Rosemary's Baby, (1968), Directed By Roman Polanski
Grade: A+
*This review contains minor spoilers*
Ah yes, the infamous film that is Rosemary's Baby. While many may argue that the film has become a dated joke of what it once was, this blogger sees nothing in it but pure fright and downright terror-stricken symbolism. The film bases its scares on the unseen, and in recent years audiences have become impatient with psychological terror of the mind and instead want immediate gratification with their horror movies.
Rosemary's Baby is all about the buildup, the countdown to the birth of the child. And while this seems like a tedious set-up for a horror movie, it isn't. (And if you have a short attention span, then just go watch Transformers 4: Revenge Of The Fallen Career Of Michael Bay Who Now Lives On The Dark Side Of The Moon.)
Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into a high rise apartment in New York, and become acquainted with the strange and mysterious neighbors that live there. At first, they appear harmless, but....and this is where the terror starts to build....we soon realize that there is something quite "off" about these neighbors.
Then Rosemary (who is played to perfection by Mia Farrow) learns that she is pregnant, and what follows is a rollercoaster of psychological horror that only the director Roman Polanski could unfold upon the audience with such sincere yet maniacal prowess.
The superb Ruth Gordon (in an Oscar-winning performance) plays one of the seemingly normal neighbors. At first, she appears to be like that sweet old lady neighbor who brings you cookies and cakes to welcome you to the complex, but then her appearances start to become more and more of an annoyance, until soon it becomes clear that she (and her friends) are definitely not what they seem.
But the key to whole film is Farrow. There would be no movie without her. And, in one of the most terrifying moments of the film, when she informs her husband, Guy (John Cassavetes) that "She feels the baby moving inside her" and starts crying tears of joy, brings forth a sense of such sheer creepiness that this blogger had to stop the movie for a second a take a breath before continuing.
When the outcome is finally revealed, Polanski does an interesting thing, which is to not show the baby after its birth. To have done so would have lowered the psychological suspense and, in a way, cheated the audience. While there may be lots of viewers who disagree, the film is really not about WHAT the baby is or what it looks like, but the effect it has on these characters. Their reactions are far more stronger and eerie than showing a result of what the baby is or the ugliness of evil that it contains. And in the end, Mia Farrow's final expression of when she realizes that above all, she is the baby's mother, brings the film to such a satisfying conclusion that you realize it could not have ended any other way.
Rosemary's Baby is one of my favorite horror movies, because it takes its time in its buildup. We feel Polanski stretching our emotions to such strong limits, we are ready to snap at any second. Of course, when showing the movie to a mainstream audience today, I seriously doubt its effect would be as powerful as it was 43 years ago. But again, we've changed as a society, and this blogger seriously hopes that Hollywood will not turns its eye towards this Polanski masterpiece and do their evil bidding of a remake.
Yeah, right.
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