Product: Rosemary's Baby (El Bebe de Rosemary) [ NON-USA FORMAT, NTSC, Reg.4 Import - Latin America ] (1968)
Rating: 4.0
great filmmaking
These days, most scary movies have lots of "surprise" scenes in which ghouls or killers suddenly appear with some sort of weapon as shrieking music and the victim's shrieks collide on our ears. Blood. Corpses. Mutilation. Wide-eyed girls soundlessly screaming as the killer closes in.See Rosemary's Baby for something completely different. The way this movie was directed and filmed is masterful. The scenes look "normal" as another reviewer put it, but there is something slightly off about them. There is something wrong but the viewer can't put his/her finger on what it is. The Castevets are quite friendly, but don't they seem a little too friendly and eager? Maybe they're just lonely and outgoing. You just don't know. Isn't the doctor a little too paternal and avuncular, or is he just a really good and wise doctor? You don't know. Nothing is spelled out for the viewer.There is a sense of unease, a chilling sense that things are not quite right, but you can't figure out what. The people around Rosemary all seem warm and genuine but at the same time seem false and threatening. This is the magic of the film. Polanski sets up scene after scene where this slowly mounting unease disturbs and unsettles the viewer. This type of movie is infinitely harder to make than a slasher film where a madman bursts out of a hedge wielding a screaming chainsaw.Rosemary's Baby is a classic, largely due to amazing direction and screenplay. No, you may not jump and scream like you do in a modern slasher flick, but I'll bet for days after you see it you'll still be thinking about it, creeped out, and sleeping with a light on. Great movie for an intelligent person who appreciates great directing and storytelling.