Hey! Who Has Satan’s Coven As Neighbors?
I ask for a reason: I am once again taking part in a blogathon, this one all about “neighbors” in film – bravo to “The Midnight Drive-In” and “Taking Up Room” for hosting, and back to my question:
C’mon, these nice people can’t be part of Satan’s coven…can they?
Well, time to head back to 1968, when young couple Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes move into a new building in New York City and are welcomed by their neighbors, Ruth Gordon and a dapper bow-tied Sidney Blackmer…
My contribution to the “neighbors” theme is Director Roman Polanski’s horror masterpiece, “Rosemary’s Baby”:
Rosemary’s Baby!
This CLASSIC horror film had the tag line: “Pray For Rosemary’s Baby…” check out the trailer, which sets up the premise of this shocker well:
Mia Farrow is Rosemary, and John Cassavetes is her husband Guy Woodhouse – they move into an apartment in a building with a bad reputation. Their neighbors are a very friendly elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet…yes, VERY FRIENDLY, and Guy begins to spend a lot of time with them.
Strange things start to happen: a woman Rosemary meets in the laundry dies a mysterious death, Rosemary has strange dreams and hears strange noises and Guy becomes remote and distant. And of course, there is that horrifying dream about lovemaking she can’t shake…
You see, in that dream it’s not her husband she is with, but someone – something -else…
Then Rosemary gets pregnant and begins to suspect that her neighbors have special plans for her child. Oh, she also has the WORST pregnancy of all time – beginning when she wakes up the morning of that horrible “dream” covered in claw marks!
Director Roman Polanski uses the city of New York as a character – every building looks evil, and the city in a sense swallows Farrow up and is part of the conspiracy against her…
When Farrow was reluctant to film a scene that depicted a dazed and preoccupied Rosemary wandering into the middle of a Manhattan street into oncoming traffic, Polanski pointed to her pregnancy padding and reassured her, “no one’s going to hit a pregnant woman”. The scene was successfully shot with Farrow walking into real traffic and Polanski following, operating the hand-held camera since he was the only one willing to do it!
Cue Evil Frank Sinatra!
It was on the set of this film that Mia Farrow received divorce papers from then-husband Frank Sinatra. He was angry that filming was taking too long and demanded she quit the film. When she didn’t, he divorced her!
Ruth Gordon won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work as Minnie Castevet, the elderly neighbor, who had these chilling words for Rosemary:
“He chose you, honey! From all the women in the world to be the mother of his only living son!”
And as Roman Castevet, one of the “friends” says:
To 1966! The year one!
No matter what Rosemary tries to do, EVERYONE and EVERYTHING is against her…oh, and meanwhile her husband is suddenly getting lots of work, and career flourishing! Hmmmm…..
This movie builds to a shocking climax, after Rosemary gives an excruciatingly painful childbirth and knows that something is wrong – very wrong, with her newborn baby…
Rosemary Woodhouse: What have you done to him? What have you done to his eyes, you maniacs!
Roman Castevet: He has his father’s eyes.
Well, there you go, once again a “neighbor” has the best line!
“Rosemary’s Baby” is a classic horror film – the entire cast is incredible, and it’s a masterpiece of tension, suspense and building horror, and of course, terrific “neighbors!”
I recently did another blog as well, and this 70’s film fit the bill:
It was all about films and TV shows with “names in the title” and check out the double bill I shared here:
Thanks to these great bloggers for putting this “neighbors” blogathon on – here are links to their sites:
http://midnitedrive-in.blogspot.com
and here as well…
For the “name in the title” effort, I also had another favorite film to include as well:
This film is one of my favorites of all time – look at that cast!
See more about it here:
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johnrieber 
This movie is infamous, of course, but your review has made me curious–it might be a really good one to see! Thanks for joining the blogathon, John! Looking forward to what you write for the next one. 🙂
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If you haven’t seen “Rosemary’s Baby”, it truly is quite a cinematic thrill ride – but a slow. mild that makes the payoff even better!
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Always loved this movie, particularly how the cultists are presented as both sinister and comic.
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Yes, they were characters…real in the everyday way and that made their “banality of evil” even more chilling…thanks for commenting, just subscribed to your blog and look forward to reading your stories!
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Thank you!
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Such a great movie!
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one of the most terrifying films I have ever seen
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John, I had read the book, so the ‘shock ending’ was pointless to me when I went to see the film at the cinema. I thought Mia Farrow was woefully miscast in the lead as Rosemary, but everyone else was perfect!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Weirdly she was the most compelling character to me, perhaps because she seemed out out of her league that I bought her fragility! Method acting!
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Having read the book, she was nothing like I had pictured her in my mind. That can often happen with film adaptations though.
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Indeed!
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It almost, just almost,, want to watch Rosemary’s Baby again.
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I plan to do so!
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Hi there, you sent me the link for this post. It’s not my blogathon but Taking Up Room and The Midnite Drive ins.
Read this post anyway and really loved seeing your thoughts on this movie. It’s the perfect post for the blogathon. Still to see the sequel to it…but saw this again recently. It’s so good and Ruth Gordon is terrifying..
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Sorry I got you switched up with your last blogging partner! Sorry!
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No worries, good to read your post before the rush…
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