Rosemary's Baby (1968)

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Directed by Roman Polanski.

Starring Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon.

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In Roman Polanski's first American film, adapted from Ira Levin's horror bestseller, a young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and only elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castevet (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon) soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building; despite Rosemary's reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, Guy starts spending time with the Castevets. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Minnie starts showing up with homemade chocolate mousse for Rosemary. When Rosemary becomes pregnant after a mousse-provoked nightmare of being raped by a beast, the Castevets take a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castevets' circle is not what it seems. The diabolical truth is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth, and the baby is taken away from her. Polanski's camerawork and Richard Sylbert's production design transform the realistic setting (shot on-location in Manhattan's Dakota apartment building) into a sinister projection of Rosemary's fears, chillingly locating supernatural horror in the familiar by leaving the most grotesque frights to the viewer's imagination. This apocalyptic yet darkly comic paranoia about the hallowed institution of childbirth touched a nerve with late-'60s audiences feeling uneasy about traditional norms. Produced by B-horror maestro William Castle, Rosemary's Baby became a critically praised hit, winning Gordon an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Inspiring a wave of satanic horror from The Exorcist (1973) to The Omen (1976), Rosemary's Baby helped usher in the genre's modern era by combining a supernatural story with Alfred Hitchcock's propensity for finding normality horrific. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Rosemary's Baby (1968, USA, Rom ...
by CinemaRian in CinemaRian Blog

hasn't rated it.

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"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 ... " [More]

The Near-Naked New York Film Canon
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"In this week’s New York, David Edelstein lists a number of films that significantly represent the Big Apple. Because it’s a celebration of the magazine’s 40th anniversary, though, it only goes back as far as 1968 (the year of Planet of the Apes and Rosemary’s Baby). So, tragically no timely mention of The Naked City, which lost both its director and star recently. Edelstein claims to be upset about having to be exclusive, though he seems more concerned with the fact that there aren’t many recent films in the bunch (he asks if I Am Legend has cultural impact). There are a couple films from this decade cited, both of them bearing post-9/11 significance, though he glaringly avoids referencing Cloverfield. Even if he didn’t like the film — though I think he did — it would still be noteworthy. If not just for the sake of the subtext, at least for the fact that, in the last twenty years, the destruction of this city has been a huge part of its cinematic identity. New York even did a top ... " [More]

Re:Who Wants to Help Me Kill Mi ...
by divinemsjunebug in HORROR MOVIES 101

loved it.

"Is NOTHING sacred. I love that movie, it's such a soft, sweet movie with extremely understated horror. Mia Farrow is just perfect for that role, so pale and sickly looking. Maybe in the new one the baby will claw its way out of her...Hmmm, more sex and explosions - that might actually be a plus...we shall see, I will give it a chance but I'm sure it will be lame. I always thought that film needed more graphic 'demon-sex' in it...[/quote] " [More]

One Of Polanski's Best, If Not ...
by JakeStevens in JakeStevens Blog

liked it.

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"I've been a fan of Roman Polanski's since I saw "The Pianist" (quite possibly his masterpiece), and subsequently went back and saw a lot of his older films. I'm not surprised with the amount of talent this man has, and this film is no exception. Deftly directed, my only complaint is that the neighbor characters are REALLY annoying. And even though it is nearly 40 years old, it's still a very chilling tale (told with a touch of psychedelic style as only 60's films have) and a good thriller to put in on a cold October night. " [More]

Re: The Exorcist
by Risselada in HORROR MOVIES 101

hasn't rated it.

"I AGREE!Are you a "religious" man Dr. Gor? Or spiritual? Or whatever word you would like to describe it best. " [More]

Re: The Exorcist
by Dr_Gor in HORROR MOVIES 101

loved it.

"I think that religeous themes just make for good Horror Movies! You can see this in everything from "The Omen" to "The Exorcist" to "Rosemary's Baby" to "The Exorcism Of Emily Rose" to almost EVERY 'Vampire' movie ever made... " [More]

Polanski's Genre Baby
by williamdouglasb in williamdouglasb Blog

loved it.

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"Spoilers Alert: Don't read this if you haven't seen the film. It is an examination of the whole film. Don't proceed if you want to be surprised by this brilliant film. There are many filmmakers who approach a film like every other film of its kind before it. For example, a director is handed a script for an action film similar to Die Hard but set on a train. Instead of giving the film his or her own personal touch, the director and his or her crew create an exact replica of Die Hard, just on a train. They think that by doing this that they will receive the same response to their film that the very successful predecessor had. Of course, many copycats do succeed if they follow the formula to the tee. But some filmmakers don't go that way; they take a risk by injecting the genre piece with their own personal vision on how to express such things as story, ideas, and emotions. If they are successful, their film inspires copycats instead of just being one it. O ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

Roman Polanski took the traditional gothic horror story and moved it to New York in the 20th century (where it finds a home with surprising ease) in this superb adaptation of Ira Levin's best-selling novel. While trading in the frankly unbelievable throughout, Polanski always keeps one foot firmly in reality while the other gingerly dips its toe into the pool where things aren't quite right. Rosemary Woodhouse (played with perfect small-town reserve by Mia Farrow) is nearly the only recognizably "normal" character in the film (much more so than her self-absorbed actor husband, Guy, played with just the right touch of slime by John Cassavetes), and nearly everyone around her seems a tiny bit odd, especially her neighbors Roman (Sidney Blackmer) and Minnie (Ruth Gordon), an eccentric older couple whose interest in Rosemary and her expectant child seems strange without being obviously evil. Ultimately, Polanski's greatest strength in this film is his subtlety; his pacing and sense of mood are masterful without calling attention to themselves, letting the horror of the premise sink its claws in so slowly and quietly that you don't notice how far deep they've gone until it's too late. It wasn't until The Exorcist that a horror film connected with audiences quite as strongly as Rosemary's Baby, and while The Exorcist threw a variety of wild and brutal shock tactics at its audience, Rosemary's Baby lured its victims in with such tender loving care that the horrible logic of its conclusion was all the more effective; it may well be the best and smartest horror movie of the 1960s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tags: terrifying , devil , Creepy , pregnancy , bizarre
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