Rosemary's Baby
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: June 12, 1968 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
96
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The brilliance of the film comes more from Polanski's direction, and from a series of genuinely inspired performances, than from the original story. Read full review
100
Slant MagazineEric Henderson
Rosemary’s Baby is one of horror cinema’s all-time slow burns, drawing viewers gradually into entertaining the possibility that the movie’s series of strange coincidences and accumulating sense of dread are only subjective representations of Rosemary’s unraveling mental state. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
As Polanski leads the audience step-by-step through Levin’s queasy plot, he pushes them toward a conclusion straight out of a Louvin Brothers gospel song. Oh yes, brethren: Satan is real. Read full review
100
The GuardianAnne Bilson
This is horror rooted not in misty Carpathian castles, but in recognisable modern life, with the satanists depicted not as outlandish fiends but the sort of everyday folk you might encounter on any urban street. Read full review
100
Time Out LondonStaff (Not Credited)
A supremely intelligent and convincing adaptation of Ira Levin's Satanist thriller. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
A very sophisticated, very effective piece of work spun from primal images, with an excellent cast. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Truly frightening because so much of it is so plausible, ROSEMARY'S BABY is one of the finest examples of modern horror, a milestone in the evolution of the genre. Although the subject matter is ultimately supernatural, the treatment is very realistic. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Much of the movie’s revolutionary impact should be credited to the city itself: The Dakota looms menacingly, every bit the Gothic pile as any Transylvanian vampire’s mansion. Read full review
100
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Several exhilarating milestones are achieved in Rosemary's Baby, an excellent film version of Ira Levin's diabolical chiller novel. Writer-director Roman Polanski has triumphed in his first US-made pic. The film holds attention without explicit violence or gore. Read full review
100
The New YorkerPauline Kael
It's genuinely funny, yet it's also scary, especially for young women: it plays on their paranoid vulnerabilities... Mia Farrow is enchanting in her fragility: she's just about perfect for her role.
91
Entertainment WeeklyMark Harris
Using New York’s famed apartment house the Dakota for all its cavernous shadowiness, and exploiting the 23-year-old Farrow’s tremulous space-child vulnerability to underscore her terror and solitude, Polanski worked with an elegant restraint that less talented filmmakers have been trying to mimic ever since. Read full review
90
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
These minor lapses, though, do not seriously affect the bewitching qualities of the film—which, in addition to being superb suspense, is a wicked argument against planned parenthood. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Farrow admirably bears the burden of carrying the movie’s dread, portraying Rosemary as sharp and wary, but with too many social forces arrayed against her for her to have a fighting chance. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsKathleen Carroll
Polanski’s direction is smooth and the film itself happily understated. The tension created is practically unbearable. Read full review
80
EmpireAngie Errigo
It's that smile playing on Rosemary's lips, suggesting that her maternal instinct and the conspirators' hold on this vapid baby doll have prevailed, that provides the biggest chill. Read full review
60
The New York TimesRenata Adler
Miss Farrow is quite marvelous, pale, suffering, almost constantly on-screen in a difficult role that requires her to be learning for almost two hours what the audience has guessed from the start...Everyone else is fine, but the movie—although it is pleasant—doesn't quite work on any of its dark or powerful terms. Read full review
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