30 in 30: A MONTH OF HORROR. ROSEMARY’S BABY
DAY 10
ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)
I’m not going to come here and lie to you; this is not a scare-fest, jump-filled, scream-party film you might be looking for to watch with your friends. This movie is a slow-burning drama about a woman that’s being lied and manipulated by the people around her, the people she trusts. But even though this is not the type of film that’s going to make you jump out of your seat every couple of minutes, it’s still a marvelous work of unforgettable terror.
I’m almost sure that everyone knows the story of ROSEMARY’S BABY, but if you haven’t, here’s a summary of the film:
Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband, move to a New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation of witchcraft and strange deaths, there they meet their odd but friendly neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet. After Rosemary becomes pregnant, she becomes increasingly isolated when every decision is systematically taken away from her and given to the odd neighbors and their friends by her husband. Soon, Rosemary will suspect something is wrong with the neighbors, and maybe even her husband.
Why is the 1968 classic horror tale so scary?
I think it might be because it deals with something that’s inherently frightful, a pregnancy. Bringing a life into this world is an important decision, the lives of the soon to be parents will forever change after the birth of the child, so it’s perfectly reasonable that a first-time pregnant couple could be preoccupied or afraid of the coming changes.
A mother wants everything to be right for her and her baby, but what if the people she’s entrusting her care are secretly trying to bring about the spawn of Satan through her? Well, then things might get a little strange.
The slow descent into paranoia that Rosemary experiences are a consequence of her loss of control. I imagine having something growing and moving inside your body can make you like you’ve lost authority over yourself, and this is echoed in the abusive relationship that slowly develops with her husband after the start of the pregnancy. He’s more and more controlling, and her power diminishes with each passing scene.
The energetic, healthy and colorful woman we met at the beginning of the film slowly turns into a ghoulish memory of what she used to be. Nightmares and incredible pains haunt her, but her Doctor and everyone around her keep telling her everything is fine.
ROSEMARY’S BABY is a nightmarish interpretation of what pregnancy can be like for a new mother. I wouldn’t recommend this film to any upcoming parents.
What I find most interesting about the film is the ending itself. Once the jig is up and Rosemary meets the covenant surrounding her baby, her instincts take over and, apparently, she decides to become the mother of the son of the Devil. This ending is unnerving to me because it tells me that she’s lost all control of herself, after the birth of her child her life is not only hers but also his. It doesn’t matter if the child is a monster, she will take care of it because it’s her child.
The tagline of this film couldn’t be more adequate:
Pray for Rosemary.
Tomorrow: CARRIE (1976)
Yesterday: IT (2017)
