Excellent film with great performances

Rating: Null/10 (9 April 2001)

A near-perfect adaptation of Ira Levin's book, Rosemary's Baby remains today one of the best horror movies, not for its use of gore, but for its use of tension and surprise. Of course a lot of credit for this movie goes to Mia Farrow who makes Rosemary a very real person, not to mention good performances by John Cassavetes as Rosemary's shady actor husband, and Ruth Gordon, as the overly nosy neighbor (who won an Oscar for this performance). The story itself is simple, a young couple moves into a New York apartment building with a very sinister past, and after the wife becomes pregnant she begins to suspect her neighbors are more than just friendly old people. The film does a great job playing up Rosemary's isolation and the creepiness of the apartment building. Many scenes and dialogue are taken directly verbatim from the book. Be sure to go out and rent this one.