Bathed in a creepy, brooding atmosphere. See it!

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2010)

Is the occult enough to frighten us in this day and age? Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen may all be considered classics, but after all we've seen in real life since those films were made can the occult really still frighten us? Since the 1970s we've lived through wars, endless terrorist attacks, serial killers more gruesome than any Hollywood writer could imagine, you name it. So can someone just sit down and view a movie like Rosemary's Baby and be frightened by it? The answer is a definitive YES.
I had seen parts of this before, but never the conclusion until sitting down and taking it all in the other evening. Though very heavily dated in terms of just about everything you'll see, Rosemary's Baby is still very suspenseful and just downright eerie. In the tradition of great horror films before it and a few since, this movie doesn't rely on buckets of blood, severed limbs, or cheap shocks when someone or something jumps into the frame. This one has a compelling story, and it lets its atmosphere smother the viewer in a cloud of doom and desperation. The story deals with a young couple moving into an old but stately apartment building on the Upper West Side of New York City. It is clear from the get-go that the other tenants of this building are just not right in many ways. Particularly the elderly couple next door as they have soon insinuated themselves into the young couple's lives in every way possible. After a while, the young woman finds herself pregnant, and things pretty much go downhill from there for her. By all means watch this film to experience the particulars for yourself.
The writing, acting, directing and production design are top notch. Polanski was only getting started at this point, but still this is one of his best efforts. As the conclusion was approaching, there were three logical ways I expected this film to end. They chose my second ending. The first would have been the obvious choice of having Rosemary jump out a window to her death like the young woman earlier in the film. The third choice would have been for Rosemary to use the knife to stab the infant to death. But that would have been maybe too macabre. I think they made a good choice, but I don't really want to see the sequel which has nothing but poor reviews and was made by inferior talent. 9 of 10 stars.
The Hound.