Rosemary's Baby
"Pray for Rosemary's Baby."
Of all the creepy movies in all the world the absolute creepiest is Rosemary's Baby.
The Sense of Dread
There's an awful sense of dread, of anticipatory horror, of some unthinkable danger that grabs you right at the very beginning.
I remember so well the first time I saw it, in a picture theatre in the middle of the day. I wanted to leave, I wanted to get out but was trapped by my fears for Rosemary, a young and naive woman whose pregnancy was now such a concern to me.. If I left before the end of the movie I wouldn't be able to help her.
Rosemary, and her baby, are still with me today.
Psychologically unnerving
There are no axe murders, no twitching corpses, monstrous aliens or violent music blasts. No zombies. This movie has only some eccentric neighbours and an assortment of odd little things that on the outside appear meaningless or, rather, harmless.
But this far into the film the foreboding is heavy, we're held captive by a truly frightful knowledge of horrors to come.
Can the nightmare we anticipate be coming to pass? Even halfway through the movie we know what's going on in that apartment next door and that's what makes the conclusion so harrowing, so horrifyingly inevitable.
Mia Farrow is simply remarkable. Frail, pale and suffering, almost constantly on-screen, you really want to shake her shoulder and tell her to 'wake up'!
Rosemary's Baby is dark and grim with terrific suspense, a wonderful plot, excellent cast and expertly directed. A classic of the 20th century.
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© 2013 Susanna Duffy