For Rosemarys Baby, his modern horror tale about Satanic worship and a pregnant womans decline into madness, Roman Polanski moves from the traditional monolithic mansions of Gothic flicks to an apartment building in New York City. Based on Ira Levins novel, the story concerns Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse who find the apartment of their dreams in a luxurious complex in Manhattan. Soon after moving in and making friends with a group of elderly neighbours, Guys career takes off and Rosemary discovers she is pregnant. Their happiness seems complete. But... gradually Rosemary begins to sense that something is wrong with this baby, and slowly and surely her life begins to unravel. Polanski uses such subtle means to build up the sense of preternatural disquiet that initially you suspect Rosemarys prenatal paranoia to be a figment of her imagination. But the guilty parties and their demonic plan to make Rosemary the receptacle of their masters child are eventually revealed and, as Rosemary looses her grip on reality, she realises that no one can be trusted. The performances are excellent throughout; Farrow as the young wife is so fragile that you wonder how she made it unscathed to adulthood and John Cassavetes is horrifyingly duplicitous as her husband Guy. But the real star is Polanskis masterful direction. The mood is at the same time oppressive and hysterical with the mounting terror coming from the situation and gradually unravelling plot rather than any schlock horror moments. On the DVD: the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack shows off Christopher Komedas eerie "lullaby" score to its haunting best. The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is relatively free of speckle and dust, some scenes filmed in low light are slightly grainier but this adds to the oppressive tension that Polanski is building up in the film. In terms of extras there is a 20-minute "making of" feature from 1968 and retrospective interviews with Polanski, production designer Richard Sylbert and producer Robert Evans. --Kristen Bowditch [show more]
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Possibly the best horror film ever made, this brilliant adaptation of Ira Levin's best-selling novel is the story of a loving young New York city couple who are experiencing their first child. Like most first time mothers, Rosemary experiences confusion and fear. Her husband an ambitious but unsuccessful actor, makes a pact with the devil that promises to send his career skyward. Director Roman Polanski elicits uniformly extraordinary performances from the all-star cast. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for her performance as an oversolicitous next-door neighbour in this classic chiller. Actors Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Ralph Bellamy, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Victoria Vetri & Patsy Kelly Director Roman Polanski Certificate 18 years and over Year 1968 Screen Widescreen 1.85:1 Languages English - Dolby Digital (5.1) Additional Languages German Subtitles English ; English for the hearing impaired ; Arabic ; Bulgarian ; Czech ; Danish ; Dutch ; Finnish ; German ; Hungarian ; Icelandic ; Norwegian ; Polish ; Romanian ; Swedish ; Turkish Duration 2 hours and 11 minutes (approx)
Mia Farrow stars as Rosemary, a young wife whose husband, an actor, falls in with a group of Satanists. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, she begins to suspect that she may be carrying the child of the Devil. Director Roman Polanski caused controversy by giving a real life Satanist a part in the film's rape scene, and the self same man became implicated in the Manson murders which killed his wife Sharon Tate a year later.
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