Rosemary's Baby (1968)

[Benjamin Grimm]

I watched this just last night. (It was recently shown on HBO Signature.) It wasn't the first time I had seen Rosemary's Baby, but the last time was so long ago that last night's viewing was almost like watching for the first time.

I know that this isn't exactly current, but figured it might be a fun movie to talk about.

[Edgy MD]

Senior citizen diabolists. Textbook creepy.

[batmagadanleadoff]

One of my favorites. One reviewer opined that RB is the scariest movie in which nothing scary actually happens.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Love Gordon, of course, and Farrow.

But Cassavetes as the husband is really underrated. He's a lot less arch than a lot of the older coven members, and a lot more agitated/restless than anyone else in the film, which serves him in portraying a dissatisfied, frustrated actor... and shitty husband. Along with Farrow, he's what grounds the movie, I think. Their marriage feels tense, and real; he feels anxious, and jittery, and very real. It's a big part of what keeps RB from becoming well-crafted camp.

[TransMonk]

Per Wkipedia, both Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson were considered before Polanski landed on Cassavetes.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Rosemary getting raped by the devil could probably count as a scary scene.

Cassavetes really was fantastic, by the way. My favorite line in the film, I think, was when Rosemary wanted to change to a different obstetrician, because the one that she had, Dr. Sapirstein, had been ignoring her extreme pain for three months. Her husband, Guy, exclaims, "But that wouldn't be fair to Sapirstein!"

He was such a creepy character... pimping his wife's womb to Satan so that he could get TV and movie parts.