moreover, the use of fade- to-whites
Frizzi’s score (again featuring Goblin members
creates an intriguing atmosphere of dread, re-
Agostino Marangolo, Fabio Pignatelli and Mau-
lated to dazzling light (which illuminates things
rizio Guarini) recycles themes from Paura nella
but can also make one blind).
città dei morti viventi and L’aldilà, enhancing
Still, the result just doesn’t quite gel. Overall,
the feeling of sloppiness. As the composer ex-
Manhattan Baby is a somewhat undecipherable
plained, the director rejected one of the tracks
film, with a story that often eludes the viewer’s
(Baby sequenza 1, which can be found in the
comprehension like the sand escaping between
original soundtrack) as he thought it was too
1982: Notturno
0
“flirtatious,” “and so, in order not to make me
Argento had failed, and the producer was mov-
waste more time, we used the best from L’aldilà’s
ing on to new territories and trends, like a surfer
score.”7 Fulci, who was always dismissive toward
looking for the following wave to catch: the First
the film, claimed he liked the melancholic sax-
Blood rip-offs would be next, and De Angelis
ophone theme which accompanies the scenes of
himself made his debut behind the camera with
New York at dawn: “The sax solo music is more
Thunder (983). As for Fulci, his association with
or less the one you can really listen to day and
Di Clemente resulted in Conquest (983), an am-
night through the streets of New York, played
bitious Conan the Barbarian-inspired fantasy
Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989) Page 31