He drives recklessly and picks a fight with some bikers - which allows us to see that he can, much like The Incredible Hulk, be driven to the point where his eyes glow and he, uh, "Antichrist's-out", I guess, displaying strength, viciousness and mind powers (but he has no idea he's the Antichrist, you see). 20 years later "THE BOOK OF ADRIAN" finds him (Stephen McHattie - looking a bit like James Woods) grown and living at Marjean's casino (thus, this film is taking place in the then-future year of 1988!), a troubled young man seething with anger but tempered by kind memories of his lost mother. ![]() The country-wide (worldwide?) cult was expecting such a move, though, and a Rosemary ends up whisked away on a driverless, empty bus after trusting cultist Marjean (Tina Louise, Ginger from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND!) who then takes over raising Adrian. She hides in a synagogue and then calls ex-hubby Guy (living the high life as a Hollywood mogul, his reward for turning his wife into the Devil's brood-mare) and demands money from him to help her disappear. "THE BOOK OF ROSEMARY" - so Rosemary kidnaps her own 8 year old boy (Adrian, nee "Andy" - or, as you might remember, "Jenny" if he'd been a girl) from his black nursery full of spooky satanic toys and goes on the run. Ray Milland (always a treat to watch) takes Sidney Blackmer's role as Roman Castevet (nee Steven Marcato) but, hey, Ruth Gordon is back, for good or ill, as Roman's wife Minnie (for ill simply because the filmmakers play up Roman and Minnie as bickering oldsters, stretching a good joke from the film into a shtick).ĭespite the need for no sequel, I've always felt that ROSEMARY'S BABY sets up a nice little nature/nurture argument at its end - can the love of a good mother overcome the ultimate in (spiritually) bad genetic programming? Well, the likelihood of a made-for-TV film from the 70's answering that question in any serious way is practically nil, but will they gnaw at it for 100 minutes (while pushing a secret agenda I'll get to in a moment)? Why yes they will. George Maharis subs for John Cassavetes as scheming hubby Guy Woodhouse. You can't get Mia Farrow back, so Patty Duke takes the role of the unlucky Mom. Obviously, a MFTV movie isn't going to get Polanski on board, so you get the original film's editor, Sam O'Steen, to direct. Oh, this made-for-TV movie has nothing to do do with the actual book sequel Ira Levin penned years later (how could it, chronologically?) but obviously someone in the mid-70s said " ROSEMARY'S BABY made a lot of money, let's do a movie about the baby grown up!" - and thus you get this ungainly titled telepic, rendered from now on as LWHTRB (because we've all got ways to spend our time, right?). Some films have no need for sequels - and some get them anyway. Still, Seance is a smart, satisfying movie and a promising debut by Barrett.LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ROSEMARY'S BABY (1976) They're still appealing, as many seem driven by loneliness, but if the few connections that are made on-screen could have been emotionally elevated a little bit, their impact could have been much stronger. ![]() But the mood also extends to the characters, who sometimes seem half-frozen themselves. When something suddenly jumps out, it carries a bigger shock. The movie's mood, which matches the ever drifting snow, is chilled and quiet, enhancing the quality of the scary scenes. Sometimes the movie plays right into them (as when one character decides to practice her ballet, alone, in the dark, with headphones on, while a killer is loose), and other times, nothing is what it seems. ![]() The feature directing debut by screenwriter Simon Barrett ( You're Next, The Guest, Blair Witch) - who also directed the wrapraound segment of V/H/S/2 - Seance shows a definite awareness of movie history and horror clichés. Inspired by gory Italian horror classics, this hushed, wintry movie mixes things up and keeps viewers guessing by cleverly alternating supernatural, nightmare imagery with human-created scares.
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