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‘Rosemary’s Baby’ is horribly frightening: 1968 review(released 50 years ago, this summer)
New York Daily News ^ | 6/11/2015 | Kathleen Carroll

Posted on 03/07/2018 11:12:12 AM PST by simpson96

Right to its bitter end, there is no escaping “Rosemary’s Baby.” On film Ira Levin’s best selling novel is as horribly frightening as it was on paper. Few people could put Levin’s book down. By the same token, viewers of the movie at the Criterion and Loew’s Tower East Theatres will find themselves compelled to see it through. It is that tantalizing a shocker.

The subject matter is peculiarly repugnant. It is witchcraft, not as practiced in Salem or the like, but as taken seriously in our very own city.

The setting is an apartment house modeled after those venerable Gothic caverns on the West Side. The building’s blackened, menacing hallways with their incredibly high ceilings set-off the innocent glow of the young heroine who lives in this gloomy setting with her bridegroom.

Knowing the story from the book killed a little of the suspense for me since director Roman Polanski follows it relentlessly. Therefore, I will tell nothing of the plot. What makes this film worthy of attention, no matter how one reacts to Polanski’s exacting inclusion of Rosemary’s erotic dreams and the sickening triumph of evil in the end, is, surprisingly, Mia Farrow.

Miss Farrow’s special magic is her fragility. She reminds one of a fawn in captivity. What she does so remarkably well is draw sympathy to Rosemary who is herself a captive fawn, a totally helpless heroine surrounded by evil on all sides with now way out. Everyone in the audience will want desperately to help her.

(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: anniversary; hollywood; moviereview; polanski; witchcraft; wob
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To: nopardons

So... are you trying to beat my score?


61 posted on 03/07/2018 2:55:13 PM PST by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: simpson96

I have it on DVD and about every 6 months I’ll watch it...

Scares the bejesus out of me!

Almost as bad as the big E...


62 posted on 03/07/2018 3:01:56 PM PST by djf ("She wore a raspberry beret, the kind you find in a second hand store..." - Prince)
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To: WayneS

You haven’t missed much. I’ve tried to watch it a few times because of all the hype and was totally bored so changed the channel.


63 posted on 03/07/2018 3:06:22 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: MayflowerMadam

I saw The Exorcist with a bunch of college girls. We laughed all the way through.


64 posted on 03/07/2018 3:08:15 PM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: miss marmelstein
Yes, yes, I know...dear Maurice Evans, a "witch"! ROTFLMSO

It's a good movie ( except Farrow is miscast! ), and Ruth Gordon is spectacular in that movie, as she is in almost every film she ever made.

But the book is much better!

Yes, NYC has a "starring role" and rewatching it now, is like having a time machine, in a way. If I had a dollar, for every time I was in each of those places, for just the year that that story took place.....;^)

How can you go wrong with Patsy Kelly too? That whole coven was composed of wonderful actors and actresses!

Mia got her hair cut ( which caused one hellacious fight between her and Frank! ) a la Twiggy, during the filming of the movie.

65 posted on 03/07/2018 3:10:01 PM PST by nopardons
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To: \/\/ayne

My posts, unlike yours, are filled with facts and never stupid, uneducated, nor ridiculous.


66 posted on 03/07/2018 3:11:20 PM PST by nopardons
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To: bgill
Good for you!

Personally, I've never found that movie nor Rosemary's Baby scary, frightening, nor scary either.

OTOH....the shower scene in "PSYCHO"...

67 posted on 03/07/2018 3:14:16 PM PST by nopardons
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To: nopardons

And full of kindness, to boot.


68 posted on 03/07/2018 4:01:18 PM PST by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: \/\/ayne

Oh grow up.


69 posted on 03/07/2018 4:03:42 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Kazan
She ate the mouse, didn't she?

SHE'S IN DUBROVNIK.
70 posted on 03/07/2018 5:01:57 PM PST by golux
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To: \/\/ayne; nopardons


I hope your ridiculous argument was kind of fun...

John_Cassavetes_Rosemary_s_Baby

In a necrophile sort of way.


71 posted on 03/07/2018 5:16:16 PM PST by golux
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To: Dagnabitt

A spirit is an invisible being. We have a body, mind, and spirit. That’s the part of us that will live forever, either in heaven or in hell. Those who believe Jesus is the Christ are filled with the Holy Spirit. He is our Counselor and our Guide. Demons are evil spirits that can enter people as well. They come in when people sin. Constant deliberate sin can cause legions of demons to dwell in people. JESUS is over all names. Demons are cast out of people in His name.


72 posted on 03/07/2018 9:24:20 PM PST by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose GOD is the LORD. Psalm 33:12)
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To: stars & stripes forever

What sin did the baby commit?


73 posted on 03/07/2018 10:27:08 PM PST by Dagnabitt (Point at the Q-Tards and Laugh!)
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To: nopardons
Wait. You NEVER make stupid, uneducated or ridiculous posts?

What fun is that?

I thought posting stupid, uneducated, ridiculous and juvenile statements was at least half the reason for participating in the FR Forums...

74 posted on 03/08/2018 4:53:12 AM PST by WayneS (An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill.)
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To: dainbramaged

Best thing about it was the Krzysztof Komeda soundtrack.

Komeda is a legend in Poland, sadly he died in a car accident not long after the movie.

His album “Astigmatic” is a classic of Avant Garde Jazz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9KM_KJKPMo


75 posted on 03/08/2018 1:04:03 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: stars & stripes forever
via a mother who opened herself up to the occult.

So by watching "Rosemary's Baby" she had "opened herself up" to the occult? And your minister friend had to exorcise the baby because her mom watched a movie? I find your anecdote implausible.
76 posted on 03/08/2018 1:18:52 PM PST by LanaTurnerOverdrive ("I've done things in my life I'm not proud of. And the things I am proud of are disgusting.")
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