This film is a blatant rip-off of both "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Omen" and if thats not bad enough, it's deadly dull. Story is about a woman named Lucy Carlesi (Joan Collins) who has a difficult birth to a boy and even Dr. Finch (Donald Pleasence) exclaims that "This baby doesn't want to be born". The baby doesn't waste any time scratching his mother and instantly she realizes that he's not a normal child. Her husband Gino (Ralph Bates) talks to Dr. Finch and he assures him that the baby is fine and that they can go home. At home the baby cries weirdly and when he is checked they notice that his room is tore up. After all these things start happening Lucy remembers her days as an exotic dancer and a dwarf named Hercules (George Claydon) who worked with her and one day he put some sexual moves on her that she instantly spurned. Hercules yells at Lucy screaming that her first born will be cursed! Now when she looks at her child sometimes she sees the face of him and she keeps telling Dr. Finch that something is wrong. Gino's sister is a nun named Sister Albana (Eileen Atkins) and she has a suspicion that her nephew is possessed by the devil but she keeps it quiet until its too late.
This film was directed by Peter Sasdy who directed some pretty good Hammer films and made an impact as a reliable television director as well. But this film was a lost cause right from the start and it obviously was an uninspired effort to cash in on the "Evil Child" premise that was fairly popular in the 1970's. One of the things in this story that I never figured out was who was the dwarf? Was he evil? I guess. Was he the devil? Who knows. Where did he get the ability to curse people? Was he a devil worshiper? This is never explained and we also never see the baby commit any of the evil deeds so there are many scenes where the characters creep slowly along looking around and never figuring out what the heck is going on. Sexy Caroline Munro is in the film and serves no purpose what so ever and Donald Pleasence has a very easy role where he mumbles things about everything being okay and in one scene he appears to flirt with Sister Albana! This was the type of low budget junk that Collins had to make in the 70's if she wanted to earn a living as an actress. Not only did she have to act in this slop she even has to appear nude! This was not the only bad film that she had to get naked in during those years and everyday she should kneel to the ground and scream "Thank you God for the show Dynasty"!! That television show saved her career from becoming just another "B" movie actress. This film is unconvincing in every detail and never scary. Don't waste your time unless your desperate to see Collins nude.