chilling minimalistic horror

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2003)

***1/2
Roman Polanski's classic `Rosemary's Baby' stands as one of the films that ushered in the so-called `second golden age' of Hollywood cinema. The story centers on Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (the late Cassavetes), two rich New Yorkers who move into a flashy downtown apartment complex with a checkered reputation. The apartment is also inhabited by two odd older neighbors (wonderfully played by Gordon and Blackmer). How of course, may be more than they seem.
What ensues is not so much horror, more like sustained psychological tension. Polanski does not cheat us with showy effects and creatures that jump out of the wall, instead he relies on mood, innuendo, and above all the magnificent Farrow.
What strikes a viewer twenty-five years after the films release is the fact that a film like this would have little chance of being made today. It is almost like a stage play, as the action unfolds almost exclusively in the cavernous apartment of Rosemary. The mastery of Polanski is that he uses this too his advantage. The viewer himself feels the same claustrophobia Rosemary experiences. We are trapped with her and this raises questions towards both hers and our sanity.