This one gave me nightmares

Rating: Null/10 (3 November 2002)

I found this film disturbingly scary on a level I'd compare to "The Exorcist." It won't affect everyone the same way--I've yet to see a decent horror film that didn't terrify one viewer and humorously amuse another with indifference. But this one should affect anyone with an active imagination.
Imagination is what makes this film so disturbing. I know it is a cliche to say that "less is more," and that scenes of horror that are "implied" are more successful than those that show it explicitly. But "Rosemary's Baby" does more than that--it almost displays everything that is happening in front of us in a banal way, so that we accept it at face value, without shock, until it is too late.
The story starts out rather happily, and non-threatening. A young, attractive couple is searching for an apartment in New York City. They meet an old, eccentric couple living in the apartment above them who seem rather intrusive and annoying, but we accept these characteristics as the affects of aging and loneliness. A series of strange events occur, some of them involving deaths. But we are not frightened by any of them yet. They accelerate rapidly until the now pregnant Rosemary is obviously in great danger, and so is her unborn baby. There is a conspiracy against her, but it still is not clear exactly who is involved, who she can trust, and who is leading it. The answers are right in front of us the whole time, with a final twist that is as disturbing as those from the "great shockers" of recent films, including "The Sixth Sense," "Fight Club," and "The Others," yet it is not as abrupt. This is because the story builds to the climax without really hiding much, for the film uses our assumptions against us. The elderly couple CAN'T be poisoning Rosemary could they? Rosemary's husband HAS to be the one person she can rely on, right? Rosemary's nightmare that seemed "so real" was just a nightmare, wasn't it?

SPOILERS AHEAD***
The vague glimpses of Satan himself fornicating with the heroine are not evident to us until much later. When we see a group of elderly, seemingly innocuous nude people gathering around and commenting on what is happening, we at first refuse to take it at face value. After all, it is not just these weird people we see, Rosemary's husband is there (John Cassavettes, "Franco," from "The Dirty Dozen.") Cassavettes actually turns out to be, in my opinion, the most evil character here--so self-serving that he actually sells his wife's womb just to further his career.
The final scene is somewhat campy, but isn't any less frightening. It is also interesting to see that the people involved in this cult of witches ("All of them Witches") are really, at heart, "normal" elderly people, who knit, tell lots of boring stories, enjoy having visitors out of loneliness, etc.--they just worship Satan!
***END SPOILERS
In general, I think this film is definitely worth seeing. How one will react to it is a different story. I found the grainy film, toned-down special effects (the snake-eyes were very effective), the leisurely pace, and the old-fashioned style of directing by Roman Polansky to be the key factors in the success of this film as a horror movie, or "thriller." All of these elements make us think and force us to use our imagination, and then shudder with revulsion, and the end result seems very real. If you agree on the success of these elements, watch the film, but be cautious, after all, I again admit that at 28, I had nightmares after seeing it... Grade: A.