Manhattan Baby 2K - Fulci's Most Enigmatic Side

At the beginning of Manhattan Baby, there's a moment when Lucio Fulci seems to promise a different kind of film. The opening in Egypt, immersed in a suspended and menacing dimension, builds a dense atmosphere thanks also to Fabio Frizzi's hypnotic music. It's an elegant, almost magnetic start, suggesting a more subtle and evocative horror.

Suggestive Concept Takes Unexpected Directions

Once the action moves to New York, the film changes its skin without truly finding a direction. The curse linked to little Susie's amulet introduces interesting elements, but the narrative development quickly fragments. Visions, sudden disappearances, and inexplicable events accumulate without building coherent tension, giving more the impression of disconnected episodes than an organic story.

Fulci, who also appears here as an actor playing a doctor examining the child, tries to shift towards a more supernatural and psychological horror, moving away from the gore that characterized works like The Beyond. It's a courageous but less effective choice here: it lacks both the visual brutality and the stylistic force capable of holding even the inconsistencies together.

The result is a film that alternates remarkable visual intuitions with disorienting moments, where it's difficult to find a logical thread. Some scenes are striking for their inventiveness but appear and disappear without leaving a real mark. In the end, Manhattan Baby remains an imperfect but sincere experiment, nonetheless a work to remember especially for those who love the more enigmatic and visionary side of Fulci's cinema. Imagining what it could have been if only the director had had the entire budget of nearly one billion lire, as initially planned.

Manhattan Baby 2K - Video & Audio

Shot on analog film (2-perf negative) at an unspecified ASA sensitivity, original 2.35:1 aspect ratio (1920 x 1080/23.97p), AVC/MPEG-4 encoding on a single-layer BD-25. There is a substantial video improvement compared to past editions for this 1982 film, which was not successful, partly due to fragmented distribution in Italian cinemas.

Native 2K master, excellent quality material doing greater justice to Guglielmo Mancori's cinematography (Wild Beasts). Thus, there is also superior detail for background elements. The material as a whole shows very few limitations, with a few frames having minimal dirt at the edges of the upper and lower visual frame, or near the end credits with oversaturated chroma in the brief final panorama of New York after the amulet's plunge into the Hudson. Convincing blacks.

The audio is also pleasant, with DTS-HD MA 2.0 Italian and English (always 16 bit), the latter to be preferred for the direct sound dialogues. The listening experience would still benefit from passing through an HT system, enhancing the tense atmospheres despite minimal and rare background defects. This Rustblade edition is therefore worthy of rightfully entering the collection of works by our beloved Italian director.

Extras: "Remembering Lucio Fulci" - Excerpt from "Il Tempo del Sogno" by Claudio Lattanzi (33') with Fabio Frizzi, Sergio Stivaletti, Silvia Collatina, Antonio Tentori, Davide Pulici, and Marina Loi; In-depth analysis by Federico Frusciante (16'); Original Trailer; Italian opening and closing credits. The Deluxe Limited contains the CD with Fabio Frizzi's soundtrack + 4 double-sided postcards with poster artwork and an image of the director on set + cardboard cutout with a reproduction of the amulet. Embossed OCard slipcover, limited edition of 300 unnumbered copies.