Don't Believe Them

Rating: 5/10 (29 September 2004)

I went online some time ago to do a little research on what people thought were the top ten scariest movies. Again and again, Rosemary's Baby kept coming up. Despite its age (1968), I had never seen the film and thought it was some classic horror, like The Exorcist or something. Boy was I wrong. And so was everybody else that said how scary this film was.
What I saw in watching Rosemary's Baby was old-school infantile acting, where everyone presents themselves as overly happily or stresses the emotion they are trying to convey to the point it comes off as sappy. While I can't overly slant Mia Farrow for her part in the film (she plays a meek young woman very well), her role as Rosemary had me feeling like she was a complete bimbo. I have seen my share of old films and don't know why but all of the characters do seem too scripted. Maybe we just have better actors today or better script writers (???).
What will surprise you and make you think differently about your grandmother and society in the 60's is the use of nudity in this film. There is even one scene (SPOILER) where Rosemary is raped by the Devil and is in bondage while a bunch of old croons stand around as naked voyeurs witnessing some bizarre live sex act. That part was shocking, but certainly not scary. The film is so predictable (maybe Polanski wanted it to be that way) that you begin to second guess yourself. You're thinking that the director has led you down an obvious path just to surprise you somewhere else. But unfortunately, no surprises. The film is quite transparent, except for the ending, which is just bizarrely ridiculous. Qualities of Rosemary's Baby, especially the repetitively eerie lullaby in the beginning and end, had me thinking Stanley Kubrick directed this. 5/10
How much more annoying could Mrs. Castevet get!?