16 - Rosemary's Baby with Mia Farrow

Send us Fan MailThis week, we discuss Rosemary’s Baby, the 1968 horror classic that turned pregnancy into psychological nightmare fuel. We unpack gaslighting husbands, demonic covens, and the claustrophobia of a New York apartment with a high incidence of unfortunate happenings. Rosemary and her husband Guy move into a grand old New York apartment, despite eerie warnings and a mysteriously blocked closet and when they meet their eccentric neighbours, things turn sinister. We'll discuss topics such as the film’s sound design, use of colour (yellow), 1960s gender politics, and reveal how Rosemary’s Baby captures both supernatural and all-too-real horrors: isolation, gaslighting, and the weaponisation of female hysteria.Along the way, we talk Mia Farrow’s wide-eyed innocence, the garish glory of Minnie Castevet’s coconut cake hat and make-up, Polanski’s problematic legacy and whether you can separate art from the artist, and how much an apartment in the Dakota really costs.Spoiler + Content Warning:We spoil the plot of Rosemary’s Baby (1968).Discussions of marital rape, coercive control, gaslighting, manipulation, and assault, suicide, pregnancy, child loss, and labour trauma,  murder, and satanic ritual. We also discuss director Roman Polanski’s history of sexual abuse, including the rape of a minor.Palate Cleanser:Need a breather after all that satanic motherhood and 1960s misogyny? Try these:30 Rock – because Rosemary tried to meet Hutch there, and we all deserve Liz Lemon energy after this.Again With This podcast – episode-by-episode takes on Dawson’s Creek and Beverly Hills, 90210 for nostalgic serotonin.Parks and Recreation – for a better Dr. Saperstein.Recommendations:The novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. See where the story came from.To see the actors in other films, try Harold and Maude and Beethoven and Roseanne.Gossip Girl, because Blair and Dan watch Rosemary's Baby. Hereditary – modern motherhood horror with a satanic twist. For more  demonic horror try The Exorcist and the Omen.Get Out – paranoia, gaslighting, and dreamlike dread.Episode 55 of MFM - the Papin sistersThe Handmaid’s Tale – dystopian nightmare of reproductive control Mother! – another pregnancy-from-hell allegory (brace yourself. It's brutal).Gaslight (1944) – the original manipulative husband horror.You Must Remember This podcast – Hollywood history and Manson murders.A Picture of Dorian Gray and The Little Mermaid for deals with the devil.Apartment seven A - a prequel with Julia Garner. Annabel, Only Murders in the Building and Archive 81 for creepy buildingsImmaculate with Sydney Sweeney for pregnancy horrorSamantha Gailey's book The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman PolanskiHomeworkNext episode,  a Halloween bonus: Scream (1996) – because after all that satanic trauma, we deserve some self-aware slashers. Then The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel,  the haunting death of Elisa Lam and the cursed Los Angeles hotel.Follow, review, share, and send your own horror recs to  [email protected]. And remember—if your neighbour brings you chocolate mousse, maybe skip dessert.Special thanks to Nancy Azano for our cover art (Instagram: @nancyazano) and to Harry Kidd for our opening score (Instagram: @harryjkidd)