# Rosemary's Baby

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 8, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732 "2017-03-08T21:24:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/42 "2017-03-10T05:11:06Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> It was about the banality of evil. The Satan worshippers mostly seem like quite ordinary people. It wouldn’t be scary if she were just imagining it.

Interesting thoughts because I saw this decades ago as a teenager and thought Rosemary was mentally ill & imagining everything (I saw it right after I saw Sybil, which may have colored my interpretation-plus I saw it on cable at home & was only half paying attention)–disturbing, but not scary at all.

I saw it a few days ago & have been kinda freaked out ever since. For me, even though there was no gore, it was a horror movie. Frightening.

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**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/43 "2017-03-10T15:10:59Z")

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> [@WOOKINPANUB](#):
>
> I know these, along with _Revulsion_, make up the the aforementioned trilogy but could you expound on the connection between these two? When I watch any of these I see them as being in their own universe with no relation to the others whatsoever. Am I missing another level that might enhance my enjoyment of these already great films?

Well, they ARE three completely different stories about three completely different people. They work perfectly well as stand-alone horror movies; no need to watch 'em in order or anything. I didn’t see _The Tenant_ until 20 years after I watched the first two.

They get called the “urban paranoia trilogy” because they share a theme of a single person’s isolation and alienation within three different major cities in the late 20th century. The three, living among millions of people, are only able to connect and interact with malevolent forces.

And madness. There’s the madness thing, too.

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**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/44 "2017-03-10T15:18:39Z")

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> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> Well, they ARE three completely different stories about three completely different people.
> 
> They get called the “urban paranoia trilogy” because they share a theme of a single person’s isolation and alienation within three different major cities in the late 20th century. The three, living among millions of people, are only able to connect and interact with malevolent forces.
> 
> And madness. There’s the madness thing, too.

I’m with ya, **Uke**.

[QUOTE=RealityChuck]  
After you see Rosemary’s Baby, watch Polanski’s The Tenant. The latter film is especially good if you know about Rosemary.  
[/QUOTE]  
.

I must have misinterpreted the above.

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/45 "2017-03-10T22:36:15Z")

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> [@Shodan](#):
>
> You’re correct - the pure horror of the sequel is only apparent after the first page.
> 
> You know how good the first book was? That’s how bad the sequel was.
> 
> Regards,  
> Shodan

And was in fact the second awful sequel. It had already had [one on TV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_What's_Happened_to_Rosemary's_Baby) which Ruth Gordon reprising her Oscar winning role couldn’t even help, but unlike _Son of Rosemary_ Levin had nothing to do with that one. Since I’m sure curiosity compelled him to watch it, you’d think he’d have decided “it doesn’t need a sequel”, but, maybe he needed money.

I saw the film _Get Out_ recently and while the plots are completely different (though there are comparisons between it and Levin’s _Stepford Wives_) I would compare the suspense structure in many ways to that of _Rosemary’s Baby_.

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