Rosemary’s Baby (2014): Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Set in present-day France, Rosemary’s Baby centers on a young married couple that escapes New York and moves to Paris with hopes of leaving their sad past behind. After a series of unfortunate events, Rosemary (Zoe Saldana) and Guy Woodhouse (Patrick J. Adams) are presented with an offer they can’t refuse – an apartment at the most prestigious address in the city. Problem is, it comes with a haunted past, and an immeasurable price.
Many people may have saw this remake coming eventually. With Hollywood redoing films left and right it was inevitable and the first thing that comes to mind was that I was glad it way done as a mini series that gave the story a bit more length. It was nice to see Saldana in a film that is a bit unconventional for her. She downplayed scenes when needed but really boosted them up in the film’s finale. There wasn’t a second that you would feel that her performance was stale at all. Everything about it felt fresh coming from a remake of a film. The execution of the story was something that I still feel on the fence about. Why you ask? Simple. The one thing I hate to do is compare films like these because for the most part I try not to be subjective but in this case it’s kind of hard not to. I loved the original so much because it was so creepy but wasn’t so in your face about it. It made your imagination work for it. This version however gives you some gore and shock factor just for sake of throwing it in there. I really feel like if they would’ve “kept it clean” so to speak I think it would’ve been a bit more effective. The other thing had to do with the finale of the film. That’s entirely an opinion of a person that was used to classic horror though. That aspect didn’t hurt the movie itself though. I still thought it was very well done for it being a broadcast T.V. miniseries. It did manage to keep the mystery surrounding what was going on intact and had a rather brooding tone throughout. If you missed it on T.V. then this is the perfect chance to check it out but if you’re a hardcore fan of Polanski’s original you may have the urge to critique every scene. I say give it a view and try to pretend that it’s a film all it’s own.
Special Features:
Fear is Born: The Making of Rosemary’s Baby – A decent BTS feature that gives the usual look at the set while making the film. The ONLY thing that bothered me was that Saldana says that it isn’t a remake. What will hurt a film the most is trying to pretend that the film isn’t something that it totally is.
Grand Guignol: Paris Production Design – A really cool (but short) feature that goes a bit into the sets and look of the film.
