Rosemary's BabyRosemary’s Baby
Director: Roman Polanski

Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon
Review by Brian M. Sammons

This is Rosemary’s Baby new on Blu-ray from Criterion Collection. If you want to save time, here’s my three second synopsis: It’s Rosemary’s Baby new on Blu-ray from Criterion Collection. GET IT! Now if you need more than that to make up your mind then keep on reading, but really, why would you? Rosemary’s Baby is an undeniable horror masterpiece, one of the greatest Satanic Panic films ever made. Blu-ray is THE format to have if you’re serious about movies. Sorry you old DVD diehards, but that’s the truth. Then there is The Criterion Collection, a company known first and foremost for quality. So have you heard of things that sell themselves? Yeah, this new Blu-ray is one of those.

But could it be possible that you’re one of them young’uns that has yet to see this movie? Well if so, here’s the 411 about it. Young Rosemary is married to a guy named … well, Guy … who’s a struggling actor and the pair move into an old but swanky New York apartment building. Soon they meet their neighbors, an eccentric group of nosy old folks who seem very interested in the young couple. But hey, wondering about odd old people can wait, Rosemary and Guy have babies to make. Yep, they want to start their family all of the sudden, even after Guy was always poo-pooing the idea. And wouldn’t you know it, but the creepy old neighbors think the idea of Rosemary getting preggers is a hell of an idea. Yes sir, a hell of an idea. Bwah hah hah hah!

OK, I’m being a bit silly but that’s only because this movie is such a classic that everyone knows the story. Heck, it’s right there in the title and if you ever saw a trailer for this movie, well they don’t exactly try to hide anything in it. So here’s the thing; Rosemary thinks all her neighbors are witches and that they have evil designs for her unborn child. Worse still, she soon comes to believe that her own husband is in on the Devilish plot. Worse than even that … well that I won’t say here just in case you haven’t seen this movie, or heard about it, or know the countless pop culture references to it that have appeared in movies, TV shows, cartoons, etc. Yeah I know that the chances of that are slim, but just in case, never let it be said that I’m a complete spoiler.

However, even if you know the famous story by heart, watching the movie is a whole other mater. It’s a master class on great filmmaking. It was director Roman Polanski’s first American film and there’s a reason why he is considered one of the great living directors, even if you find his legal troubles reprehensible. If all horror movies were made this good then our favorite genre would not be the red headed stepchild of cinema.

The new Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection, besides looking really good, has some nice extras on it like an almost 50 minute long documentary about the making of the movie with behind the scenes video bits and interviews from Mia Farrow, Roman Polanski, and producer/former studio head Robert Evans called “Remembering Rosemary’s Baby.” There’s a nineteen minute audio only interview with Ira Levin, the author of the original book, and radio personality Leonard Lopate. While visually boring as can be, this 1997 interview is really fun to listen to and is jam packed with info on the book, the movie, the author, the sequel book, Son of Rosemary, some of Mr. Levin’s other books, and more. Lastly there’s an over hour long Polish documentary on Krysztof Komeda, jazz musician and the composer for Rosemary’s Baby and several other Polanski pictures.

Look, its Rosemary’s Baby, which is not only a classic horror movie, but one hell of a well-made movie period. The film has never looked better than is does here and it needs to be in your library. You don’t want the other horrorheads to laugh at you for not having it, do you? No, I didn’t think so, so do yourself a favor and pick this up when it comes out just in time for Halloween, October 30th. You won’t be disappointed.

About Brian M. Sammons

Brian M. Sammons has penned stories that have appeared in the anthologies: Arkham Tales, Horrors Beyond, Monstrous, Dead but Dreaming 2, Horror for the Holidays, Deepest, Darkest Eden and others. He has edited the books; Cthulhu Unbound 3, Undead & Unbound, Eldritch Chrome, Edge of Sundown, Steampunk Cthulhu, Dark Rites of Cthulhu, Atomic Age Cthulhu, World War Cthulhu and Flesh Like Smoke. He is also the managing editor of Dark Regions Press’ Weird Fiction line. For more about this guy that neighbors describe as “such a nice, quiet man” you can check out his infrequently updated webpage here: http://brian_sammons.webs.com/ and follow him on Twitter @BrianMSammons.

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