482. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Running Time: 136 minutes
Directed By: Roman Polanski
Written By: Roman Polanski, from novel by Ira Levin
Main Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans

FRIGHTFEST 2011: 3 of 5

Well gang, "Frightfest 2011" is raging on to it's third installment, as we inch closer and closer to Halloween and "Mother of All Horror Movies" - "The Exorcist". Tonight I take a look at a movie that I went giddy over the first time I saw it - "Rosemary's Baby".

Rosemary (Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (Cassavetes) are a young, New York couple, searching for an apartment, where they can raise a family. When the film opens they are touring the most recent candidate - an apartment at Bramford. The duo decide to take the place and before a few weeks are up, they meet the nosy neighbors - an aging couple, Minnie (Gordon) and Roman Castevet (Blackmer). When The Castavets invite Rosemary and Guy to dinner, the two feel obliged to accept, despite Guy's initial hesitation. When the evening concludes, Guy seems pleased as punch to be living next to the Castavets and can't say enough good things about them. On the other hand, Rosemary, didn't have as good a time as she thought she would and while she can't put her finger on it, seems to carry an uneasiness when it comes to Minnie and Roman. Fast forward a little bit and Guy lands the lead role in a major play opening up and the two finally decide to have that baby they've been talking about. Rosemary, however, has a little too much to drink on their intended night and goes to sleep, dreaming very strange dreams. The next morning Guy informs her that the two "went ahead as scheduled" and Rosemary can't get over the vicious looking scratch marks on her back. Now, Rosemary is pregnant, but everyone, including Guy, Minnie, Roman and her new obstetrician, Dr. Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy) seem to be acting strangely.

The first time you see "Rosemary's Baby" it's extremely hard not to like it, in my opinion. There are so many intricacies in the script and so many little things, that the film kind of takes on the characteristics of a thrilling murder mystery, as opposed to a cryptic horror film. Really, if you get down to bare bones, "Rosemary's Baby" isn't that scary at all. To me, it's more eerie than anything. There's a real sense of threat and uneasiness in the atmosphere of the film, that you can't help but be on edge throughout and even until well after the picture has concluded. The New York setting is the perfect place to evoke this eeriness, because it's the last place you'd expect to be frightened. Think about it, 95% of all horror movies take us to the most desolate of settings (middle of the woods, a cabin fifty miles past Kalamazoo), while "Rosemary's Baby" told us that "shit could happen EVEN where there were a lot of people.

SPOILER ALERT!

Going back to the aforementioned idea that this picture takes on the characteristics of a murder mystery - well it really kind of does, in my opinion. You have so many different outcomes that when it gets down to the end of the movie, anything could happen. Who was in on all this? Did Guy really set up HIS OWN wife? Is the Dr. in on it to? What about the younger, more Charles Grodin looking Dr, is he in on it too? You have more questions than you have answers, where USUALLY the intent of a horror movie is to just be scared, this one plays out like a mystery, where you just have to know what happens and what's happening. "Rosemary's Baby" really works so much better the first time around. The first time I saw this picture, I honestly thought that there was a good chance that Rosemary was a whacko and that she was going to end up in Happy Hills Psychiatric Ward, while Guy was left to take care of this baby all alone. In actuality, that is a viable possibility, right up until the very end. Speaking of the end, it's an ending that I'm not crazy about. In my opinion, it's far too anti-climactic. We've just been spoon-fed two hours of tense, taught, eerie footage and then all that happens in the end is Rosemary happens upon this secret room, finds her baby and holds it, basically accepting all the shit that so many people just conspired to get over on her.

On a final note, the book makes note of a scene where Rosemary firsts notice the baby kicking, exclaiming "It's Alive!, It's Alive!" (ie. "Frankenstein") and the horrifying look on Guy's face, as he realizes what's living inside his wife's womb. I honestly didn't even notice this on first viewing (although I might just have to go back and take a look), but it's small details LIKE that one that make "Rosemary's Baby" stand out. Little intricacies that were added in to really hammer home the story. The story is so far-fetched on it's own, but the way the entire idea is executed, you really forget how hokey the story is and just go with it for the duration.

RATING: 8/10 Like I said, it works a little better the first time you see it, when you don't have all the answers, but it still holds up quite well. However, Mia Farrow still annoys the piss out of me.

MOVIES WATCHED: 340
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 661

October 26. 2011 11:29pm