Halloween Movie Countdown #10: Rosemary's Baby

Here we are, the scariest time of the year, 10 days away from Halloween. It's only fair to celebrate the way cinema has captured fear in our hearts and minds for these last ten days by counting down to Halloween. Expect some of the creepiest stuff to ever hit celluloid (or ugly digital camera memory cards) here. To start out, we have to return to the 1960s when paranoia cinema was just at its own height. This golden age of paranoid cinema hit its peak early with the Roman Polanski classic Rosemary's Baby.

This is classic horror storytelling at its finest. Rather than using fake scares, jumps, or even loud music, here we have a fantastically made character study of paranoia. What's so great about the film is how it's not even so much outlandish paranoia. We follow Rosemary Woodhouse, a housewife who has just moved into a new apartment with her actor husband. They are a happy couple hoping to have a baby. Rosemary becomes pregnant, but begins to be plagued by strange nightmares, and paranoia regarding her neighbors, her doctor, and her nosy neighbors. Is Rosemary just falling apart under the pressure of the pregnancy or is there validity to her fears - and what could be going on if she is right?

My advice on this film is simple - see it but read as little as possible about the plot. More than any other film, Rosemary's Baby is generally completely spoiled by every single plot description. It really bothers the hell out of me because part of the brilliance of this film is the journey of discovery or complete insanity we get to follow Rosemary on. This film gets every note right. Every single second of its runtime is completely devoted to telling you something, even if you don't exactly realize it.

Polanski creates a wonderfully controlled voice through the camera work and scene jumps, and it helps, of course, that he assembled a fantastic cast of Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, and Sydney Blackmer. It's this kind of perfectionist approach to horror that's more or less nonexistent in the modern cinematic landscape that really helps you buy into what you're seeing, because, this film completely relies on flawless acting to succeed. Succeed it does. This is the great mama of paranoia thrillers partially because of its subject matter. Together it combines two scary notions: pregnancy and insanity. Both are conditions that have a drastic outcome that you really have very little control over.

To take the concept of pregnancy, taught by most religions as a sacred and beautiful thing, and turn it into this disturbing and ultimately terrifying condition was really groundbreaking and oh so effective. You're pregnant and there are strange possibly occult things happening all around you. What if your neighbors, your doctor, and even your husband are actively working to harm your baby? Even worse than that, what if there's something terribly wrong with your baby already and you don't even know it? Of course, now that you've effectively cancelled out all notions of trust, you have to ask another question - what if none of this is true and you're just going crazy with paranoia? What implications does that have not only for your future, but for the child's?

If you love cinema, you really have no excuse not to give Rosemary's Baby your full attention for two and a half hours. It's not only completely worth it, but it will really get to you. Polanski's carefully constructed tone manages to illicit completely reasonable fear from the everyday details and yet also presents a very chilling satire on society, religion, and trust. Does that make Rosemary's Baby a complicated statement on existence? Well, no, not really. It is one hell of a fantastic horror film experience, however, and a classic you cannot let yourself ignore.

These are old school thrills, fantastic characters, and an ending you'll remember for quite some time. It may not be the scariest film out there, but it carries the capacity disturb you more psychologically than most films ever will. It's a great film and the highlight of Roman Polanski's mostly successful career. Get out there; see this movie and pray for Rosemary's baby.