Rosemary's Baby

Director Roman Polanski's 1968 adaptation of the spooky Ira Levin best-seller holds up remarkably well, now over thirty years later. This perfectly cast--the fresh-scrubbed Mia Farrow vs. the slickly insidious John Cassavettes and Ruth Gordon--psychological thriller about a young mother-to-be's not so easily dismissed paranoia, builds slowly, revelation upon revelation, until it reaches one of the most horrific climax's in the entire horror genre. Paramount, thankfully, has done this one up right, with an anamorphic widescreen mastering that makes it look like it was shot yesterday, making this hair-raising chiller a no-brainer purchase. Highly recommended. (S. C. Sickles)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—Nov. 6, 2012—Criterion, 136 min., R, DVD: 2 discs, $29.95; Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1968's Rosemary's Baby boasts a sparkling transfer with Dolby Digital mono audio on DVD, and LPCM mono audio on Blu-ray. Bonus features include the documentary “Komeda, Komeda” on jazz musician and composer Krzysztof Komeda (70 min.), a new retrospective documentary featuring interviews with director Roman Polanski, star Mia Farrow, and producer Robert Evans (47 min.), an audio interview with author Ira Levin from a 1997 broadcast of Leonard Lopate's public radio program New York and Company, and a booklet (featuring an essay by critic Ed Park, Levin's afterword to the 2003 New American Library edition of the novel, and Levin's unpublished character sketches and floor plan). Bottom line: Polanski's horror classic shines on Blu-ray.]