Rosemary's Baby (film)
Encyclopedia
Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror film
written and directed by Roman Polanski
, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby
by Ira Levin
. The cast includes Mia Farrow
, John Cassavetes
, Ruth Gordon
, Maurice Evans
, Sidney Blackmer
, and Charles Grodin
.
Farrow plays a pregnant woman who fears that her husband may have made a pact with their eccentric neighbours, believing he may have promised them the child to be used as a human sacrifice in their occult rituals in exchange for success in his acting career.
The film was a massive commercial success, earning over $33 million in the US
on a modest budget of $2.3 million. It was met with near universal acclaim from film critics and earned numerous nominations and awards. The American Film Institute
ranked the film 9th in their 100 Years…100 Thrills list. The official tagline of the film is "Pray for Rosemary's Baby."
), a bright but somewhat naive young housewife, and Guy (John Cassavetes
), her husband and a struggling actor, move into the Bramford
, a Gothic 19th-century New York City apartment building. Their neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet (Ruth Gordon
and Sidney Blackmer
), are an elderly and slightly eccentric couple who tend to be meddlesome but appear to be harmless. Guy first loathes them but then becomes unusually close to the pair while Rosemary tries to maintain a distance from them.
Guy lands a role in a play when the actor who had been originally cast suddenly and inexplicably goes blind. Soon afterward, Guy suggests that he and Rosemary have the child they had planned. On the night they planned to try to conceive, Minnie brings them individual ramekins of chocolate mousse. Rosemary finds hers has a chalky under-taste and surreptitiously throws it away after a few mouthfuls. Shortly afterwards, she has a dizzy spell and passes out. Rosemary experiences what she perceives to be a strange dream in which there is a group of naked persons in their bedroom (the Castevets and other tenants of the Bramford) and then she is raped by a demonic presence. The dream is so vivid that she exclaims near the end, "This is no dream — this is really happening!" When she wakes, she finds scratches on her body, and her husband tells her that he had intercourse with her while she was unconscious because he didn't want to pass up the moment for her to conceive.
A few weeks later, Rosemary learns she is pregnant and is due on June 28, 1966 (6/66). She plans to receive obstetric care from Dr. Hill (Charles Grodin
), recommended to her by her friend Elise (Emmaline Henry
), but the Castevets insist she see their good friend, famed obstetrician Dr. Abraham Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy
).
For the first three months of her pregnancy, Rosemary suffers severe abdominal pains, loses weight, becomes unusually pale and craves raw meat and chicken liver. The doctor insists the pain will subside soon and assures her she has nothing to worry about. When her old friend Hutch (Maurice Evans
) sees Rosemary's gaunt appearance and hears that she is consuming the mysterious "tannis root" on a daily basis, he is disturbed enough to do some research.
On the day Hutch plans to share his findings with her, he mysteriously falls into a coma a few hours before their meeting, and dies three months later. After briefly regaining consciousness before his death, he has instructed the doctor to have a book about witchcraft, which he had left on his desk, be given to Rosemary. Grace Cardiff, a friend of his, decides to have the book delivered to Rosemary at Hutch's funeral along with the cryptic message: "the name is an anagram".
At the Castavets' New Year's Eve party, Roman raises an equally cryptic toast: "To 1966: the Year One." Rosemary sees that Hutch has marked photographs and passages in the book. Using the clue given to her in the cryptic message, Rosemary deduces that Roman Castevet is really Steven Marcato, the son of Adrian Marcato, a former resident of the Bramford who was accused of being a witch and of worshiping Satan, and was a martyr to the cause. Rosemary suspects her neighbors are part of a cult with sinister designs on her baby, and that Guy is cooperating with them in exchange for their help in advancing his career. She deduces that Dr. Sapirstein is also part of the conspiracy when his receptionist comments that the smell coming from a good luck charm given to Rosemary by the Castavets — which also contains tannis root, sometimes referred to as "Devil's Pepper" — reminds her of a fragrance often used by the doctor.
Rosemary becomes increasingly disturbed and shares her fears and suspicions with Dr. Hill, who, assuming she is delusional, calls Dr. Sapirstein and Guy. They tell her that if she cooperates, neither she nor the baby will be harmed. The two men bring Rosemary home, at which point she briefly escapes them by spilling the contents of her purse, then hijacking the elevator as they gather the contents from the floor. They pursue her to the apartment, where Rosemary locks the door. A few moments later, they enter the bedroom, having somehow gained access. Rosemary goes into labor and is sedated by Dr. Sapirstein. When she awakens, she is told the baby died; however, she hears an infant's cries somewhere in the building, and suspects he is still alive.
