So about one week ago, when I confessed my ignorance for most things horror, you fine folks suggested many titles for me to add to the syllabus. Interestingly, two titles came up more than any others: HALLOWEEN and ROSEMARY’S BABY. So I took the hint and grabbed them for some last bits of pre-move watching.

HALLOWEEN was exactly what I expected it to be (which is a good thing), but ROSEMARY’S BABY surprised me a great deal.

I knew the basic framework of the story, so coming in, I had certain preconceptions as to what I was about to see. What I got was far subtler, quieter, and a great deal more unnerving.

Perhaps I was thrown off by what I knew of the story, and what I expected to see. Knowing that the story was that of a Satan spawn, I expected the conception scene and birth scene that played like somebody’s nightmare. Instead, the conception scene is far more macabre and disturbingly subdued. Polanski was far more confident to let the twisted collection of characters speak for themselves…with a bit of disjointed photography thrown in.

Think a filmmaker today would take this sort of tack?

What’s more is that the truly twisted part of this story isn’t even the hellspawn itself; it’s the way everyone around young Miss Woodhouse seems to be dictating every last decision of her pregnancy. It seems like nowadays, everyone has advice for new mothers-to-be…but at least those mothers-to-be aren’t forced to take the advice. Rosemary of course isn’t so lucky.

Sure enough, they don’t make ’em like this anymore. ROSEMARY’S BABY grabbed me with with its haunting patience, and its sharp execution. Equally impressive is the fact that the film raked in $33M back in 1968 – which would put it upwards of $200M in today’s box office. That’d land it in the year’s top ten, flanked by KARATE KID and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.

Can you imagine that many people flocking to see this on a big screen nowadays?