Rosemary's Baby (1968) ****

I must be the last person in the Free World to see this movie. Somehow, even after catching up on other classic horror films, like “The Omen” and “The Exorcist,” I had managed to skip this one. I'm glad I finally corrected that.

Mia Farrow plays Rosemary, who moves into a New York apartment with her struggling-actor husband, Guy. Like all old buildings, the place has its quirks, including being able to clearly hear the elderly couple next door through the bedroom wall. The sounds are mostly just bickering over silly things, but occasionally Rosemary and Guy seem to hear what sounds like chanting and music through the wall. More intriguing are the stories their old friend, Hutch, tells them about the building's history, including tales of murder, cannibalism, and witchcraft.

Meanwhile, Guy really hits it off with the elderly neighbors. Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and Roman seem harmless enough, but Minnie is very nosy, constantly swinging over to visit. It's unclear why Guy likes them so much, but he is also distracted around that time by his acting career, which really starts taking off. Rosemary's loneliness is briefly mitigated by becoming pregnant, but she has growing feelings of unease about her neighbors, their friends, and even Guy, eventually coming to believe that they are all witches, who are grooming her to steal her baby. As she becomes increasingly unhinged, we have to figure out whether the threat is real, or she is just losing her mind.

Adapted by Roman Polanski from Ira Levin's novel, “Rosemary's Baby” is a classic of psychological horror. The film is terrifying without ever showing us a single be-heading or stabbing. It's all about what is going on in the characters' minds. What struck me most about the film is the banality of the horrors: an inattentive husband, a dismissive doctor, nosy neighbors, and feelings during pregnancy of isolation and losing control. These will be familiar to many women. For Rosemary, having a baby is a dream that turns into a nightmare, but let's face it, it's no picnic for any woman.

4 stars out of 5