Rosemary's Baby (1968)

What have you done to its eyes??!

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Chocolate mouse!

The film is so good, that you start to believe that even Dr. Hill (Charles Grodin) is in "on it."

Maurice Evans character was gay, right?

How scary is this? I’ve never seen it and I positively loathe scary/horror movies.

Is it more psychological or is there actual bloody things happening ?

Paging Dr. SAPARSTEIN, Dr. Saparstein will you please pick up?

Does anyone have a Scrabble game I can borrow?

R5. Well, we do meet his daughters at his burial but he also writes 'guide books' for young boys so who knows.

Mia was robbed of an Oscar nomination. She's in every friggin scene and no one could have played Rosemary like she did.

R6 It is more psychological. Think elevated horror before elevated horror. It is not a slasher or a gore fest.

It is a slow build with complex character development. The entire cast give excellent performances, with Mia Farrow, Ralph Bellamy, and Ruth Gordon being the standouts.

It made me run out to buy some tannis root.

That's not fair to Saperstein!

Biggest takeaway is don't talk to your neighbors.

He's a Charlie Nobody!

Oh shut up with your "Oh, Gods" or we'll kill ya, milk or no milk.

I'm dying for a Vodka Blush.

Sidney Blackmer is no slouch either

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

They’re a bunch of not very bright bitches who ought to mind their own goddamn business!

This is my very favorite horror movie - maybe my favorite movie period.

It’s too bad Roman Polanski is such a horrible person, because that guy could DIRECT!

I love that all the witches are portrayed by old Hollywood character actors.

Just seeing Hope Summers scream “Hail Satan” is worth the price of admission.

with Tony Curtis.

[quote Just seeing Hope Summers scream “Hail Satan” is worth the price of admission.

Yes. Miss Summers would just randomly shout "Hail Satan!" Sometimes she varied it with "Worship the Dark Lord!" That's why she was kicked out of Mayberry Bapto-Methodist Church in a lost episode of TAGS, R21.

Rosemary's lullaby

My mother used to sing this song to me when I was little.

I liked the porn version, Rosemary's Booby.

When a discussion turns to the idea if "a perfect film" this is usually the first that comes to mind for me. It's also a great favorite.

I've seen it many times and there is always some new detail or aspect to appreciate.

Damn. This discussion is going to make me watch it again because I haven’t seen it in about 10 years and some bits are getting hazy.

[quote]Just seeing Hope Summers scream “Hail Satan” is worth the price of admission.

I never really trusted Clara. There was something a little frightening about her.

John Cassavetes was SO hot 🥵 in this movie.

I was in 5th grade the first time I saw this with a friend, and just the intro credits with Rosemary singing REALLY creeped us both out, we were soo excited. It's been a favorite ever since the first viewing.

Yes Mia was robbed of The Oscar, probably because no one wanted to piss off Sinatra. Who won that year? Streisand and Hammy Hepburn?

It’s so good, especially for the period imagery of NYC and also the set and costume designs.

Ruth Gordon was amazing as Minnie. The whole idea of your irritating, nosy neighbors worshiping Satan feels close to plausibility when you own an older co-op in Manhattan.

Polanski’s use of nudity with elderly characters was probably shocking at the time.

The horror of Rosemary’s Baby was what it represents on a nonsupernatural level - an abusive marriage to a malignant narcissist. That’s why the film still resonates, because there will always be that kind of relationship.

My interpretation of the story was always that Levin was writing about his parents. In that context, he himself would be “Rosemary’s Baby” - and that it represented the guilt he felt in being the cause of his mother staying in an abusive relationship with his father. Most women stay in abusive relationships for the sake of keeping their family together.

I know very little about Levin so I have no way of corroborating this. It just seemed like the kind of ironic autobiographical thing a writer would do.

There is not a single bad performance

How charmed was Mia Farrow’s life at this time? This film was such a big hit, and she was married to Sinatra, and had a hit tv show in her tailwind, too, I think.

She was served with divorce papers during filming. Polanski ran over schedule so Mia wasn't able to co star with Frank in The Detective and he ended the marriage.

Mia was on every movie magazine cover imaginable from 64-68.

What makes the film more uncomfortable is that the coven is played by comfortable actors the audience would have known from their comedy film and television roles.

Is there a curse attached to the film?

R40. Nope

I read the book a number of times as a teen and this is one of those books where I am convinced the book would be much better than the movie. So I've never seen it.

Ira Levin has written a number of great novels, my favorite being a 1970 gem entitled "This Perfect Day." Eerily prescient. Read it if you can find it. Do not read the Wikipedia, as it is entirely made up of spoilers!

R42 Polanski gave a very accurate and close adaptation of the novel. It is worth a watch

I like my movies extraordinary faithful two.

The undertaste!

[Quote] Is there a curse attached to the film?

Mafucken

r43 the novel was easy to adapt to film. I think Levin purposefully wrote it that way. Very pragmatic author.

Wasn't the husband meant to be a Robert Redford type? I think it's obvious from the start that Cassavetes is a bad guy. He's so shifty.

[quote] Maurice Evans character was gay, right?

Grace Cardiff: Fag hag or FWB?

John Cassavetes was good looking

R50 = Gena Rowlands

He was in Luther and Nobody Loves An Albatross.

