A Terrifying Masterpiece!
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Paramount / 2000
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Written by: Roman Polanski, Ira Levin
Cast: Johnny Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Review by Vaughn Drake
Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are a recently married couple looking for a place to live. They come across a lovely old apartment building with a colorful history of witches, suicide and murder, and decide that this is the place for them. Soon after moving in, they meet their neighbors, Roman and Minnie Castevet; a childless elderly couple. Guy takes to Roman because of their mutual background in the theater and Minnie takes to Rosemary because…ah, that would be telling.
Devil worship, witches, rape and murder all play major roles in this harrowing, perfectly executed adaptation of Ira Levin’s novel. In fact, it’s so well crafted that it was nominated for two Oscars. Roman Polanski, the director hit this one out of the ballpark. He created a movie built on tension and suspense that no one short of Alfred Hitchcock himself could have done better. Layer upon layer of subtle hints on the outcome are provided to the viewer before the powerhouse revelations are finally revealed.
A good movie to compare Rosemary’s Baby too, would be Miike’s Audition—it has the same structure, tension and sense of outerworldness. Having been released in 1968, it doesn’t have much in the way of gore, violence or profanity, but it has a solid sense of dread and uneasiness. It should be required viewing for everyone at least once.
A true genre masterpiece, impeccably adapted from Levin’s novel, it is as close to perfect as any horror movie may ever get. It even got mainstream love in the way of Oscar nominations and an Oscar win; Ruth Gordon as Minnie the nosey neighbor. Plus, any movie that helped kill the flower and love movement has got to be worth watching.
