... as revealed by the Film Scientist

It should go without saying: I love horror films. I grew up watching movies like Dracula (the Frank Langella version of '79, mind you), Alien, Dawn of the Dead, Re-animator, etc. The majority of horror/gore vehicles, however, leave me cold. With the recent slow proliferation of offbeat video stores, finding workmanlike gorefests a la H.G. Lewis has become relatively easy, but finding stylish and involving horror remains a challenge. It's no secret that many of the best titles are Italian and British, but the French contribution to the genre is still pretty obscure. Probably because French horror is hard to come by.

The influential 1959 classic Les yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face) aka The Horror Chamber of Doctor Faustus, directed by Georges Franju, comes to mind as the beginning of French horror. A year later Roger Vadim, known mostly for dramas and dating beautiful actresses, offered up the atypical Blood and Roses, an arty vampire effort only available domestically in an unwatchably butchered edit. The rest of the '60s and '70s saw the emergence of the only major artist within the subgenre, Jean Rollin, whose work culminated in The Grapes of Death, Living Dead Girl, and Fascination, produced between 1978 and 1982. Rollin injected gore into the French horror model; these three films represent artistic gore at its best.

Director Alain Robak strikes me as a worthy inheritor to the French horror/gore tradition. In the 80s he made a name for himself in Europe directing short films, the most famous being Corridor, which was crowned best short of the year at the Fantastic Cinema Festival of Paris 1988. In 1989 he teamed with writer/producer Ariel Zeitoun and special effects master Benoit Lestang for a full-length feature entitled Baby Blood AKA The Evil Within.

The Evil Within has all the makings for a horror hit, but most Americans haven't even heard of it. Somebody really goofed in the marketing and/or promotion of this gem. If Dario Argento had been involved in the production it would be a cult classic by now. Instead it was barely released on video in 1994, and buried without fanfare in the horror section of your local Blockbuster.

The Evil waits to burst forth.

"In the beginning ... the first life forms reproduced ... except me. For me only one thing was needed: to be born," narrates the 'Evil' creature as the film opens. Wow, a horror film told from the perspective of the monster! Somewhere deep in the jungles of Africa this Evil creature, which looks like a faceless serpent, invades the body of a leopard, which is captured and taken to a circus in France. Enter voluptuous Emmanuelle Escourou playing Yanka, a circus performer whose boyfriend (the circus master) screams at her and beats her daily. She has a sad, beautiful look, but Yanka's lust for men equals her appetite for danger; perhaps sensing this, the Evil creature chooses Yanka as its mother/host. In the first of many bloody scenes it bursts from the leopard, and we see through its eyes as it slithers toward its destination, her womb. Catching her in deep sleep, the faceless serpent's violation quickly wakes Yanka, but it's too late -- the Evil is within.

Once impregnated, Yanka's shame and fear drive her to leave the circus. Her new abode is as dreary as possible. When Yanka's boyfriend comes by for a visit, which ends in his death, the Evil serpent begins to speak to Yanka, urging her to drink the boyfriend's blood. Yanka thrashes about the apartment in a hysterical rage, no longer in control of herself. Succumbing to the mad bloodlust, Yanka drinks the blood, nourishing her infernal 'child' and sealing their partnership.

After a failed suicide attempt, Yanka heads for Paris, on a quest for blood for the Evil -- and maybe herself. It turns out she's got a real penchant (and flair) for killing men; at some points she even clearly enjoys her killing spree. As she seduces men with comic ease, one even declaring his love and proposing marriage just before his murder, the monster peppers Yanka with blackly humorous comments; both continually poke scornful fun at the human male's pathetic techniques for 'romance.'

Yanka attacks yet another victim.

Six months into Yanka's 'pregnancy' things get still wilder. The more she shows, the more the carnage grows! Yanka's new profession: taxi driver. In one manic scene she picks up a passenger but he's not healthy enough, so she knocks him out and hits a jogger. As she kicks his head off, the passenger comes to and escapes, only to be run over by a semi. Later she hijacks a blood donor van and guzzles the fresh plasma. When she finally dies, the Evil, which has fallen in love with Yanka, mysteriously brings her back to life. The truly weird relationship between Yanka and her soon-to-be-born, which functions as a metaphor on several levels, reaches its grisly climax on a speeding bus.

This is absolutely a must-see film for fans of horror, gore or French cinema. There's enough nudity, violence and action for even the jaded to get a sex/death fix, but it's so well-made, clever and dramatic that it should be accessible to a wider audience. It sometimes recalls Rosemarie's Baby, but the differences are many; I also was reminded of another French film, Baxter, which came out about the same time (and which I also recommend for more weird voice-overs and a similarly bleak view of life).

Miramax offers a well-dubbed edition of The Evil Within for a reasonable price.
Video Search of Miami offers it as Baby Blood, in French with English subtitles
but I don't trust the quality of VSOM's tapes.