Be quiet, you're in Dubrovnik, I can't hear you.

Yes Mia was robbed of The Oscar, probably because no one wanted to piss off Sinatra. Who won that year? Streisand and Hammy Hepburn?

Yes.

Also nominated were Patricia Neal for The Subject Was Roses, Vanessa Redgrave for Isadora, and Joanne Woodward for Rachel, Rachel. All excellent performances.

“Its plain old Lipton’s Tea, now drink it!@

“It is the Year ONE!”

How scary is this?

I think you see a naked woman when Rosemary is being babied. But it's not Mia.

You look like a piece of chalk.

God is dead! Satan lives!

I love how Elishia Cook Jr. is the real estate agent in the beginning.

You even think HE is in on it by the end!

Isn't there a plot hole about the former tenant being an old lady who would have been incapable of moving the furniture to block the linen closet entrance to next door?

R61 No, she dragged the wardrobe. You can see the drag marks. The characters thought it was odd too, given how old she was

Not content with being Satan's mistress.... MIA IS BITCH!

[quote]Also nominated were Patricia Neal for The Subject Was Roses, Vanessa Redgrave for Isadora, and Joanne Woodward for Rachel, Rachel. All excellent performances.

And it was Patricia Neal's comeback film after she suffered a debilitating stroke.

Elf Shot Lame Witch

No gore, just horror. Just the way I like it. Too, bad APARTMENT 7A sucked so badly. I wanted to like it. Only watch for the costumes and Minnie.

This is no dream! This is really happening!!

Is it a mental breakdown or is it really happening? Polanski did a great job directing. Whatever shortcomings he has as a person, he made several great films. I like his version of Oliver Twist. Also, like Chinatown.

and The Pianist.

Tennis, anyone?

Frigging auto correct....

Tannis anyone?

It’s in my top 10 favorite horror films for sure. I like it more than The Exorcist to be honest. The feeling of dread and oppression in it just grows and grows as the film goes on. Unforgettable. I highly recommend the book as well, which the film sticks to very closely.

ooh this thread is still alive

In the 1968 film, Minnie said that Terry had stayed with them in their apartment. I wonder why in the prequel, "Apartment 7A" Terry is gifted her own apartment by the wealthy Castevets. The prequel producers could have simply made better choices so as to honor the classic original. A horror in and of itself.

the satan costume which my much younger husband rolls his eyes at.

I don't remember this.

[quote]R48 Wasn't the husband meant to be a Robert Redford type? I think it's obvious from the start that Cassavetes is a bad guy.

Yes. And the film was offered to Redford first, to star opposite Tuesday Weld. This would have given the newlywed couple a sunshiny, Barbie and Ken style wholesomeness.

Monsters… monsters! Unspeakable. Unspeakable!

I do believe Sharon Tate is in the party scene. She is not the first blonde extra, she's the smiling (unmistakable) one with the headband. The mink fur you see in that scene belonged to Sharon. She lent the coat to the production. One of Sharon's best friends was also in the party scene, Wende Wagner. Alongside them in the same scene was Joanna Barnes who worked with Sharon in both THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and DON'T MAKE WAVES which were both Ransohoff productions

Sharon wasn't showcased in RB because she wasn't loaned out by her studio, Filmways, which she was under contract to AND Polanski and Sharon's producer had a major falling out over the editing of a previous collaboration, THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS. I love that film, too.

As a New Yorker, I am very jealous of the Woodhouses rent controlled apartment.

If I had a child I’d probably sacrifice it in exchange?

^Been there, done that.

r79 That floorplan is flipped backwards and there wasn't a second bathroom, there was a butler's pantry between the kitchen and the living room.

and Joan Crawford and Van Johnson.

A scene was shot, but not used, of the characters attending an off-Broadway play. Mia Farrow and Emmaline Henry attend a performance of "The Fantasticks" and meet Joan Crawford and Van Johnson as themselves. This was deleted to reduce the film's running time.

[quote]Mia was on every movie magazine cover imaginable from 64-68.

Incidentally, she was on the very first cover of People magazine in 1974 to promote THE GREAT GATSBY.

[quote]R81 That floorplan is flipped backwards and there wasn't a second bathroom, there was a butler's pantry between the kitchen and the living room. — the floorplan troll

Well, that’s the floor plan author Ira Levin did for the book, so he could keep the setting straight in his head as he was writing. Roman Polanski wanted to follow the book as closely as possible… but he did make changes here and there (ie, adding the butler’s pantry so there’s the tension of more than one kitchen door to lock when Ro’s friends want to be alone with her at the party.)

The original Terry 1968 Playboy playmate of the year Angela Dorian.

[quote] my favorite being a 1970 gem entitled "This Perfect Day." Eerily prescient. Read it if you can find it.

R42, This Perfect Day is on Amazon, with a short, non-spoiler description.

I love the party scene. Their eclectic group of friends says so much about Roe and Guy. They were the cool couple.

R1's clip says it all---Mia was the weakest player in this melodramatic campfest. Tuesday Weld would have been interesting. Sandy Dennis would have been perfect, except it was too close to her role in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf".

Mia Farrow is enchanting in her fragility; she's just about perfect for the role- Pauline Kael

I agree with Kael. Farrow's vulnerability works for the role. Dennis would have seen too old for the role and isn't the actress to get audience empathy.