Rosemary's Baby Movie Review 436

Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 horror movie based on the novel of the same name. It is directed by Roman Polanski and stars Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Charles Grodin and Ruth Gordon.

Rosemary Woodhouse(Farrow) and her husband Guy(Cassavetes) are a young couple who are looking for an apartment. They can't believe their luck when they get an apartment in the Bramford building which is a lovely place to live. Guy is an actor who has had moderate success and Rosemary is hoping that they can start a family soon. Guy isn't too keen. The previous owner of the apartment died and there is something sinister about the building. Rosemary's friend, Hutch tells them about murders that occurred in the building, but they think that he is just being cautious. They move in and they meet their neighbours, Roman(Sidney Blackmer) and his wife Minnie(Gordon). Rosemary meets a young woman called Terry who is staying with Roman and Minnie. She is wearing a charm necklace which contains some foul smelling herbs. The two young women become friends but it doesn't last because Terry throws herself off of a balcony to her death.

Minnie and Roman become close to Rosemary and Guy. Rosemary isn't as enamoured with them as Guy is. She reluctantly accepts the same necklace as Terry had. Guy becomes very fond of them but there is something about them that Rosemary finds odd. Guy gets a great part when his fellow actor is blinded. He decides that it is time for a baby and Rosemary is delighted. That night , Rosemary eats a dessert that Minne has brought over and she thinks that there is something off about it. She goes to bed and she is very groggy. She sees some weird creature who has sex with her in front of Guy and other people. When she wakes in the morning, Guy tells her that it as he who has sex with her and that he wanted to make sure that they conceived.

Rosemary becomes pregnant and she wants to go to Dr Hill(Grodin) but she is dissuaded from this by Roman and Minnie who tell her to see their friend, Dr,Sapirstein(Ralph Bellamy) instead. He gives her a supposed vitamin drink which he has Minnie bring to her. Rosemary suffers with her pregnancy in her first trimester. She has terrible pains and she loses weight. She also has unusual cravings for raw meat. Her pal Hutch sees her and is horrified by how she looks. He decides to look into the herb that is in her charm necklace. It is called Tannis Root and he is going to meet with Rosemary to tell her what he has discovered but he suddenly lapses into a coma. Rosemary meets with other friends who tell her that she is not looking well and that her doctor should be helping her. She is going to go back to Dr. Hill when the pain disappears. She feels good again and she puts on some weight.

Hutch dies and he leaves her a book on Witchcraft. She reads it and becomes convinced that Roman and Minnie and the other neighbours are really witches who are practising Satanism and that they want her baby for some evil purpose. She thinks that Guy is in with them too. When she goes into labour, she is sedated by Dr. Sapirstein and she is told afterward that she has lost the baby. She thinks that she can hear it though and she finds a passageway into another apartment and all of the neighbours are there. The baby is there too but it is the child of the Devil. Rosemary was chosen to have his child. Guy tells her that they will have everything that they want in return for the child. She is disgusted with him. She looks at the baby and her maternal instinct kicks in even though the child is not normal and the movie ends with her tending to him.

I read this book recently and it was weird because I had already seen the movie. I enjoyed the novel a lot. It was a great read and the movie is pretty faithful to the source material. I am not a fan of Mia Farrow but she did well here. I liked the cast and I thought that the film had a suitably creepy feel to it. I would call it a classic because it has inspired many horror movies over the years and because of the ending which I found unusual in both the book and the movie. There is no happy ending as such but it depends on the way that you look at it. Having baby Satan would be a challenge for any mother, but Rosemary takes it in her stride! I know that there is some sort of mini series version of this which was made a few years ago, but I am not interested really. I like this film as I consider it to be the closest adaptation of the book. It is hard to believe that this movie will be fifty years old soon. It has aged very well. I will give it a 7/10.