Rated “R” for Sexual Content and Adult Themes
136 Minutes
Written and Directed By: Roman Polanski
Staring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavettes, Ruth Gordon, and Sidney Blackmer as Roman Castevet
“Awful things happen in every apartment.” -Rosemary Woodhouse
Review:
Rosemary’s baby is one of the most eerie movies in film history. The slow moving pace with an absolutely spellbinding score makes each scene slowly progress and gently allude to the dark macabre future before them. The helplessness of Rosemary throughout is the most compelling element. She has essentially no proof of the goings on and has only her gut instinct telling her that everything is wrong. Even her own spouse has turned into a strange and aloof character.
A happy young couple moves into a creepy old apartment in Manhattan with even more eerie neighbors, who seem interested in their lives past the brink of general curiosity. Rosemary is turned off by the neighbors but her husband, Guy, seems enamored by them. When strange things begin to happen to Rosemary in the apartment and as her relationship with Guy begins to deteriorate, the couple next door become even more interested in the Woodhouse’s life. Rosemary begins to feel even more cut off from everyone, and the more alone she feels, the stranger things get. Rosemary has a nightmare of some strange wicked creature raping her. Shortly after, she finds herself pregnant.
Roman Polanski painstakingly made sure each scene in this movie turned out exactly as he had envisioned it. The attention to detail, and somber feel of the film, and the specific way Mia Farrow was portrayed each time she was onscreen was a terrifying mood setter.
Mia Farrow’s performance was downright amazing. Her sweet and innocent nature coupled with the devastating fear of her own unborn child could not have been conveyed more genuinely than she did. The physical deterioration of her body and the weight loss was frightening. Her commitment to the role must have included starving herself. She was phenomenal.
Rosemary’s Baby is one of the greatest supernatural films of all time. With a tag line saying: Pray for Rosemary’s Baby, the wickedness of the story is displayed in it’s darkest essence. The length of the film may be difficult for some of today’s movie audiences that are used to constant action and three or four different side stories in the back round to sit through. Rosemary’s Baby tells only one terrifying story. This is classic horror.