In the hall closet, Rosemary discovers a secret door leading into the Castevet apartment where the coven meets (and which explains how Guy and Dr. Sapirstein were able to enter the apartment after she chained the front door), and finds the congregation gathered around her newborn son. Seeing the disturbing appearance of her baby's eyes and demanding to know what had caused the deformity, Rosemary is then told that Guy is not the baby's father. The revelation that the baby, named Adrian, is actually the spawn of Satan horrifies Rosemary, who spits in Guy's face when he approaches her. Roman urges Rosemary to become a mother to her son, and tells her she does not have to join the coven if she does not want to. The film ends with her adjusting her son's blankets and gently rocking his cradle.
executive Robert Evans
, and production designer
Richard Sylbert
reminisce at length about the production. Evans recalled William Castle
brought him the galley proof
s of the book and asked him to purchase the film rights even before Random House
released the publication. The studio head recognized the commercial potential of the project and agreed with the stipulation that Castle, who had a reputation for low-budget horror film
s, could produce but not direct the film adaptation. He makes a cameo appearance as the man at the phone booth waiting for Mia Farrow to finish her call.
Evans admired Polanski's European films and hoped he could convince him to make his American debut with Rosemary's Baby. He knew the director was a ski buff who was anxious to make a film with the sport as its basis, so he sent him the script for Downhill Racer
along with the galleys for Rosemary. Polanski read the latter book non-stop through the night and called Evans the following morning to tell him he thought Rosemary was the more interesting project, and would like the opportunity to write as well as direct it.
Polanski, having never before adapted a screenplay, was unaware that he was allowed to make changes from the source material, so the film was extremely faithful to the novel and including many lines of dialogue drawn directly from Levin's book. Author Ira Levin claimed that during a scene in which Guy mentions wanting to buy a particular shirt advertised in The New Yorker
, Polanski was unable to find the specific issue with the shirt advertised and phoned Levin for help. Levin, who had assumed while writing that any given issue of The New Yorker would contain an ad for men's shirts, admitted that he had made it up.
or his own wife Sharon Tate
for the role. Since the book had not reached bestseller status yet, Evans was unsure the title alone would guarantee an audience for the film, and he felt a bigger name was needed for the lead. Patty Duke
was considered for the lead (and ironically, would play the role of Rosemary during a brief sequence at the beginning of the TV movie Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
(1976), in which Ruth Gordon was the only actor to reprise her role from the 1968 movie). With only a supporting role in Guns at Batasi
(1964) and the then unreleased A Dandy in Aspic
(1968) as her only feature film credits, Mia Farrow
had an unproven box office track record, but her role as Allison MacKenzie
in the popular television series Peyton Place
and her unexpected marriage to Frank Sinatra
had made her a household name.
Despite her waif-like appearance (which would ultimately prove beneficial, as Rosemary became more frail as her pregnancy progressed), Polanski agreed to cast her. Her acceptance incensed Sinatra, who had demanded she forgo her career when they wed, and he served her divorce papers via a corporate lawyer in front of the cast and crew midway through filming. In an effort to salvage her relationship, Farrow asked Evans to release her from her contract, but he persuaded her to remain with the project after showing her an hour-long rough cut
and assuring her she would receive an Academy Award nomination for her performance.
Robert Redford
was the first choice for the role of Guy Woodhouse, but he turned down the offer. Jack Nicholson
was considered briefly before Polanski suggested John Cassavetes
.
Sylbert was a good friend of Garson Kanin
, who was married to Ruth Gordon, and he suggested her for the role of Minnie Castevet. He also suggested that The Dakota
, an Upper West Side
apartment building known for its show business tenants, be used for the Bramford. Its hallways were not as worn and dark as Polanski wanted, but when the building's owners would not allow interior filming, that became academic and it was used for exterior shots only.
Polanski wanted to cast Hollywood old-timers as the coven members but did not know any by name. He drew sketches of how he envisioned each character, and they were used to fill the roles. In every instance, the actor cast strongly resembled Polanski's drawing. They included Ralph Bellamy
, Patsy Kelly
, Elisha Cook, Jr., Phil Leeds
, and Hope Summers
.
