More creepy than scary

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2014)

Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and struggling actor Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) are a young married couple who move into an old apartment building. Their neighbors are an elderly couple name Roman (Sidney Blackmer) and Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon). A young woman named Terry is staying with them. She shows her necklace to Rosemary, a gift from Minnie. Then one night, she jumps out the window in an apparent suicide. There are noises coming through the wall. The Castevets are overly helpful to the Woodhouses. Minnie keeps giving Rosemary things to drink, and she gives the same necklace that she gave Terry. Rosemary has strange erotic dreams, and she finds herself pregnant. She suffers pains and looks sickly. Her doctor Sapirstein does nothing but reassures her. Guy is acting stranger and stranger.
This is Roman Polanski's iconic horror classic. It's not a scary movie. It is much more a creepy movie. It's a slow build. At over 2 hours, it takes its time. Mia Farrow puts in an iconic performance, and it's not simply because of her haircut. She projects a very fitting fragility physically but also mentally. Her powerlessness is at the center of the movie, and that's where the power of the movie comes from.