A creepy, slow but landmark horror film

Rating: 10/10 (22 June 2007)

Before 'The Exorcist' scared the wits out of people about devil possession Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby came along in 1968 to scare the audiences then. Not your typical horror flick; this is slow and brooding and eventually leads to a shocking and terrifying finale that only few could have pulled off as flawlessly as Polanski did. This isn't cheap, schlocky horror, this is pure horror (at its best).
Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavettes) move into a new apartment. Across their room live two elderly people, Roman (Sidney Blackmer) and Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon, in an Oscar winning performance). They are very friendly people and Guy takes an immediate liking to them but Rosemary isn't so sure about them. She hears weird noises coming from their room at night, they seem to take down their pictures whenever they go over to their apartment and other things like that. When Rosemary becomes pregnant they start to become more intrusive. They convince her to switch doctor and Minnie starts giving her "herbal" drinks everyday. It is a rather unpleasant pregnancy, though, Rosemary is having constant pains and soon she starts suspected everyone of foul play.
The mood of this film is set perfectly from the very start when we hear the creepiest piece of music (a lullaby) played over the opening credits (sung by Mia Farrow). Polanski is a genius at setting mood, throughout the whole movie their is a sense of unease that gradually builds until your on the very edge of your seat waiting for the final revelation. Polanski doesn't rely on gore or special effects, in fact, their is (save for one brief moment of a corpse) no gore at all in the film. Very much unlike modern horror films might I add!
The best part of this movie, though, is the outstanding acting. Horror movies are unfortunately part of a stereotype which suggests no good acting can come out of a horror movie. How wrong those people are. Every single performance is perfect. Mia Farrow plays the naive but suspecting wife hauntingly realistic. She truly looks like she is suffering from her pregnancy. John Cassavettes is great as the self-centred Guy, an actor who never really pays attention to his wife. Ruth Gordon, though, is the stand-out performance as Minnie. Although she is a friendly, bubbly, helpful woman there is always a sinister feeling she radiates and the same can be said for Sidney Blackmer as well. Ruth Gordon rightfully deserved that Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
So, if you're looking for a horror film with real scares, top-notch performances, a creepy soundtrack and a hell of a twisted ending look no further than Rosemary's Baby.
5/5