When Rosemary calls Donald Baumgart, the actor who goes blind and is replaced by Guy, the voice heard is that of actor Tony Curtis
. Farrow, who had not been told who would be reading Baumgart's lines, recognized the voice but could not place it. The slight confusion she displays throughout the call was exactly what Polanski hoped to capture by not revealing Curtis' identity in advance.
hairdo that made headlines when Farrow cut her trademark long hair during filming of Peyton Place.
One of Mia Farrow's more emotionally charged scenes occurs in the midst of a party, when several of Rosemary's female friends lock Guy out of the kitchen as they console her in private. The scene was shot in a single day. That morning, just before the first take was filmed, a private messenger served Farrow with formal divorce papers from Frank Sinatra
. As she read the documents, Farrow fell to her knees on the kitchen floor and openly wept in front of the cast and crew. Roman Polanski insisted that the day be canceled and filming be postponed until the next day, when he would start consecutively filming as many scenes as possible that did not contain Rosemary. Farrow openly would not accept this, insisting that nothing had changed. The day's filming concluded on time and without delay.
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.
, Renata Adler
said, "The movie—although it is pleasant—doesn't seem to work on any of its dark or powerful terms. I think this is because it is almost too extremely plausible. The quality of the young people's lives seems the quality of lives that one knows, even to the point of finding old people next door to avoid and lean on. One gets very annoyed that they don't catch on sooner."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
called it "a brooding, macabre film, filled with the sense of unthinkable danger. Strangely enough it also has an eerie sense of humor almost until the end. It is a creepy film and a crawly film, and a film filled with things that go bump in the night. It is very good...much more than just a suspense story; the brilliance of the film comes more from Polanski's direction, and from a series of genuinely inspired performances, than from the original story . . . The best thing that can be said about the film, I think, is that it works. Polanski has taken a most difficult situation and made it believable, right up to the end. In this sense, he even outdoes Hitchcock
."
Variety
stated, "Several exhilarating milestones are achieved in Rosemary's Baby, an excellent film version of Ira Levin's diabolical chiller novel. Writer-director Roman Polanski has triumphed in his first US-made pic. The film holds attention without explicit violence or gore . . . Farrow's performance is outstanding."
Today, the film is widely regarded as a classic; the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes
gave the movie a 98% "Certified Fresh" rating (53 out of 54 reviews), with the site's consensus stating "A frightening tale of Satanism and pregnancy that is even more disturbing than it sounds thanks to convincing and committed performances by Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon".
, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
, Patty Duke
starred as Rosemary Woodhouse and Ruth Gordon reprised her role of Minnie Castevet.
The scene in which Rosemary is raped by Satan was ranked #23 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
Thirty years after he wrote Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin wrote Son of Rosemary
, a sequel which he dedicated to the film's star, Mia Farrow. Reaction to the book was mixed, but it made the best seller lists nationwide.
A remake of Rosemary's Baby was briefly considered in 2008. The intended producers were Michael Bay
, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller. The remake fell through later that same year.
Golden Globe Award
s
Other awards
, Mark of the Devil, Black Noon
, and Blood on Satan's Claw
.
The film has been parodied in numerous works since its 1968 release, including Mad Magazine
("Rosemia's Boo-Boo", issue #124, January 1969) and The Realist
("Rosemerica's Baby", No. 93, August 1972).
References to the film can also be found in innumerable other works in various forms of media. The hardcore punk
band Rosemary's Babies
took the pluralized version of the title as a statement of their horror film influences.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
written and directed by Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby is a 1967 best-selling horror novel by Ira Levin, his second published book. Major elements of the story were inspired by the publicity surrounding the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey which had been founded in 1966.-Plot summary:...
by Ira Levin
Ira Levin
Ira Levin was an American author, dramatist and songwriter.-Professional life:Levin attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa...
. The cast includes Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
, John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
, Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
, Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
, Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
, and Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
.
Farrow plays a pregnant woman who fears that her husband may have made a pact with their eccentric neighbours, believing he may have promised them the child to be used as a human sacrifice in their occult rituals in exchange for success in his acting career.
The film was a massive commercial success, earning over $33 million in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on a modest budget of $2.3 million. It was met with near universal acclaim from film critics and earned numerous nominations and awards. The American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
ranked the film 9th in their 100 Years…100 Thrills list. The official tagline of the film is "Pray for Rosemary's Baby."
