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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
very slow in the beginning. it picks up in the second half. very very strange.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
the rape scene was so unnecessary and hated the lack of resolution at the end
I have never seen the film and only recently learned it was a movie, so of *course* I had to read the book first. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Maybe a little predictable? I made some pretty accurate guesses about what was going on, but I definitely didn't guess the ending. Overall, this was an enjoyable reading experience. I'm looking forward to watching the move this Halloween!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update 9/2/22-9/3/22: Well I watched the movie and I kinda liked it more than the book?! The movie is scene-for-scene, surprisingly. I loved the actress who played Mini Castevet, she really made the film! I loved all her outfits. She was perfection. I didn't picture her with that New York accent, but it really made her character. With all that said, I will probably never re-read this book nor re-watch the movie. One of those "one and done" stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Update 9/2/22-9/3/22: Well I watched the movie and I kinda liked it more than the book?! The movie is scene-for-scene, surprisingly. I loved the actress who played Mini Castevet, she really made the film! I loved all her outfits. She was perfection. I didn't picture her with that New York accent, but it really made her character. With all that said, I will probably never re-read this book nor re-watch the movie. One of those "one and done" stories.
“He has his father’s eyes.”
Rosemary’s Baby is iconic. That word gets thrown around a lot but this story truly is infamous. My fascination with this story had less to do with the book itself and more so the aspects surrounding the film. I remember being intrigued by the scene in Rosemary’s Baby (1968) where Rosemary walks into traffic and learning it was spontaneous and genuine. Director Roman Polanski had told Mia Farrow that “nobody will hit a pregnant woman”. Farrow walked into real traffic and Polanski operated the hand-held camera. Rosemary’s Baby was a hit novel that became an iconic film, only to bring woe to nearly everyone who made it. According to half a century of pop-culture lore, the film is also cursed. Polanski had relocated to California alongside his new girlfriend, actress Sharon Tate, who was fresh off her first movie role as a witch in Eye of the Devil, just before filming began. She had gunned hard for the lead role in Rosemary’s Baby, but Paramount cast Mia Farrow. Tate instead loitered around the set, appearing uncredited like a ghost in the background of Rosemary’s party scene and, some say, becoming increasingly obsessed with the occult. Many years later, a friend quoted her in print as having said, “the devil is beautiful. Most people think he’s ugly, but he’s not.”. Polanski last saw Tate, by then his wife and very pregnant, in July 1969, noting in his autobiography a “grotesque thought” he had at the time: “You will never see her again,” he wrote. Tate was brutally murdered on August 8 by the Manson Family, as was their unborn son, all while Rosemary’s Baby still lingered in theaters. Unable to make sense of such a tragedy, and captivated by the stories of the Manson Family, the public took to Satan and curses as the only explanation. Internet fanatics say, like Guy Woodhouse, Polanski made his young wife a blood sacrifice for his still-untouchable status in Hollywood and beyond. Others maintain the Manson murders were a mere moment in a grand Satanic conspiracy scored by the Beatles. The White Album was written largely at an Indian meditation (with Mia Farrow in attendance). The song title “Helter Skelter,” albeit misspelled, was scrawled in blood at the crime scene. And, a dozen years later, Lennon was assassinated across the street from the Dakota, the landmark where Rosemary’s Baby was filmed.
The author never found other success after the novel, and often spoke about how he wasn’t proud of his legacy and how the film fostered irrationality and added fuel to the flames of the Satanic Panic. The historical impact of this book intimidated me and put me off reading it for a long time. The book and movie popularized the exclamation “Hail Satan” and started the common conception that stereotypical Satanists exclaim and invoke this chant, which is strange to think about. The book itself is a product of its time and it was interesting reading a story that was such a time capsule of the era it was written in. Rosemary’s kindness and the mundanity of her life with Guy really makes the reader care for the characters, and it only increases the suspense for when things really start to kick off and we get into the meat of the story. Rosemary’s slow descent into conspiracy and madness was done so well. I loved recognizing so many elements from this story that went on to inspire horror stories for years to this day. In a lot of classic (and sometimes contemporary) horror fiction, the protagonist is an idiot. This isn’t the case here. Rosemary does everything right, she takes all the precautions, she actively thinks about the situations she finds herself in, she’s self-aware, she’s smart… and she still ends up getting inescapably tangled up in the machinations of the people around her. It makes the horror even more sinister, because when you do all the right things and the horror still catches up with you, where can you go from there? Rosemary is living in the sixties, she comes from a devout Catholic family, and is married to an older man with a severe ego problem, so maybe she isn’t the fiery “strong female” a modern reader might be looking for, but her quiet intelligence is a much more accurate result of her environment. For a book published in 1967, written by a male author, there is a surprisingly amount of sensitivity and nuance in the way Rosemary’s relationship with her husband is handled. Levin doesn’t use modern terms like marital rape and gaslighting, but it’s very clear that that’s what he’s talking about. Although technically this is a book about Satan and devil worship, there is so much in the story about humans and human relationships, which is why it works so well. I do think that the ending of the movie executes a better atmosphere than the book, and I much preferred the movie’s choice to never show the baby. While the ending of the book was less effective for me, I still enjoyed it. This story was simple yet brilliant, and it retained my attention from start to finish. I highly recommend this horror classic to anyone intrigued by the premise or the history surrounding the novel.
