Rosemary's Baby

[Allhallowsday]

Mild Spoilerage Alert!

Allhallowsday,

I don't really remember the music.  I only saw it the one time and then returned it straight away.  Such was my disappointment.  I think I was actually groaning in pain at the awfulness of this movie for about 2 hours afterwards  *lol*

Life in 1965 was certainly much different from life today. I couldn't really relate to anything in this movie at all.   But some part of me likes to think that at an opportune moment, Rosemary took her demon spawn and killed the hell out of it just to spite the coven and the husband.  Then she sets fire to the oldies' apartment and gets the heck out of dodge only to become a rogue witch hunter herself, whilst spreading rumours about her husband being a rabid paedophile.

Oh, well, I suppose I can live in hope that the story will continue.

The film is 1968... your story is not nearly as original in 2007 as Ira Levin's story was in 1967 when his novel was published. 
I hear you, but remember, Rosemary's one wish was for the safety of her baby... her baby... 

[RCMerchant]

Satanism wasn't dealt with in films...at least in mainstream films...seriously by major studios,up untill that time. You would have cheezy horror fliks (HORROR HOTEL, and the like),but a major film,with big name actors...dealing with satanism,rape,etc...that was quite conterversial back in the 60's.

[The Burgomaster]

To chime in on THE EXORCIST:

Definitely a classic.  And I think it is the #1 scariest movie ever made.  Unfortunately, I don't think it packs the same wallop today as it did in the 1970s.

Anyone who remembers the original theatrical run of THE EXORCIST will know what I'm talking about.  There was an unbelieveable amount of hype and word-of-mouth about how scary and shocking it was.  Some people found it so disturbing they needed to leave the theater in the middle of the movie or had nightmares about it.  I remember seeing talk shows devoted to discussions of the movie.  Church attendance increased noticeably in the U.S. after the movie came out.  I saw it at the drive-in and thought it was great.  However . . .

 . . . a few years ago, they released "the version you've never seen" to theaters.  I went to see it and and the theater was sold out.  However, no one in the theater seemed to be the least bit affected by the movie (possibly because many of them had seen it before).  Some people were even laughing at certain parts.  A couple of girls that seemed to be about 15 or 16 years old were sitting behind me and they spent most of the movie laughing and talking on their cell phones.  So, I guess the impact has worn off.  I think today's graphic movies (although they are usually not very scary) have desensitized most people.  But back in the 1970s, THE EXORCIST made a lot of people very afraid of the devil.  Really.

[316zombie]

thew story did continue,and the sequels SUCK!!!don't watch them,please!and do give it another shot in a year or 2...may i recommend a couple of flicks for you?they might work better for the ambience you were expecting...
the gaurdian
full circle(this is also mia,she's less childlike in this one)
the changeling

maybe you'll like these,maybe you won't but all are worth a rental,specially if you're on netflix!
and if you like asian stuff,i can recommend around 60 right off the bat,i own tons !:)

zombie

[Killer Bees]

Thanks for recommendations, 316Zombie.  I'll add them to my rental queue.

Teenagers are so fickle these days with movies.  It almost seems like you need the real Satan to jump out and bite them before they get scared  *lol*

I will watch Rosemary's Baby again in a year or so to see how I go.  I haven't really seen many older horror movies.  I think the oldest one I've seen was The Omen and then the next one with Sam Neill in it.  They were pretty good from what I remember.  But that was quite a while ago.

I'm not really a fan of Asian movies generally.  But I did enjoy The Host quite a bit.  And I saw a Godzilla movie where there were two American kids and their dad in it.  I think the Japanese parts were dubbed into English.  I guess that's not really horror, but I enjoyed that as well.

[akiratubo]

I think this is one of those movies you may be able to appreciate, but not exactly like if you grew up watching a lot of horror movies.  Even when I was a wee tot (less than ten), I had already seen enough devil movies that this movie seemed downright predictable.

"Mom, why doesn't the lady realize the old people are devil worshipers?"
"Because she's an idiot."

But, you say, it was original when it came out.  Ah-ha, I say, that was forty years ago!  I'll give it some respect for being one of the first big-studio devil movies but, these days, it's pretty stale and musty.

Frankly, I think Rosemary's Baby would have worked better if they left out all the stuff about the child of Satan and just made a movie about a woman who, during the course of her pregnancy, slowly realizes she doesn't want to be a parent.  Knowing the rest of your life is going to be devoted to a child you don't want --while everyone around you is so excited about it -- is, I think, one of the most horrifying of any real-life situations.

[RCMerchant]

Thanks for recommendations, 316Zombie.  I'll add them to my rental queue.