Plot
Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia FarrowMia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
), a bright but somewhat naive young housewife, and Guy (John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
), her husband and a struggling actor, move into the Bramford
The Dakota
The Dakota, constructed from October 25, 1880 to October 27, 1884, is a co-op apartment building located on the northwest corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City...
, a Gothic 19th-century New York City apartment building. Their neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet (Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
and Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
), are an elderly and slightly eccentric couple who tend to be meddlesome but appear to be harmless. Guy first loathes them but then becomes unusually close to the pair while Rosemary tries to maintain a distance from them.
Guy lands a role in a play when the actor who had been originally cast suddenly and inexplicably goes blind. Soon afterward, Guy suggests that he and Rosemary have the child they had planned. On the night they planned to try to conceive, Minnie brings them individual ramekins of chocolate mousse. Rosemary finds hers has a chalky under-taste and surreptitiously throws it away after a few mouthfuls. Shortly afterwards, she has a dizzy spell and passes out. Rosemary experiences what she perceives to be a strange dream in which there is a group of naked persons in their bedroom (the Castevets and other tenants of the Bramford) and then she is raped by a demonic presence. The dream is so vivid that she exclaims near the end, "This is no dream — this is really happening!" When she wakes, she finds scratches on her body, and her husband tells her that he had intercourse with her while she was unconscious because he didn't want to pass up the moment for her to conceive.
A few weeks later, Rosemary learns she is pregnant and is due on June 28, 1966 (6/66). She plans to receive obstetric care from Dr. Hill (Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
), recommended to her by her friend Elise (Emmaline Henry
Emmaline Henry
Emmaline Henry was an American actress perhaps best known for playing Amanda Bellows, wife of Dr. Bellows, on the hit 1960s situation comedy I Dream of Jeannie....
), but the Castevets insist she see their good friend, famed obstetrician Dr. Abraham Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.-Early life:He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise , a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show...
).
For the first three months of her pregnancy, Rosemary suffers severe abdominal pains, loses weight, becomes unusually pale and craves raw meat and chicken liver. The doctor insists the pain will subside soon and assures her she has nothing to worry about. When her old friend Hutch (Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
) sees Rosemary's gaunt appearance and hears that she is consuming the mysterious "tannis root" on a daily basis, he is disturbed enough to do some research.
On the day Hutch plans to share his findings with her, he mysteriously falls into a coma a few hours before their meeting, and dies three months later. After briefly regaining consciousness before his death, he has instructed the doctor to have a book about witchcraft, which he had left on his desk, be given to Rosemary. Grace Cardiff, a friend of his, decides to have the book delivered to Rosemary at Hutch's funeral along with the cryptic message: "the name is an anagram".
At the Castavets' New Year's Eve party, Roman raises an equally cryptic toast: "To 1966: the Year One." Rosemary sees that Hutch has marked photographs and passages in the book. Using the clue given to her in the cryptic message, Rosemary deduces that Roman Castevet is really Steven Marcato, the son of Adrian Marcato, a former resident of the Bramford who was accused of being a witch and of worshiping Satan, and was a martyr to the cause. Rosemary suspects her neighbors are part of a cult with sinister designs on her baby, and that Guy is cooperating with them in exchange for their help in advancing his career. She deduces that Dr. Sapirstein is also part of the conspiracy when his receptionist comments that the smell coming from a good luck charm given to Rosemary by the Castavets — which also contains tannis root, sometimes referred to as "Devil's Pepper" — reminds her of a fragrance often used by the doctor.
Rosemary becomes increasingly disturbed and shares her fears and suspicions with Dr. Hill, who, assuming she is delusional, calls Dr. Sapirstein and Guy. They tell her that if she cooperates, neither she nor the baby will be harmed. The two men bring Rosemary home, at which point she briefly escapes them by spilling the contents of her purse, then hijacking the elevator as they gather the contents from the floor. They pursue her to the apartment, where Rosemary locks the door. A few moments later, they enter the bedroom, having somehow gained access. Rosemary goes into labor and is sedated by Dr. Sapirstein. When she awakens, she is told the baby died; however, she hears an infant's cries somewhere in the building, and suspects he is still alive.