Rosemary’s Baby is iconic. That word gets thrown around a lot but this story truly is infamous. My fascination with this story had less to do with the book itself and more so the aspects surrounding the film. I remember being intrigued by the scene in Rosemary’s Baby (1968) where Rosemary walks into traffic and learning it was spontaneous and genuine. Director Roman Polanski had told Mia Farrow that “nobody will hit a pregnant woman”. Farrow walked into real traffic and Polanski operated the hand-held camera. Rosemary’s Baby was a hit novel that became an iconic film, only to bring woe to nearly everyone who made it. According to half a century of pop-culture lore, the film is also cursed. Polanski had relocated to California alongside his new girlfriend, actress Sharon Tate, who was fresh off her first movie role as a witch in Eye of the Devil, just before filming began. She had gunned hard for the lead role in Rosemary’s Baby, but Paramount cast Mia Farrow. Tate instead loitered around the set, appearing uncredited like a ghost in the background of Rosemary’s party scene and, some say, becoming increasingly obsessed with the occult. Many years later, a friend quoted her in print as having said, “the devil is beautiful. Most people think he’s ugly, but he’s not.”. Polanski last saw Tate, by then his wife and very pregnant, in July 1969, noting in his autobiography a “grotesque thought” he had at the time: “You will never see her again,” he wrote. Tate was brutally murdered on August 8 by the Manson Family, as was their unborn son, all while Rosemary’s Baby still lingered in theaters. Unable to make sense of such a tragedy, and captivated by the stories of the Manson Family, the public took to Satan and curses as the only explanation. Internet fanatics say, like Guy Woodhouse, Polanski made his young wife a blood sacrifice for his still-untouchable status in Hollywood and beyond. Others maintain the Manson murders were a mere moment in a grand Satanic conspiracy scored by the Beatles. The White Album was written largely at an Indian meditation (with Mia Farrow in attendance). The song title “Helter Skelter,” albeit misspelled, was scrawled in blood at the crime scene. And, a dozen years later, Lennon was assassinated across the street from the Dakota, the landmark where Rosemary’s Baby was filmed.
The author never found other success after the novel, and often spoke about how he wasn’t proud of his legacy and how the film fostered irrationality and added fuel to the flames of the Satanic Panic. The historical impact of this book intimidated me and put me off reading it for a long time. The book and movie popularized the exclamation “Hail Satan” and started the common conception that stereotypical Satanists exclaim and invoke this chant, which is strange to think about. The book itself is a product of its time and it was interesting reading a story that was such a time capsule of the era it was written in. Rosemary’s kindness and the mundanity of her life with Guy really makes the reader care for the characters, and it only increases the suspense for when things really start to kick off and we get into the meat of the story. Rosemary’s slow descent into conspiracy and madness was done so well. I loved recognizing so many elements from this story that went on to inspire horror stories for years to this day. In a lot of classic (and sometimes contemporary) horror fiction, the protagonist is an idiot. This isn’t the case here. Rosemary does everything right, she takes all the precautions, she actively thinks about the situations she finds herself in, she’s self-aware, she’s smart… and she still ends up getting inescapably tangled up in the machinations of the people around her. It makes the horror even more sinister, because when you do all the right things and the horror still catches up with you, where can you go from there? Rosemary is living in the sixties, she comes from a devout Catholic family, and is married to an older man with a severe ego problem, so maybe she isn’t the fiery “strong female” a modern reader might be looking for, but her quiet intelligence is a much more accurate result of her environment. For a book published in 1967, written by a male author, there is a surprisingly amount of sensitivity and nuance in the way Rosemary’s relationship with her husband is handled. Levin doesn’t use modern terms like marital rape and gaslighting, but it’s very clear that that’s what he’s talking about. Although technically this is a book about Satan and devil worship, there is so much in the story about humans and human relationships, which is why it works so well. I do think that the ending of the movie executes a better atmosphere than the book, and I much preferred the movie’s choice to never show the baby. While the ending of the book was less effective for me, I still enjoyed it. This story was simple yet brilliant, and it retained my attention from start to finish. I highly recommend this horror classic to anyone intrigued by the premise or the history surrounding the novel.
dark
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
All was well until the ending like what the hell was that it was incredibly unsatisfying