31 Days of Horror: Rosemary's Baby

"What have you done to its eyes?"

Filmology Rating: 3.33 out of 4

What if you were pregnant with Satan's baby? That is what happened to Rosemary (Mia Farrow) in Rosemary's Baby, a horror movie directed by Roman Polanski which is a faithful adaptation of Ira Levin's bestselling novel of the same name. Rosemary's Baby is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. In 2014, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Polanski's directing style is unique in that the scenes were shot with one continuous take rather than a series of cuts. The film deals with themes of paranoia, women's liberation, Catholicism, and the occult. It is not your typical horror movie with blood, guts, and gore. The horror in this film is based in reality making it all the more frightening.

In Rosemary's Baby, a young married couple, Rosemary and her struggling actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes) seek out an apartment in which they plan to start a family. But something is off about this New York apartment building from the start. Some deaths have occurred, including the suicide of a pretty girl Rosemary meets in the laundry room. She is wearing a necklace with a foul smelling herb. Next come the busybody neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castavet (Ruth Gordon and Sydney Blackmer) who are just a little too friendly. They give her the same necklace to wear claiming it is a good luck charm; she wears it out of politeness. It is around this time her husband gets the part he wanted due to another man's misfortune. One day Rosemary eats a chalky tasting chocolate mousse and that's when the madness begins.

The tension in the movie builds slowly as we watch everyone around Rosemary take complete control over her mind and body. Her husband treats her like a child and her highly esteemed doctor (Ralph Bellamay) discounts her concerns that she is in constant pain and losing weight. "Don't read books", he keeps saying. This creates the effect that maybe she really is going mad. It isn't until she holds a party for the under 30 crowd that her suspicions are confirmed.

The performances in Rosemary's Baby are outstanding. Mia Farrow brings a sense of innocence and fragility to her role which enables the audience to experience the events from Rosemary's point of view. This role established her as a leading lady. John Cassavetes was great with those sinister undertones. Veteran Actress, Ruth Gordon was sort o f a comic relief in a horror film. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role.

Rosemary's Baby is truly in a class of its own paving the way for films like The Exorcist and The Omen. It is a masterfully done suspense thriller with a lot symbolism. It is a great study of feminism and how far we've come in the last fifty years.

Will Rosemary take care of her little devil once it's born? Watch the movie to find out for sure, but everyone knows you can't put boundaries on a mother's love!

Rating: See It

Warning: Pregnant women watch at your own risk!

-Margie