Guide Note

Rosemary's Baby is a thriller film about a woman who fears she may be pregnant with a demonic child. The movie, starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes was written and directed by Roman Polanski. Nominated for 15 awards, the movie has won seven times. The sequel, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby was a made-for-TV movie released in 1976.

Fast Facts

1. Released: June 12, 1968
2. Won an Academy Award in 1968
3. Directed and written by Roman Polanski
4. Starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, and Ralph Bellamy

When young housewife Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband move into a new apartment building they realize that it has a history of mysterious events. One night, Rosemary has a dizzy spell and passes out. She dreams she is being attacked by a demonic presence.

Weeks later, she finds out she is pregnant and starts to worry when she craves raw meat and chicken livers. After going into labor at home she wakes up and is told her baby died during birth. Hearing a baby cry in her apartment building, she is certain he is alive. She finds a secret door in her neighbors apartment that leads to her newborn son.

Afraid he is the spawn of Satan, she considers killing him. The movie stops with Rosemary humming to her infant, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions.

• "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." - Variety

• "A very sophisticated, very effective piece of work spun from primal images, with an excellent cast." - Chicago Reader