36 Days of Halloween Bonus - 1968: Rosemary's Baby

A young couple move into a new home with a bad reputation. When Rosemary discovers she is pregnant with their first child, she is elated. Her joy soon turns to anxiety when the pregnancy proves to be difficult and she begins to suspect her neighbors have more than a normal interest in her child. This was the first time I'd ever seen this film, and for 95% of it, I was thoroughly on board. I was practically glued to the edge of my seat. The too-kind neighbors; the slightly jerky, bit self abosorbed husband; the difficult pregnancy: all of it is handled with such skill. Polanski crafts a deeply disturbing and heartbreaking tale. Your heart breaks for Rosemary and the isolation and pain she's clearly going through, but Polanski keeps all of it just vague enough that you're never quite sure if they really are out to get her, or if she's seeing things that aren't there. You want her to get away from them, not because they're clearly evil, but because the situation is unhealthy for her. But then he ruins the whole thing by making it ten/fifteen minutes too long. What was a tremendously tense and riveting film turns into a farce the exact moment Rosemary walks into the Satanist Party Monthly Meeting. It would have been so much better to leave a little to viewer. Perhaps end the film while Rosemary is recovering, after her jerk of a husband suggests they try again and is talking about his career instead of caring for his nearly catatonic wife. She's staring vacantly at the wall. She turns her head slightly, and we hear just the faintest baby's wail coming from the other side of the wall. Bam, done. Was it in her head? Was it a kidnapping? Were there witches after all? Who knows? Instead it's "HAIL SATAN!" and a demon baby? Ugh.So, five out of five tannis root shakes for the first two hours; Rosemary dumping them down the drain in disgust for the last fifteen minutes.