Wait….WHAT Is Rosemary Looking At?!?!?!
Well, whatever it is, Mia Farrow isn’t happy about it! Oh, and what if you looked up one day and saw this?
Yes, it’s “Shocktober” and time to share more scary movies for the season!
My “Horror A – Z” series lands on the letter “P – Q – R”, and I have three great films to share!
Let’s begin with a sci-fi horror film that has one of the most shocking twists in film history!
Take a moment to read this poster, because this was the first and greatest in a series of wildly entertaining “ape” films!
10 – “Planet Of The Apes” – 1968
What a classic! And hilariously, the poster called it “an unusual and important motion picture!” Well, it’s so much more than that!
The plot is straightforward: Charlton Heston and two fellow Astronauts crash land on another planet – a “planet of the apes!”
Here is the trailer:
This is one of the greatest science fiction films of all time – and of course, the single greatest “twist” ending of all time as well – written by “Twilight Zone’s” Rod Serling!
Charlton Heston had a “perfect storm” of sci-fi movies – 3 classic ones over 5 years, including the movie that inspired Green Day to name their band! See that story here:
My good friend Pete has a great blog “Beetleypete.com”, and he reminds me that indeed, this is more of a science fiction film than horror – but I include it because it has horror elements as well.
Time now to discuss a good, old-fashioned horror movie with a killer creature, in this case, a “winged serpent!”
“Q: The Winged Serpent”
This is the poster for the 1982 science fiction classic “Q The Winged Serpent.” It’s a terrific monster movie – a “winged serpent” terrorizes a very “early 80’s” New York City….check out the trailer:
Here’s the plot: two NYPD detectives are trying to solve a ritualistic murder in the city. At the same time, a giant creature is killing people, and the only one who knows where the creature is just happens to be a petty crook who doesn’t want to tell the cops!
The film was directed with relish by Larry Cohen, who was a legendary “down and dirty” filmmaker – no muss, no fuss, he just made his wildly entertaining films in a straightforward manner – many times with very low budgets and no official permits to film!
Cohen died a few years ago, but there is a GREAT documentary about his life and films, see the trailer and more details about his wild career here:
Now, onto the letter “R”: which is one of the greatest horror films of all time – time to meet “Rosemary’s Baby!”
Rosemary’s Baby!
This CLASSIC horror film offers up the tag line:
“Pray For Rosemary’s Baby…”
What a great tease! I can watch this over and over, because it is so well made, so intense, that it never fails to deliver the goods!
First, check out the trailer:
The plot is simple:
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…
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!
Roman Polanski’s City Horror!
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!
Of course, the suspense and shocks continue to build until the film reaches a shocking conclusion:
This is a beautiful made film: incredible performances that are so rooted in realism that you go along with the outrageous conclusion…oh, and it was from a novel by Ira Levin, who also wrote this classic horror/sci-fi film:
Yes, Levin also wrote the novel for “The Stepford Wives”, a great film from 1975…see the trailer and much more about this terrific film here:
I’ve been spending the month of October focused on “Horror A – Z”, which you can always find by going to my main page and hitting the “movies” category…if you missed my last one, here’s the “M – N – O” of horror!
And before that, I shared my “J – K – L” list, which was very watery:
This is a great moment from a really terrific shocker…see what it is here!
I love revisiting great horror films with terrific characters like Pennywise:
Oh yes, Pennywise is very scary, and I’ve got some haunted houses for you as well – see them all here!
My “D – E – F” list included what is my favorite shocker of all time:
I mean, need I say more?
See all three great horror film on my list here:
It all started with this – one of cinema’s most shocking and unexpected moments:
Surprise!
See what joined “Alien” on my “A – B – C” list here!
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Categories: 70's Cinema, Action Films, Cult Movies, Exploitation films, Film Fight Club, Great Films, Halloween, Horror films, Movies, New York, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities
johnrieber 
Rosemary’s Baby was one of the greatest horror films; a testament to Polanski. Blood doesn’t always make a good horror movie. Great picks here, John.
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Hating anything ‘horror’ as much as I do, there is a memory of both ‘Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ there . . . methinks husband darling and I walked out of the latter and went for a long, long dinner instead 🙂 ! To each their own . . . right 🙂 ?
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Yep, this is the month of “all things horror” then life goes back to normal!
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John, I’m so glad that you featured ‘Q The Winged Serpent’. I remember watching that and expecting nothing from it. Then realising it was great! I thought Mia Farrow was terribly mis-cast in ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, and still do. (But I honestly never rated her as an actress to start with)
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, I loved Mia in it, but you apparently felt the same way Frank Sinatra did! Cheers to a great weekend and glad you enjoyed the “Q” inclusion!
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