Baby Blood

Baby Blood (titled The Evil Within in the United States) is a French horror film directed and co-written by Alain Robak, and starring Emmanuelle Escourrou and Jean-François Galotte. The film is about a pregnant woman named Yanka whose womb is invaded by a parasite. The organism transforms her fetus into a monster that desires human blood. Yanka heeds the demand of blood for the creature until it requests to be carried to the sea where it was originally spawned.

Baby Blood
French film poster for Baby Blood
Directed byAlain Robak
Produced byAriel Zeitoun
Joelle Malberg
Irene Sohm[1]
Written byAlain Robak
Serge Cukier
StarringEmmanuelle Escourrou
Jean-François Gallotte
Christian Sinniger
Francois Frapier
Music byCarlos Acciari[1]
CinematographyBernard Nechet[1]
Release date
  • 24 January 1990 (1990-01-24) (France)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

The film was shown at the Avoriaz Fantasy Film Festival and the Sarasota French Film Festival in 1990. At Avoriaz, it became the first film to win a Jury Award despite not being in competition. In 2008, a sequel to the film was released titled Lady Blood.

Plot

A snake-like parasite crawls into the uterus of an abused woman and circus performer named Yanka. The parasite demands human blood from Yanka who is first reluctant, but then finds that the only relationship she has is with the parasite. Yanka commits murders to devour the victims' blood in order to nurture the parasite. The parasite tells her that it is a creature that will replace man as the dominant species on the planet in five million years, and must be released in the ocean. The creature is eventually released in the sea where it abandons Yanka.

Cast
  • Emmanuelle Escourrou as Yanka
  • Christian Sinniger as Lohman
  • Jean-François Gallotte as Richard
  • Roselyne Geslot as Rosette, la caissière du self
  • François Frappier as Leopard Deliveryman
  • Thierry Le Portier as Le dompteur
  • Rémy Roubakha as Passenger in Taxi
  • Eric Averlant as Driver of Car
  • Alain Robak as Voice of Monster (as Roger Placenta)
  • Alain Chabat as Passerby
  • Jacques Audiard as Jogger
  • Jean-Claude Romer as Howling Man
  • Jean-Yves Lafesse as Le conducteur du poids lourd
  • Yann Piquer as Le clochard
  • Anne Singer as La femme de l'hôtel

Production

Baby Blood was directed by Alain Robak who found that the interest in films of the fantastique genre had increased in France, and desired to make a film in this style as he was a fan of b-movies.[2] Despite a proposed low-budget film, Robak initially had trouble finding producers to back the film, but received help when he got associated with producer Ariel Zeitoun.[2]

Baby Blood began shooting on 16 May 1989 in Paris France.[3] The film was shot in five weeks.[2] To save money, the circus in the film was a real circus located in Nanterre.[2] The film features cameos from Jean-Yves Lafesse, Alain Chabat and Jacques Audiard. Robak got them to be in the film by simply asking them. Chabat had not been in films previously. Audiard agreed as he was friends with the filmmaker who created Baxter (1989).[4] The film also has a cameo of Baxter the dog from the previously mentioned film.[5] In the English-dubbed version, Gary Oldman provides the voice of fetus monster.[1]

Release

The film was shown at the Avoriaz International Fantasy Film Festival in January 1990 and the Sarasota French Film Festival in November 1990.[6] At Avoriaz, the film was shown in competition but despite being presented out of competition, it was awarded a jury award, the first time this had happened in the festival's history.[4] Baby Blood was released in France on 24 January 1990.[6] The film played for three weeks in Paris where it sold 6750 tickets in its first week.[7] In total, it sold 10381 tickets in Paris.[7] In 2008, a sequel to the film was released titled Lady Blood.[8]

In France, the film was released on VHS by Fil à Film in 1992.[9] A Region 1 DVD of Baby Blood was released by Anchor Bay on 10 October 2006.[10]

See also

Notes
  1. Muir 2011, p. 55.
  2. Mangin, Arnaud (24 September 2009). "Interview : Alain Robak [page 1]". Excessif (in French). Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  3. "Baby blood (1989) Alain Robak [Tournage]". Ciné-Ressources (in French). Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  4. Mangin, Arnaud (24 September 2009). "Interview : Alain Robak [page 2]". Excessif (in French). Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  5. Lukeman 2011.
  6. "Baby Blood (1990) - Misc Notes - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  7. "Baby blood (1989) Alain Robak [Exploitation]". Ciné-Ressources (in French). Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  8. "Lady Blood". Fantasia Festival. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  9. "Baby blood (1989) Alain Robak [Vidéos]". Ciné-Ressources (in French). Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  10. "Baby Blood". Allrovi. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.

References
  • Muir, John Kenneth (2011). Horror Films of the 1990s. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-4012-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lukeman, Adam (2011). Fangoria's 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen. Random House Digital. ISBN 0-307-52347-0.
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