In the hall closet, Rosemary discovers a secret door leading into the Castevet apartment where the coven meets (and which explains how Guy and Dr. Sapirstein were able to enter the apartment after she chained the front door), and finds the congregation gathered around her newborn son. Seeing the disturbing appearance of her baby's eyes and demanding to know what had caused the deformity, Rosemary is then told that Guy is not the baby's father. The revelation that the baby, named Adrian, is actually the spawn of Satan horrifies Rosemary, who spits in Guy's face when he approaches her. Roman urges Rosemary to become a mother to her son, and tells her she does not have to join the coven if she does not want to. The film ends with her adjusting her son's blankets and gently rocking his cradle.
Cast
- Mia FarrowMia FarrowMia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
as Rosemary Woodhouse - John CassavetesJohn CassavetesJohn Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
as Guy Woodhouse - Ruth GordonRuth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
as Minnie Castevet - Sidney BlackmerSidney BlackmerSidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
as Roman Castevet / Steven Marcato - Maurice EvansMaurice Evans (actor)Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
as Hutch - Ralph BellamyRalph BellamyRalph Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.-Early life:He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise , a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show...
as Dr. Abraham Sapirstein - Charles GrodinCharles GrodinCharles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
as Dr. Hill - Patsy KellyPatsy KellyPatsy Kelly was an American stage and film comedic actress.-Early life and career:Kelly was born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrants, John and Delia Kelly, and made her Broadway debut in 1928...
as Laura-Louise - Victoria VetriVictoria Vetri-Biography:Vetri was born in San Francisco, California to parents who were immigrants from Italy. She attended Hollywood High School in Hollywood, California between 1959 and 1963 and later studied art at Los Angeles City College. She began acting and modelling in her teens. Vetri is a singer and...
(credited as Angela Dorian) as Terry Gionoffrio - Emmaline HenryEmmaline HenryEmmaline Henry was an American actress perhaps best known for playing Amanda Bellows, wife of Dr. Bellows, on the hit 1960s situation comedy I Dream of Jeannie....
as Elise Dunstan - Hanna Landy as Grace Cardiff
- Tony CurtisTony CurtisTony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
as voice of Donald Baumgart - Phil LeedsPhil LeedsPhil Leeds was a Jewish-American Hollywood character actor. Leeds' bulging eyes, rubbery face and wizened features made him a distinctive presence.-Biography:...
as Dr. Shand - Hope SummersHope SummersHope Summers was an American character actress known for her work on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD, portraying Clara Edwards.-Career:...
as Mrs. Gilmore - Elisha Cook, Jr. as Mr. Micklas
- D'Urville MartinD'Urville MartinD'Urville Martin was an American actor and director in both film and television. He appeared with regularity in numerous 1970s movies in the blaxploitation genre of films. He also appeared in the first two pilots of what would become All in the Family as Lionel, the role later played by Mike Evans...
as Diego - Marianne GordonMarianne GordonMarianne Gordon is an American actress, and ex-wife of Kenny Rogers. Gordon and Rogers had one son together, Christopher Cody Rogers . Gordon's first husband was Playboy producer Michael Trikilis...
as Rosemary's Girlfriend - Wende WagnerWende WagnerWende Wagner, also known as Wendy Wagner was an actress famed for her roles in The Green Hornet and Rio Conchos.-Biography:Born to a career U.S. Navy officer and swimming and diving coach father Wende Wagner, also known as Wendy Wagner (December 6, 1941 February 26, 1997) was an actress famed for...
as Rosemary's Girlfriend - Clay TannerClay TannerClay Tanner is an actor. He began his career with roles in various TV productions such as Bonanza, The Fugitive, Get Smart, Perry Mason, McHale's Navy, The Outer Limits, The Virginian, and Stoney Burke. Tanner also played the role of Satan during the rape scene of Rosemary's...
as the Devil
Script
In Rosemary's Baby: A Retrospective, a featurette on the DVD release of the film, screenwriter/director Roman Polanski, Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
executive Robert Evans
Robert Evans (film producer)
Robert Evans is an American film producer, best known for his work on Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, and Chinatown.-Early life and acting career:...
