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 s“P – Q – R”, and I have three great films to share, beginning with this thrill ride!
“Poltergeist!”
This 1982 film looks like a Steven Spielberg horror classic, but he actually just produced it – it was directed by Tobe Hooper!
A family’s home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a doorway to the “other side.” With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.
JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are the parents who must bring in paranormal specialist when their youngest daughter, Carol Anne begins to communicate with spirits through the television static – and is pulled into another dimension via her bedroom closet!
Here is the trailer:
This is a classic horror film: a great story, lots of good scares, and an “A” list cast helping to ground it in reality!
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!
I am sharing 26 films this month to celebrate Shocktober, and it all started here:
Carrie sure knows how to “light up” a party!
See who joined her on my first list of Shocktober here:
And here’s the most recent as well:
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Categories: Cult Movies, Exploitation films, Film Fight Club, Great Films, Halloween, Horror films, Movies, Pop Culture
While I’m not a fan of horror, Rosemary’s Baby was one of the best movies. I saw it at the drive-in with friends. Actually the book is far better, highly recommended. Thanks, John.
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Thanks for that!
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You’re welcome!
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I remember feeling decidedly edgy when watching Rosemary’s Baby as a teenager.
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Steve, the building used in the film is about 9 blocks away from where I live in New York – I’m going to do a story on it because it has a very dark past! Thanks of your note!
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Sounds interesting!
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These are all to scary for me. I know of The poltergeist and Rosemary’s Baby but … to scary 🎃
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Q The Winged Serpent was one of those films I expected to be awful but fun. Turned out it was great! I preferred the book of Rosemary’s Baby to the film. I thought Farrow was miscast, and the ending was funny rather than scary. Shared on Twitter, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
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The only one that I saw was ‘Wives’….the rest were never on my radar….Excellent post…..chuq
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i really loved rosemary’s baby and i’m a huge fan of psychological thrillers
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I like much of the same music as you, but we vary quite a bit when it comes to horror movies. It’s a fine line between suspense and feeling scared. I probably haven’t watched a horror film in 20 years.
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Robert O. Ragland did the music for Q: The Winged Serpent. He also did the music for Ten to Midnight with Charles Bronson! Great picks, John!
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