Indeed "Rosemary's Baby" is a classic but let's get the bad points out of the way first. Some scenes are awkward, Mia Farrow and her new found friend in the washing room really doesn't belong in a movie hailed as a classic. Terrible dialogue and acting from both. Farrow seems to change accents throughout the movie, even in her same lines which is a little off putting. However she is terrific in this role as the quiet naive woman who senses over the films two hours that something is very wrong. The movie has been directed much like Nicolas Roeg's classic, Don't Look Now, that classic 70's look of chopping and changing scenes during dialogue. Rosemary's Baby is also very sexually aware of itself, and one could say with all validity was the bridge between censorship issues and what would follow in the glorious 70's.
The movie was shot in the Dakota Buildings, and looks dreadfully eerie, director Roman Polanski makes New York like that too, which all fits with the mood of the film. John Cassavetes has some great lines and is particularly good, though isn't needed once he plays his cards too early. But two actors out-stage Farrow and Cassavetes and that is their old noisy could be witch neighbors played delightfully well by Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer. The performances in the movie are phenomenal, particularly that of Ruth Gordon, who plays the nosy meddling neighbor (she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance). Mia Farrow is also very convincing as Rosemary, the trapped individual whose intentions are always good.
"Rosemary's Baby" is still as watchable today (and, of course, deeply horrific and disturbing) as it was all those years ago. It doesn't need gallons of fake blood or computer-generated effects to be scary. Everything here feels a little too real and is a credit to how films can be made. Don't expect a roller-coaster ride of scares and guts – it's much too 'foreboding' to succumb to anything so cheap and easy. If you're in the mood for something horrible, dark with an every-increasing sense of dread then give this one a watch before it gets remade with too many special effects and no soul.
Overall rating: 9 out of 10.
The movie was shot in the Dakota Buildings, and looks dreadfully eerie, director Roman Polanski makes New York like that too, which all fits with the mood of the film. John Cassavetes has some great lines and is particularly good, though isn't needed once he plays his cards too early. But two actors out-stage Farrow and Cassavetes and that is their old noisy could be witch neighbors played delightfully well by Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer. The performances in the movie are phenomenal, particularly that of Ruth Gordon, who plays the nosy meddling neighbor (she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance). Mia Farrow is also very convincing as Rosemary, the trapped individual whose intentions are always good.
"Rosemary's Baby" is still as watchable today (and, of course, deeply horrific and disturbing) as it was all those years ago. It doesn't need gallons of fake blood or computer-generated effects to be scary. Everything here feels a little too real and is a credit to how films can be made. Don't expect a roller-coaster ride of scares and guts – it's much too 'foreboding' to succumb to anything so cheap and easy. If you're in the mood for something horrible, dark with an every-increasing sense of dread then give this one a watch before it gets remade with too many special effects and no soul.
Overall rating: 9 out of 10.