, and production designer
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
Richard Sylbert
Richard Sylbert
Richard Sylbert was an Academy Award-winning production designer and art director, primarily for feature films....
reminisce at length about the production. Evans recalled William Castle
William Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
brought him the galley proof
Galley proof
In printing and publishing, proofs are the preliminary versions of publications meant for review by authors, editors, and proofreaders, often with extra wide margins. Galley proofs may be uncut and unbound, or in some cases electronic...
s of the book and asked him to purchase the film rights even before Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
released the publication. The studio head recognized the commercial potential of the project and agreed with the stipulation that Castle, who had a reputation for low-budget horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s, could produce but not direct the film adaptation. He makes a cameo appearance as the man at the phone booth waiting for Mia Farrow to finish her call.
Evans admired Polanski's European films and hoped he could convince him to make his American debut with Rosemary's Baby. He knew the director was a ski buff who was anxious to make a film with the sport as its basis, so he sent him the script for Downhill Racer
Downhill Racer
Downhill Racer is a 1969 film and the first to be directed by Michael Ritchie. A drama about ski racing, it stars Robert Redford and Gene Hackman.Tagline: How fast must a man go to get from where he's at?-Plot:...
along with the galleys for Rosemary. Polanski read the latter book non-stop through the night and called Evans the following morning to tell him he thought Rosemary was the more interesting project, and would like the opportunity to write as well as direct it.
Polanski, having never before adapted a screenplay, was unaware that he was allowed to make changes from the source material, so the film was extremely faithful to the novel and including many lines of dialogue drawn directly from Levin's book. Author Ira Levin claimed that during a scene in which Guy mentions wanting to buy a particular shirt advertised in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Polanski was unable to find the specific issue with the shirt advertised and phoned Levin for help. Levin, who had assumed while writing that any given issue of The New Yorker would contain an ad for men's shirts, admitted that he had made it up.
Casting
Polanski envisioned Rosemary as a robust, full-figured, girl-next-door type, and he wanted Tuesday WeldTuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...
or his own wife Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
for the role. Since the book had not reached bestseller status yet, Evans was unsure the title alone would guarantee an audience for the film, and he felt a bigger name was needed for the lead. Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
was considered for the lead (and ironically, would play the role of Rosemary during a brief sequence at the beginning of the TV movie Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby is a 1976 TV movie, and a sequel to the 1968 film Rosemary's Baby. It has little connection to the novel by Ira Levin on which the first film was based.-The Book of Rosemary:...
(1976), in which Ruth Gordon was the only actor to reprise her role from the 1968 movie). With only a supporting role in Guns at Batasi
Guns at Batasi
Guns at Batasi is a 1964 drama film starring Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, John Leyton and Mia Farrow. It is set in an overseas colonial military outpost during the last days of the British Empire in East Africa....
(1964) and the then unreleased A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic
A Dandy in Aspic is a 1968 British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay and Mia Farrow....
(1968) as her only feature film credits, Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
had an unproven box office track record, but her role as Allison MacKenzie
Allison MacKenzie
Allison MacKenzie is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in the novel Peyton Place, its sequel Return to Peyton Place, the subsequent film adaptations of both, and the primetime television series and daytime soap opera they inspired....
in the popular television series Peyton Place
Peyton Place (TV series)
Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
and her unexpected marriage to Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
had made her a household name.
Despite her waif-like appearance (which would ultimately prove beneficial, as Rosemary became more frail as her pregnancy progressed), Polanski agreed to cast her. Her acceptance incensed Sinatra, who had demanded she forgo her career when they wed, and he served her divorce papers via a corporate lawyer in front of the cast and crew midway through filming. In an effort to salvage her relationship, Farrow asked Evans to release her from her contract, but he persuaded her to remain with the project after showing her an hour-long rough cut
Rough cut
In filmmaking, the rough cut is the second of three stages of offline editing. The rough cut is the first stage in which the film begins to resemble its final product...
and assuring her she would receive an Academy Award nomination for her performance.
Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
was the first choice for the role of Guy Woodhouse, but he turned down the offer. Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
was considered briefly before Polanski suggested John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
.
Sylbert was a good friend of Garson Kanin
Garson Kanin
Garson Kanin was a prolific American writer and director of plays and films.-Film and stage career:...
, who was married to Ruth Gordon, and he suggested her for the role of Minnie Castevet. He also suggested that The Dakota
The Dakota
The Dakota, constructed from October 25, 1880 to October 27, 1884, is a co-op apartment building located on the northwest corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City...
, an Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
apartment building known for its show business tenants, be used for the Bramford. Its hallways were not as worn and dark as Polanski wanted, but when the building's owners would not allow interior filming, that became academic and it was used for exterior shots only.
