The Baby is a 1973 Horror-thriller film, directed by Ted Post

Ted Post

Ted Post is an American TV and film director.Born in Brooklyn, New York, he started his career in show business in 1938 working as an usher at Loew's Pitkin Theater. He abandoned plans to become an actor after training with Tamara Daykarhanova, and turned to directing summer theater...

 and was written by Abe Polsky.

It stars Anjanette Comer

Anjanette Comer

Anjanette Comer is an American actress.Born in Dawson, Texas to Rufus Franklin and Nola Comer, her first major television credit was a guest appearance in a 1963 episode of Gunsmoke, followed by roles in several other dramatic series of the 1960s, such as Dr. Kildare and Bonanza...

, Ruth Roman

Ruth Roman

Ruth Roman was an American actress. One of her most memorable roles was in the Alfred Hitchcock 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train....

, Marianna Hill

Marianna Hill

Marianna Hill , born Mariana Schwarzkopf, in Santa Barbara, California on February 9, 1941 is an American actress mostly working in American television.She has appeared in more than 70 films and television episodes...

, Susanne Zenor

Susanne Zenor

Susanne Zenor is an American actress best known for the role of Margo Anderman Horton on Days of our Lives.Zenor's career began in 1970 with the movie The Moonshine War in which she portrayed Miley Mitchell. Zenor appeared in the Woody Allen movie Play It Again, Sam in which her name was listed...

, and David Mooney. It tells the story of a social worker who investigates an eccentric family which includes "Baby", a 21-year-old man who acts like an infant. The psychological horror

Psychological horror

Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that relies on character fears, guilt, beliefs, eerie sound effects, relevant music and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot...

 is considered as Cult classic

Cult Classic

Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...

.

Plot

Ann Gentry is a social worker, whose husband has been involved in a car crash, and takes up the case of the twisted and mysterious Wadsworth family, and takes a special interest in a member only called "Baby", a mentally impaired

Mental retardation

Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...

 twenty-something who still acts and is treated like an infant by his mother and sisters. Ann is interested in Baby and wants to see if she can teach him to behave appropriately for his age group. The Wadsworth clan has been neglectful and abusive to Baby, but Mrs. Wadsworth has been extremely overprotective of him ever since his father left shortly after his birth, and isn't going to let another caregiver mess with her son. Eventually, Ann and her mother take Baby, and his mother and sisters come after them, but Ann and her mother kill them. We soon find out why she is so interested in Baby: so he can be a playmate for her husband, who was left with the mental capacity of an infant after his accident.

Cast

• Anjanette Comer
  Anjanette Comer
  Anjanette Comer is an American actress.Born in Dawson, Texas to Rufus Franklin and Nola Comer, her first major television credit was a guest appearance in a 1963 episode of Gunsmoke, followed by roles in several other dramatic series of the 1960s, such as Dr. Kildare and Bonanza...
  
   as Ann Gentry
• Ruth Roman
  Ruth Roman
  Ruth Roman was an American actress. One of her most memorable roles was in the Alfred Hitchcock 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train....
  
   as Mrs. Wadsworth
• Marianna Hill
  Marianna Hill
  Marianna Hill , born Mariana Schwarzkopf, in Santa Barbara, California on February 9, 1941 is an American actress mostly working in American television.She has appeared in more than 70 films and television episodes...
  
   as Germaine Wadsworth
• Suzanne Zenor
  Susanne Zenor
  Susanne Zenor is an American actress best known for the role of Margo Anderman Horton on Days of our Lives.Zenor's career began in 1970 with the movie The Moonshine War in which she portrayed Miley Mitchell. Zenor appeared in the Woody Allen movie Play It Again, Sam in which her name was listed...
  
   as Alba Wadsworth
• Tod Andrews
  Tod Andrews
  Tod Andrews was an American actor on the stage, screen, and television. Born in New York, he was raised in California. He studied acting and journalism at Washington State College.-Career:...
  
   as Doctor
• Michael Pataki
  Michael Pataki
  Michael Pataki was an American character actor.-Early life:Pataki born in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Southern California with a double major in Political Science and Drama...
  
   as Dennis
• Beatrice Manley Blau as Judith
• Erin O'Reilly
• Don Mallon
• Joseph Bernard
• Virginia Vincent
• David Mooney (as David Manzy) as Baby

Release

Scotia International released the film in March 1973 in a limited theatrical release. Image Entertainment

Image Entertainment

Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...

published the film in the year 2000 on DVD and VHS.

The Baby was released on DVD with a new transfer from the original negative by Severin Films in 2011.