Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Directed by Roman Polanski. Starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavettes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Angela Dorian, Elisha Cook Jr., Charles Grodin, Hope Summers, Patsy Kelly. [R]

Brooding, subtly creepy occult horror film, Polanski’s first in the U.S., based off the Ira Levin bestseller. Farrow is superb as the fragile wife of a struggling actor (Cassavettes) who becomes pregnant shortly after moving into a NYC apartment, her neighbors a bizarre cult of Satanists who become very interested in her life (and the life growing inside her belly). Playing on the suspicious vulnerabilities of pregnancy and teasing uncomfortable laughs out of unlikely places (Oscar winner Gordon can be a hoot), Polanski’s expert control is reduced to mirage sometimes as the uneasy mood almost discombobulates the clammy urban nightmare aspects—can we take any of it seriously? Turns out we can, though the ghoulish revelations are less truly horrifying than tongue-in-cheek (that bassinet belongs in the funny pages, possibly under the heading “The Addams Family”), but it skirts the edges of spellbinding almost the whole way. Second entry in Polanski’s “Apartment Trilogy” (preceded by Repulsion, followed by The Tenant). Listen for Tony Curtis’ voice on a telephone call.

89/100