I Don’t Want to Be Born (1975) Plot Summary Explained

The baby is possessed by the vengeful spirit of Hercules, a dwarf performer whom Lucy rejected after he attacked her in the club dressing room. Hercules cursed her before she left, promising she would bear a monstrous child. The baby is the vessel for his malevolent spirit, which drives the violent events and murders throughout the film. The exorcism performed by Albana is the only thing that can expel this demon and break the curse.

Foreshadowing: Hercules delivers his chilling curse to Lucy in the dressing room, warning she will bear a monstrous child.

• baby
• demon
• possessed
• curse
• Hercules
• supernatural

Hercules dies on stage at his strip club during Albana's exorcism of the baby. As the ritual reaches its peak and the demon is expelled from the child, the same dark force overtakes Hercules in the club. He writhes in pain and dies in front of his stunned audience, linking his fate directly to the baby he cursed.

Foreshadowing: The curse connects Hercules to the baby spiritually, so his fate is tied to the child's.

• Hercules death
• exorcism
• strip club
• final scene

Gino is killed after discovering the baby is missing from his cot. He searches the house and finds a noose in the nursery. That night, he is hanged from a tree in the garden and his body is stuffed down a drain. Lucy spends the following day frantically searching London for him, but he is already dead.

Foreshadowing: The empty cot and noose hint at the danger awaiting Gino.

• Gino death
• hanged
• garden
• murdered

Lucy is killed in her Kensington townhouse on the same night as the other murders. Dr. Finch sedates her before going outside, but she stumbles through the house in a drugged stupor. She pleads for her life before being stabbed through the heart with a pair of scissors. The killer escapes into the night, leaving Lucy dead in her own home.

Foreshadowing: Dr. Finch sedating Lucy removes her ability to protect herself or escape.

• Lucy death
• stabbed
• scissors
• townhouse

Jill Fletcher is hired to help with the baby and experiences two dangerous incidents. First, during a bath, she is pulled underwater by the baby in a near-drowning. Later, while taking the baby for a walk in the park, she falls and cracks her head on a rock, then drowns in the water. Both incidents suggest the baby has supernatural strength and malevolent intent.

Foreshadowing: The bath incident demonstrates the baby's dangerous capabilities.

• nurse Jill
• drowned
• park
• baby attack

Hercules's spirit possesses the baby as part of his revenge for Lucy rejecting him. When Tommy visits the baby and looks into the cot, the child's face briefly morphs into Hercules's face, revealing the spiritual link. The curse literally comes true, the baby becomes the vessel for Hercules's vengeful soul.

Foreshadowing: The face transformation confirms the supernatural connection between them.

• Hercules spirit
• possession
• curse
• Tommy
• face morphs

Albana is Gino's nun sister who arrives from Italy specifically to help the family. She recognizes the baby is possessed by a demonic force and believes prayer and religious ritual can save the child's soul. Despite the terrifying screams that erupt during the attempt, she persists until Dr. Finch calls for medical tests.

Foreshadowing: Albana's arrival from Italy and her religious background set up the exorcism attempt.

• Albana
• nun
• exorcism
• prayer
• religious ritual

Dr. Finch visits the house after the prayer incident and orders medical tests on the baby. That same night, after sedating Lucy, he goes to the garden to check on the infant. He is decapitated with a spade, a brutal killing that demonstrates the demon's willingness to murder anyone who threatens it or tries to intervene.

Foreshadowing: The earlier tests suggest the doctor is getting too close to understanding the truth.

• Dr. Finch death
• decapitated
• spade
• garden

Mrs. Hyde is the first to notice something wrong with the baby. She receives a bite on her finger from the infant and later finds a dead mouse in her tea, apparently placed there by the baby. These incidents establish early on that the child is not just normal but actively malevolent toward those around it.

Foreshadowing: The housekeeper's immediate wariness signals the baby's true nature to the audience.

• Mrs. Hyde
• housekeeper
• bite
• mouse
• attack

When Lucy and her friend Mandy talk about motherhood, they hear crashes from upstairs. They discover the nursery in complete destruction, furniture overturned, belongings scattered, yet the baby remains calmly in his cot amid the chaos. This event confirms the baby is responsible for supernatural mischief and is not merely a normal, fussy infant.

Foreshadowing: The timing of the destruction during a conversation about motherhood adds ironic weight.

• nursery destroyed
• Mandy
• supernatural
• baby attack

Lucy's labor is long and dangerous, resulting in a notably heavy infant. During delivery, the baby grips Lucy's cheek so tightly that it leaves a slash mark. Dr. Finch explains the baby seemed alarmed by being held too tightly, but this abnormal strength at birth foreshadows the supernatural nature of the child.

Foreshadowing: The heavy birth and immediate physical abnormality hint at the curse's manifestation.

• birth
• heavy baby
• delivery
• slashed cheek
• dangerous

Tommy, the stage manager who helped Lucy after Hercules attacked her, visits the baby after Lucy hints he might be the father. When he peers into the cot, he is struck by a sudden, violent bloody nose. More terrifyingly, the baby's face momentarily transforms into Hercules's face, revealing the supernatural connection and frightening Tommy away.

Foreshadowing: Lucy's hint about Tommy being the father adds complexity, but the demonic possession supersedes any biological link.

• Tommy
• bloody nose
• cot
• Hercules face
• visit