A young couple, actor Guy Woodhouse and his wife Rosemary, move into a new apartment building in New York City, and are soon welcomed by their new elderly, but kindly neighbors nearby. Not long afterwards, Rosemary discovers that she has become pregnant, albeit under very unusual circumstances. In the next few months, Rosemary's health begins to deteriorate, and as everyone surrounding her acts increasingly more eccentric and oblivious to her obvious troubles, she develops suspicions and fears about the safety of her unborn child.
Jesus, not even one minute in and I'm already beyond creeped out by Rosemary's Baby's opening theme. And yes, before you unleash a shitstorm of epic proportions upon me, I had never seen the film that is arguably Roman Polanski's most famous to date, and the second of his "Apartment Trilogy," with the first being Repulsion and the third being The Tenant. I am a deprived, odd horror fan. I suppose that I blame this on my personal dislike of the man as a human being, but I can't deny his skills as a director after watching this landmark.
When you really break this film down, it is essentially watching the dissection and mental torture of one individual, witnessing as they are systematically forced into isolation and a new life against their will for a running time of two hours that surprisingly doesn't even feel like two hours. And by god, it works tremendously well here due to some top-notch directing and tremendous performances (Mia Farrow not winning, or even being nominated for an Academy Award was an absolute shame), not to mention the incredible mood Polanski manages to set almost from the very beginning frames. I haven't felt this disoriented and turned off by a group of New York residents since I first watched Taxi Driver. She and John Cassavetes do feel a bit dated by "hollywood movie couple" standards, but it really is fascinating to see the completely opposite directions both head in over the course of the film, as he slowly loses his soul while she retains her humanity through thick and thin, and while being cut off from nearly everything helpful imaginable. Ruth Gordon as the obnoxious neighbor that essentially turns into a cancer nearly steals the show though. I can't recall detesting a character on this year's blogothon any more, outside of perhaps those redneck comic reliefs in The Crater Lake Monster.
Speaking of Mia Farrow, how Rosemary's Baby's infamous rape-dream sequence wouldn't traumatize someone is beyond me. Even for a film that's over forty years old, it is still quite creepy and remarkably unsettling. Farrow's helplessness during most of it just makes it so much worse, making the audience contemplate what is truly real and what is being fabricated in the individual's mind. But as greatly filmed and acted as the movie is, its own legacy does kind of hurt any potential surprises, as they've been copied or been hugely influenced by the events in this story. Mind you, some of these have wielded very positive results (The House of the Devil) or films on the "mixed opinion" side of things (The Lords of Salem). This does not hurt the finished product AT ALL, but the final reveals aren't especially surprising if you're more well-versed in the genre, but have somehow passed over this movie like I had.
Honestly, is there even a point to discussing anything further about this picture? Everyone regards it as a masterpiece for a reason after all, even outside of the horror genre. And thank whatever deity that does or does not exist that a proposed 2008 remake didn't come to be, especially considering that it was going to produced by Michael Bay of all people. The idea that the man behind Transformers was going to produce something with the name Rosemary's Baby attached to it makes me want to retch, but it was killed almost as soon as it was announced. That false scare aside, go watch the film if you haven't already. Don't wait like I did. All of them witches will thank you.
Tomorrow, we sadly bring an end to this year's iteration of Unseen Terror, but we'll attempt to go out rocking with TRICK OR TREAT!
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