Noah Thompson’s review published on Letterboxd:
He has his father's eyes.
Fun fact, I saw like a third or so of this back in I believe early 2014. Full admittance, I was forced to turn it off by my mom after that scene. You know the one. (This was right before I was trusted with free range to see whatever films I wanted to.) It just became one of those I thought I would get back to soon, and I just never did. Well, over five years later, here we are. Also worth noting this is my first Roman Polanski movie. Most everything that could be said about him has already been said, and that's its own can of worms to open beyond the movie on its own, so I'll avoid that conversation at least for now. As for Rosemary's Baby on its own, I liked it! Though I'll say I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, yet I can't pinpoint the exact reason why it didn't connect with me fully. There's plenty of good stuff here though. The opening credits with the lullaby effectively sent chills down my spine, Mia Farrow's performance was great, and I overall admired the very purposefully measured descent we go on with Rosemary throughout the feature. Whether it's more Polanski's writing or Farrow's acting that is the key is up to you, but I found Rosemary to be an especially compelling and sympathetic figure. Imagine you just want a cute little baby, and your John Cassavetes boyfriend and a bunch of satanists gotta come along and mess that up. The atmosphere is cold to the touch the whole time, and the slow build to that end makes any of the either slower or seemingly unnecessary moments relatively worth it. (Somewhat random, but the design of the crib at the end with the black cloth I absolutely adored.) Might need a second watch to either get into this more or better understand why I "like it" instead of "really like it", but I of course still recommend it on the basis of being one of those horror benchmarks. Hot take of the day I guess, when it comes to hellspawn kid movies, Rosemary's Baby < The Omen.
7.5/10
