Rosemary's Baby is like that Spring Break you didn't go anywhere and stayed home- you wish it had been more exciting, but you're glad it happend. Polanski's supposed horror classic is overrated, as is most of the director's work, but if you stick with it you'll find a strong ending.
Most everyone knows what the movie is about, which is odd because the movie doesn't reveal it's about it for a very long time. Rosemary Whitehead (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes, taking one of his many acting jobs to finance his directoral career), move into a new a new apartment in New York where they hope to start a family. They are happy until Guy, an actor, looses out on a major part, and they start to be pesterd by the eccentric old couple from upstars (Ruth Gordan and Sydney Blackmer). But then Guy suddenly gets the part, and Rosemary becomes pregnant. Slowly odd things happen, until they begin to add up...
The obvious film to compare Polanski's effort to is Richard Donner's The Omen, and that film is clearly superior. Rosemary's Baby is not particurarly scary because it holds it's major fright for a surprise at the end, whereas The Omen was unsettling because it delt with it's frightning matieral throught the picture (and the kid was really, really creepy). This is also one of the most slowly developing movies I have ever seen, not really boring, but rarely exciting, and you really want it to get where it's going a little faster.
The film is still worth a look because of the ending, which is strong because it twists what we think of as a good thing- that mothers will love their children no matter who, or what they are. Developing that theme earlier might have resulted in a stronger film, and certainly a creepier one, but the film does get limited reccamendation.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)