Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Devil Inside

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Rosemary's Baby on DVD

Roman Polanski somehow brought his brand of paranoid horror to the Hollywood mainstream with rousing success. Adapted from the novel by Ira Levin, Rosemary's Baby was a smash summer hit and a critical winner, placing on the New York Times' ten best list and earning an Oscar nomination for Polanski's screenplay, as well as an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress Ruth Gordon. Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes play the ordinary couple that moves next door to a strange, older couple (Gordon and Sidney Blackmer). Rosemary becomes pregnant and begins to fear that something terrible is going to happen, but of course -- as in most Polanski films -- she's utterly alone in her fears. Polanski does some amazing, unsettling things with odd angles and sounds, many of which remain unequaled today. Cassavetes directed his own landmark film Faces the same year, but it (of course) did not get the same level of attention.

With: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Victoria Vetri, Patsy Kelly, Elisha Cook Jr., Emmaline Henry, Charles Grodin, Hanna Landy, Phil Leeds, D'Urville Martin, Hope Summers
Written by: Roman Polanski, based on a novel by Ira Levin
Directed by: Roman Polanski
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 136 minutes
Date: October 20, 2008