Teenagers are so fickle these days with movies.  It almost seems like you need the real Satan to jump out and bite them before they get scared  *lol*

I will watch Rosemary's Baby again in a year or so to see how I go.  I haven't really seen many older horror movies.  I think the oldest one I've seen was The Omen and then the next one with Sam Neill in it.  They were pretty good from what I remember.  But that was quite a while ago.

I'm not really a fan of Asian movies generally.  But I did enjoy The Host quite a bit.  And I saw a Godzilla movie where there were two American kids and their dad in it.  I think the Japanese parts were dubbed into English.  I guess that's not really horror, but I enjoyed that as well.

The oldest you've ever seen was the OMEN?
Noone of the early Universal Monster films? Or Val Lewton's RKO pictures of the 40's? No Lon Chaney Sr or Jr.? No Lugosi,Karloff, Lorre or Price?
None of the British Hammer Studio's pictures?
No PSYCHO? the original the HAUNTING? The BIRDS? No BLACK SUNDAY?!?!
No DEEP RED or the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE? NO NIGHT OF THE KIVING DEAD?!!?
I...I feel faint....
Wow...I envy you! You've got a LOT of GREAT viewing pleasure to look forward to! 
Me...I have to dig through obscure garbage to even find ONE gleaming nugget of GOOD horror...
But...I've developed a taste for insanely, BAD movies...so it's not so bad...!

[peter johnson]

One of the most difficult things to do is to suspend disbelief enough to allow the conventions of the age to work their magic --
Like learning about fine wine, gourmet cooking, archaeology, or anything else, it takes some focus and concentration.  You have to train yourself.
If you're experiencing cultural difficulty with "Rosemary's Baby", then you may not be able to appreciate such wonderful things like "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"(1919), or silent horror or black-and-white horror in general.
RC Merchant mentions Val Lewton.  Try picking up "Curse of The Cat People" or "The Body Snatchers" & watch them several times in a row.  Let the conventions of old-style acting & storytelling just sort of wash over you.  In time, you'll come to appreciate the beauty of the whirling chains on the car tire being heard as the approach of the Headless Horseman.
peter johnson/denny living in the past . . .

[The Burgomaster]

Try picking up "Curse of The Cat People" or "The Body Snatchers" & watch them several times in a row.  Let the conventions of old-style acting & storytelling just sort of wash over you. 

Yes.  I HIGHLY recommend the Val Lewton boxed set. 

[316zombie]

really,you should definitely check out so many older films..geez,i wish i was you!there are so many amazing movies you haven't seen,in all genres..night of the hunter,you HAVE to see that,totally paranoid!!do you like anthology movies,like creepshow?there are SO many great anthologies out there,especially from the 60's and 70's...as to asian movies,have you seen ringu/it's the japanese original for the ring?WAY scarier than the u.s,version...geez,i REALLY wish i was you!

[akiratubo]

I've not got the boxed set, but some of Val Lewton's movies are worth watching.

The Body Snatcher is pretty good.  It's not even a little bit scary but Boris Karloff gives the best performance of his career in it.  Bela Lugosi is good in his scenes with Karloff, as well.  Curse of the Cat People is all right, if you don't really expect a "horror" movie.  Isle of the Dead is a horrible bomb, though.  I didn't care for Bedlam.  It just wasn't scary or ... anything.

Those are the Lewton movies I've seen.

[RCMerchant]

Another Lewton movie is the CAT PEOPLE,which CURSE of the CAT PEOPLE was a quasi-sequel. Simone Simon plays a woman who...when sexually aroused, turns into a black panther (..or does she?) highly atmospheric and well done!

[Torgo]

Which one do you all think is the better and more effective film? Repulsion or Rosemary's Baby?

I've always leaned a bit more towards Repulsion but they're both still classic films.

[Mortal Envelope]

After reading this thread I got interested enough to check out youtube for the original trailer.  I'm too lazy to post the link but someone re-edited their own trailer for this movie presenting it as a chick flick to the theme of one of Enya's songs -absolutely hilarious.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Satanism wasn't dealt with in films...at least in mainstream films...seriously by major studios,up untill that time. You would have cheezy horror fliks (HORROR HOTEL, and the like),but a major film,with big name actors...dealing with satanism,rape,etc...that was quite conterversial back in the 60's.

I suppose it depends upon how you define "mainstream," and it may not have been obvious, but "The Masque of the Red Death" (1964), "The Seventh Victim" (1943), and "The Black Cat" (1934) all dealt with the subjects of Devil worship and Satanims before "Rosemary's Baby."

And I hold "Rosemary's Baby" to be one of the greatest horror films ever made.