Polanski wanted to cast Hollywood old-timers as the coven members but did not know any by name. He drew sketches of how he envisioned each character, and they were used to fill the roles. In every instance, the actor cast strongly resembled Polanski's drawing. They included Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned sixty-two years.-Early life:He was born Ralph Rexford Bellamy in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lilla Louise , a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was fifteen and managed to get into a road show...
, Patsy Kelly
Patsy Kelly
Patsy Kelly was an American stage and film comedic actress.-Early life and career:Kelly was born Sarah Veronica Rose Kelly in Brooklyn, New York to Irish immigrants, John and Delia Kelly, and made her Broadway debut in 1928...
, Elisha Cook, Jr., Phil Leeds
Phil Leeds
Phil Leeds was a Jewish-American Hollywood character actor. Leeds' bulging eyes, rubbery face and wizened features made him a distinctive presence.-Biography:...
, and Hope Summers
Hope Summers
Hope Summers was an American character actress known for her work on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD, portraying Clara Edwards.-Career:...
.
When Rosemary calls Donald Baumgart, the actor who goes blind and is replaced by Guy, the voice heard is that of actor Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
. Farrow, who had not been told who would be reading Baumgart's lines, recognized the voice but could not place it. The slight confusion she displays throughout the call was exactly what Polanski hoped to capture by not revealing Curtis' identity in advance.
Filming
Sydney Guilaroff designed the wig worn by Mia Farrow in the film's early scenes. It was removed to reveal the Vidal SassoonVidal Sassoon
Vidal Sassoon, CBE is a widely recognised British hairdresser, credited with creating a simple geometric, "Bauhaus-inspired" hair style, also called the bob...
hairdo that made headlines when Farrow cut her trademark long hair during filming of Peyton Place.
One of Mia Farrow's more emotionally charged scenes occurs in the midst of a party, when several of Rosemary's female friends lock Guy out of the kitchen as they console her in private. The scene was shot in a single day. That morning, just before the first take was filmed, a private messenger served Farrow with formal divorce papers from Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. As she read the documents, Farrow fell to her knees on the kitchen floor and openly wept in front of the cast and crew. Roman Polanski insisted that the day be canceled and filming be postponed until the next day, when he would start consecutively filming as many scenes as possible that did not contain Rosemary. Farrow openly would not accept this, insisting that nothing had changed. The day's filming concluded on time and without delay.
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.
Critical reception
In her review for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Renata Adler
Renata Adler
Renata Adler is an American author, journalist and film critic.-Background and education:Adler was born in Milan, Italy, and grew up in Danbury, Connecticut. After gaining a B.A. in philosophy and German from Bryn Mawr, Adler studied for an M.A. in Comparative Literature at Harvard under I. A...
said, "The movie—although it is pleasant—doesn't seem to work on any of its dark or powerful terms. I think this is because it is almost too extremely plausible. The quality of the young people's lives seems the quality of lives that one knows, even to the point of finding old people next door to avoid and lean on. One gets very annoyed that they don't catch on sooner."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
called it "a brooding, macabre film, filled with the sense of unthinkable danger. Strangely enough it also has an eerie sense of humor almost until the end. It is a creepy film and a crawly film, and a film filled with things that go bump in the night. It is very good...much more than just a suspense story; the brilliance of the film comes more from Polanski's direction, and from a series of genuinely inspired performances, than from the original story . . . The best thing that can be said about the film, I think, is that it works. Polanski has taken a most difficult situation and made it believable, right up to the end. In this sense, he even outdoes Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
stated, "Several exhilarating milestones are achieved in Rosemary's Baby, an excellent film version of Ira Levin's diabolical chiller novel. Writer-director Roman Polanski has triumphed in his first US-made pic. The film holds attention without explicit violence or gore . . . Farrow's performance is outstanding."
Today, the film is widely regarded as a classic; the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave the movie a 98% "Certified Fresh" rating (53 out of 54 reviews), with the site's consensus stating "A frightening tale of Satanism and pregnancy that is even more disturbing than it sounds thanks to convincing and committed performances by Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon".
Legacy
In the 1976 television filmTelevision movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby is a 1976 TV movie, and a sequel to the 1968 film Rosemary's Baby. It has little connection to the novel by Ira Levin on which the first film was based.-The Book of Rosemary:...
, Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
starred as Rosemary Woodhouse and Ruth Gordon reprised her role of Minnie Castevet.
The scene in which Rosemary is raped by Satan was ranked #23 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
Thirty years after he wrote Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin wrote Son of Rosemary
Son of Rosemary
Son of Rosemary is a 1997 horror novel by Ira Levin, and is the sequel to Rosemary's Baby.-Plot:The novel begins in November 1999 with Rosemary Woodhouse waking up in a long term care facility after the last member of the coven from the first novel is killed in a car accident...
, a sequel which he dedicated to the film's star, Mia Farrow. Reaction to the book was mixed, but it made the best seller lists nationwide.
A remake of Rosemary's Baby was briefly considered in 2008. The intended producers were Michael Bay
Michael Bay
Michael Benjamin Bay is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing high-budget action films characterized by their fast edits, stylistic visuals and substantial practical special effects...
, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller. The remake fell through later that same year.
Accolades
Academy Awards- Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Ruth Gordon, winner) - Academy Award for Best Adapted ScreenplayAcademy Award for Writing Adapted ScreenplayThe Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
(nominee)
Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s
- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion PictureGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion PictureThe Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....
(Gordon, winner) - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaThe Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
(Farrow, nominee) - Golden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayGolden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayThe Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
(nominee) - Golden Globe Award for Best Original ScoreGolden Globe Award for Best Original ScoreThe Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
(nominee)
Other awards
- BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBest Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
(Mia Farrow, nominee) - Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (nominee)
- Writers Guild of America AwardWriters Guild of America AwardThe Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for Best Written American Drama (nominee) - David di Donatello AwardDavid di DonatelloDavid di Donatello, named after Donatello's David, is a movie award assigned each year for cinematic performances and production by Ente David di Donatello, part of Accademia del Cinema Italiano. It is the Italian equivalent to the Academy Award. There are 24 categories as of 2006.- History :The...
for Best Foreign Actress (Mia Farrow, winner) - David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Director (winner)
- Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture ScreenplayEdgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture ScreenplayThe following is a list of Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture, one of the Edgar Awards awarded to authors and others by the Mystery Writers of America...
(nominee) - French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Award for Best Foreign Film (winner)
- Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActorKansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1968The 3rd Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 1968, were given in 1969.-Winners:*Best Picture:**2001: A Space Odyssey*Best Actor:**Alan Arkin - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter*Best Actress:...
(Sidney Blackmer, winner) - Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActressKansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1968The 3rd Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 1968, were given in 1969.-Winners:*Best Picture:**2001: A Space Odyssey*Best Actor:**Alan Arkin - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter*Best Actress:...
(Gordon, winner)
In popular culture
Following the film's premiere, a string of other films focusing on Satan worshippers and black magic appeared, including The Brotherhood of SatanThe Brotherhood of Satan
The Brotherhood of Satan is a 1971 low-budget horror film written, produced and starring L. Q. Jones It was directed by Bernard McEveety and also stars Strother Martin.-Plot:...
, Mark of the Devil, Black Noon
Black Noon
Black Noon is an American made-for-TV horror western feature film that debuted in 1971. It was written and produced by Andrew J. Fenady and directed by Bernard L...
, and Blood on Satan's Claw
Blood on Satan's Claw
Blood on Satan's Claw is a 1970 British horror film made by Tigon British Film Productions and directed by Piers Haggard. The film was written by Robert Wynne-Simmons, with additions by Piers Haggard, and stars Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden and Barry Andrews...
.
The film has been parodied in numerous works since its 1968 release, including Mad Magazine
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
("Rosemia's Boo-Boo", issue #124, January 1969) and The Realist
The Realist
The Realist was a pioneering magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire," intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of Mad and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly The Independent. Edited and published by Paul Krassner, and often regarded as a milestone in the American...
("Rosemerica's Baby", No. 93, August 1972).
References to the film can also be found in innumerable other works in various forms of media. The hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band Rosemary's Babies
Rosemary's Babies
Rosemary's Babies was an American hardcore punk band formed in Lodi, New Jersey in 1980. Its members included J.R. - vocals, Post Mortem - bass, CA Richie - guitar, and Eerie Von - drums. The band was active until 1983 and produced a 7" EP titled "Blood Lust", released on the band's own Ghastly...
took the pluralized version of the title as a statement of their horror film influences.