Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Genre: Horror

Directed by: Roman Polanski

Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon

Running time: 136 minutes

Rosemary Woodward and her husband Guy, an aspiring actor, move into a new apartment in this older building in New York City, hoping to start a family. The couple is quickly befriended by two older neighbors, the Castavets, who will quickly take an ever-growing place in their daily life. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, after a very unclear conception that happened during a night when she was passed out, her paranoia increases as she starts suspecting their older friends of being Satanists trying to take control over her and baby.

This 1968 film, adapted from Ira Levin’s bestselling novel of the same name, has become a true classic of the psychological horror genre. Polanski wrote the screenplay and directed the movie, and he did commendable work of it. As they say about Polanski in some circles: Good movie director, bad date. In Rosemary’s Baby, Polanski weaves a tale where the mood is set and then the action takes us slowly and surely to a strong climax.

Mia Farrow offers a solid performance as Rosemary, a young naïve wife whose paranoia increases slowly, and with good reason. Some would even say she should have caught on quicker, but, movies being what they are, good things take time to develop. Ruth Gordon is also very good as Minnie Castavets, an overbearing old lady who hides such darkness under these layers of niceness.

If you have yet to see Rosemary’s Baby and you like a good horror film, give it a chance; it is a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I must admit I cringed a bit at the end, with the cliché of the Asian guy in a group of Satanists taking pictures, but it was an acceptable thing to convey back in the 60’s I guess. Beyond that, this Polanski classic still deserves to hold a very respectable rank on any cinephile’s list of best movies.

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