What a horny devil!

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 2012)

Pretty housewife Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes) are over the moon when they secure a spacious new apartment just right for starting a family. Not long after moving in Rosemary suffers a horrific physical assault that leaves her a shadow of her former self: she's given a dreadful pixie haircut by Vidal Sassoon that makes her look like a young David Bowie. Oh, and she gets knocked up by Satan as well.
Roman Polanski's faithful adaptation of Ira Levin's bestseller Rosemary's Baby is an unmissable treat, a slow-burn classic of the Satanic horror sub-genre that builds inexorably to its chilling climax with class and style, never resorting to cheap scare tactics (which some might find surprising given that producer William Castle is renowned for his schlock horror B-movies).
Polanski's approach is all about the foreboding atmosphere and mounting tension, building slowly on the sense of dread first triggered by a potted history of the infamous Bramford Building (given by Rosemary's friend Hutch) with a series of bizarre incidences that eventually have Rosemary believing that her neighbours are witches aiming to steal her as-yet unborn baby. Of course, Rosemary is not far wrong but Polanski cleverly toys with his audience right to the finish, almost having us doubt her sanity towards the end despite all that we have seen.
Barring a brief glimpse of a bloody corpse—a suicide victim who hits the sidewalk with a splat—the film is totally devoid of gore, but even if you usually prefer your horror drenched in red, this effective chiller still comes highly recommended.