Rosemary's Baby Revisited (1968)

Movies about Satan and his progeny have always been fun for me. If you're Catholic, then this sort of thing scares the bejesus out of you. In the 70's there was a short burst of popular horror movies based on the Antichrist, demons and possession. Movies like the Exorcist and The Omen are the most notable of these. The Exorcist, in fact, sent people running for the theater exit doors and vomiting in their seats. Pretty effective, I'd say.

The most notable predecessor of those two movies was Rosemary's Baby. I may have seen Rosemary's Baby 15 years ago. I remember thinking it was a pretty good horror flick. However, after picking it up at Walmart for $5 and re-watching it, I have an entirely different opinion.

The first creepy thing about Rosemary's Baby was that it was released in 1968. As far as I'm concerned, everything about the late 60's and early 70's was creepy. The clothes were creepy. The haircuts were creepy. The way people decked out their apartments was creepy.

At the time though, this movie was considered quite stylish, which makes it even more frightening now. Rosemary's Baby was roman Polanski's first American feature and gained box-office success when it was released.

The plot is simply that a young, aspiring couple Rosemary-(played by Mia Farrow) and Guy (played by John Cassavetes)-move to the city and into a brand new apartment. Things seem great for awhile. He's a successful actor, and she's a sweet little wife who happens to be great at decorating. They plan on having a baby together, someday.

And then they get visited by a strange older couple who are their neighbors (Ruth Gordon plays Minnie Castevet and Sidney Blackmer plays Roman Castevet). At first the Castevets seem friendly enough, but then strange things begin to happen. A woman in their care suddenly falls from the old couple's apartment to her death. Guy and Rosemary hear strange chanting and voices coming from the Castevet's apartment. Minnie often barges in on Rosemary, planting herself on Rosemary's couch for endless amounts of time as if that was perfectly fine. You can see Rosemary start to become annoyed at the elderly couple early on even as her husband becomes taken with them.

Guy, who at first didn't want to hang out with the Castevets, suddenly starts spending more time with them. Polanski slowly but surely begins to isolate Rosemary.

It's not long before you can see that Guy has become "recruited" by this strange couple to do something really bad. That "bad" happens to Rosemary as she is drugged and dragged off to some bizarre ritual to become impregnated by Old Man Scratch himself. Rosemary hardly remembers what happens, but we do. Within a few months, Rosemary becomes visibly sick as her body tries to adjust to having Satan's child inside of her. On top of that, Minnie Castavet becomes impossibly overprotective, bringing Rosemary special drinks every morning and butting into every aspect of Rosemary's life.

Rosemary becomes increasingly paranoid. She tries to reach out to friends and even tries to escape once, but to no avail. Rosemary realizes that she has become entangled in a sinister plot by a group of witches to bring the Antichrist into the world.

As much as Rosemary resists, she eventually caves in and decides to be a mother to her child.

There are several reasons this movie is now one of my favorite horror movies of all time. The suspense is nice, built from a combination of the old couple's overt friendliness and Rosemary's growing suspicion. Rosemary is kind to a fault, so when you see this angel of a woman start to lose her mind, you sort of lose your mind right along with her.

The dialogue is simply captivating. Due to the fact that there aren't many horror flicks that bother with dialogue these days, I found myself somewhat entranced by the rhythm and flow of speech in this movie. I caught the nuances and quirks of each actor's performance, the little hints that offered some foreshadowing and foreboding.

What can I say about Ruth Gordon? She plays an excellent conspirator. Most of the time her character Minnie does seem like a concerned grandmother, yet somehow the look in her eyes hints at something more sinister. It was a very consistent and well-played act. Ruth won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance.

Mia Farrow plays the part of Rosemary with a subtle yet intense edge. You always have this feeling that poor, gentle Rosemary is approaching insanity as the plot plays out. I've always favored actresses like Sissy Spacek, Sigourney Weaver and Shelley Duvall to play in horror movies because something about the way they look adds to the intensity of the movie. Mia Farrow, aside from being a phenomenal actress, certainly brought that "look" to Rosemary's Baby. Her pale skin, flaxen hair and soft blue eyes sells the sharp contrast for the moment when Rosemary cuts her hair. All I can say is wow!

Sidney Blackmer as Roman Castav is a wonderful grandfatherly figure. He seems warm and intelligent with all his books and his knowledge of unimportant trivia.

John Cassavetes as Guy plays the part of an actor who is only doing what he thinks is right to advance his career and support his wife and child. He doesn't realize until it is too late that he has sold them all down the river.

If you have never seen this movie, I recommend getting it. While the movie does move slowly in comparison to today's movies, it is quite the thriller. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Any true horror fan should have this movie on their shelf. I rate this movie an 8.5 out of 10.