The 1968 iconic horror piece "Rosemary's Baby" comes out on a single-disc Blu-ray package featuring the acclaimed adaptation of Ira Levin's 1967 best-selling novel of the same title. This celebrated piece marks the Hollywood debut of master filmmaker Roman Polanski. The film follows the story of a young couple after they move into a new apartment that is surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, she grows increasingly suspicious that her overfriendly elderly neighbors and self-involved husband are hatching a satanic plot against her and her baby. This classic flick stars Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, and Patsy Kelly.
Visuals
With a near-perfect setting and impressive texture and details, this atmospheric picture aptly plays around the viewer's expectations toward a wildly entertaining nightmare. Shots are often filled with intense blacks and deeply drawn shadows. Color stability is never seriously compromised. Some parts may have a few errant white specks, but these negligible flaws are quite far and in between. There are no compression and encoding problems marring the images.
Audio
The lossless audio track in LPCM 1.0 mix sounds thick and well-rounded throughout. This uncompressed monaural soundtrack delivers a very good range of nuanced dynamics for such a moody offering. Speaking lines are always crisp and clear. There are no instances of glitches, hisses, pops, dropouts, and other aural issues heard anywhere in the presentation.
Subtitles
This Blu-ray edition supplies a decent number of extras to perk up the release. These include the brand new documentary "Remembering Rosemary's Baby," a radio program's video footage featuring the author of the film's source novel in "Ira Levin and Leonard Lopate," and the documentary of Polish jazz musician and composer Krzysztof Komeda's life and work in "Komeda, Komeda." All these video materials are presented in HD format. An illustrated booklet featuring the essay of critic Ed Park and Ira Levin's words from the 2003 New American Library edition of his novel wraps up the bonus offerings of the package. An optional English subtitle option is also available in the disc.
Final Thoughts
"Rosemary's Baby" is a cinematic classic that primarily works for the sheer psychological terror it brings to the audience. From its regal direction to its phenomenal acting performances, the must-watch film's deft touch and terrifyingly dark tone alternate in between being chilling and bitterly dramatic. It is a perfect example of a slow-simmer horror material that moves from scene to scene with people having no solid idea what comes next. No matter how much dread is involved, the viewer ultimately wants to find out more about the fright and paranoia looming over the story of the mother-to-be and her unborn child.
