His Father’s Eyes

About Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968) transformed the horror genre by proving that the most terrifying evil could hide behind pleasant smiles and friendly neighbors in a luxury Manhattan apartment building. Mia Farrow’s performance as the increasingly isolated and gaslit Rosemary Woodhouse—whose husband has secretly conspired with Satanists to impregnate her with the Devil’s child—remains one of the most harrowing depictions of pregnancy anxiety and patriarchal control in cinema. Shot on location at the Dakota building in New York City, which would tragically become famous twelve years later as the site of John Lennon’s assassination, the film’s real-world locations gave its supernatural horror an unsettling authenticity. The film was adapted with remarkable fidelity from Ira Levin’s bestselling novel and earned Ruth Gordon an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as the deceptively sweet neighbor Minnie Castevet.