A quiet, erudite chiller, but not conventionally frightening

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2002)

If there are omens in this world, they were not heeded by the makers of Rosemary's Baby. The director would soon see his own pregnant wife disemboweled by the Manson family, the actor hired to play Satan would be revealed as a serial rapist, the leading lady would see her husband engage in an affair with someone who was effectively their daughter, and the building around which the film was shot would 12 years later bear witness to the tragic death of John Lennon.
This was without a doubt a cursed film, and its sado-sexual undercurrents are ultimately made more powerful by knowledge of the evils, perversions, and obsessions woven into the myth of its making.
However, do not expect to be overtly frightened by this film. Unlike more recent "traditional" horror films like "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others," this film will not make you jump. It is instead a slightly comic, often disturbing psychological portrait of one innocent woman's breakdown as she comes into contact with the carnal and callous power of Satanism. Mia Farrow plays this breakdown perfectly. Her performance (easily the best she has ever given) is potently tremulous, and effectively walks the fine line between hysteria and conviction. The Satanists, into whose complete power she is delivered by her husband, possess a wonderfully concealed menace, particulaly the obstetrician, a smiling, cold-eyed fascist.
The once infamous scenes, such as Rosemary eating raw liver, lack the shock value they once had, and are filmed in such a documentary style that whatever horror they could have conveyed is lost on modern audiences. Whatever power the film has is entirely invested in Rosemary's descent into madness, and that is still as powerful as ever