Great atmosphere and some chilling imagery but I just didn't find the story all that involving

Rating: 4/10 (15 November 2016)

Married couple Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes)move into a New York apartment which has a rather 'unsavoury' history. The Woodhouse's live next door to an elderly couple called Minnie and Roman Castevet (Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer) who are both warm and friendly towards the Woodhouse's. However, Rosemary soon starts to notice strange occurrences which she believes are connected, in one way or another, to the Castevets and when she falls pregnant she becomes convinced that the Castevets have plans of their own for her unborn child.
Roman Polanski has certainly got the 'feel' of this film absolutely spot-on; it is very atmospheric and as I've mentioned in my summary some of the 'chilling' scenes and imagery certainly make some parts of this film memorable, but aside from some of Polanski's impressive technical prowess Rosemary's baby is still not a film that I'm particularly fond of...
The first thing that needs address is the pacing and general narrative; it is a slow film, but rather than being a slow film that I gradually start to enjoy and become involved with it felt more like a film that just dragged on and on. What actually surprised me about this film was how little narrative content there was in this film (considering it runs for over 2 hours). The whole 'satanic' and 'witchcraft' plots are totally undercooked and Polanski offers us little insight into the strange neighbours until we reach the final scenes in the film.
The film certainly has a bit of a creepy feel to it and Polanski sets the creepy neighbours up wonderfully, but with little development this starts to become a bit gimmicky and with little development many of their scenes start to feel repetitive. Their darker side comes to the fore towards the end, but the impact that this has on the picture is tainted slightly in these final moments by an over-the-top and rather laughable performance from Sidney Blackmer which felt too theatrical to be entirely convincing. Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon gave the best performances with the former being very good.
Polanski showcases some impressive directorial touches with some wonderful atmosphere and chilling imagery which made some aspects of the film linger in my memory. Sadly, I just didn't find the story that involving and felt that both the story and the characters weren't developed enough to hold my interest. Some of the performances are good and it's a pretty impressive from a technical perspective, but, in my book, Rosemary's baby is merely a partial success.