I Don't Want to Be Born is a 1975 British horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Eileen Atkins, and Donald Pleasence.

Lucy feels uncomfortable but tries to pretend nothing is happening, until Hercules makes a sudden lunge for her breasts, causing her to scream out in shock.

This alerts the stage manager Tommy, who rushes into the dressing room and sends Hercules unceremoniously on his way, then proceeds to make love to Lucy.

Months pass and Lucy has left her stripping days behind, having moved up in the world via marriage to the wealthy Italian Gino Carlesi and now comfortably settled in a grand Kensington townhouse.

At the end of a successful evening, he goes to check on the baby, only to find the nursery empty, the window open and odd noises coming from the garden.

The trail of death continues as Lucy stumbles through the house in a groggy haze, pleading for her life to no avail as she is stabbed through the heart with a pair of scissors.

Albana finally touches the crucifix to the baby's head, and his demons are cast out at the same time as Hercules falls over dead in front of a stunned audience.

Andrew Nickolds of Time Out described the film as "derivative and disastrous in every respect: a poor idea ... an abominable screenplay by Stanley Price ("I keep getting these awful premonitions"), ludicrous acting ... and worst of all, Sasdy's direction.

Almost every foot of film not concerned with the baby is travelogue at its most banal – extraneous shots of Westminster and Oxford Street, plugs for Fortnum & Mason and Holiday Inns.

Completing this sorry tale of rip-off is borrowing from The Exorcist [1973] ... and any number of details from Amicus, Hammer and Swinging London horrors.

"[3] An American reviewer found the film "sensational and vulgar" and "an unholy cross" between The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby (1968), adding "why decent actors like Eileen Atkins and Donald Pleasence allowed themselves to be corralled into a mess like this is enigmatic.

"[4] As The Devil Within Her, Roger Ebert named the film as his "Dog of [March, 1976]", drawing the same comparisons to The Exorcist put forth by Nickolds, while adding "the kid must have been a sound effects man in a previous incarnation because he makes noises like squad car sirens and stones banging around at empty garbage cans.