Rosemary's Baby

This mini reproduces the movie's singular feat of being scary without being graphic, accomplishing more with mood and suggestion than overt shocks.

This version, set in Paris, compensates with an atmosphere of chic rot--they have that over there--an increased body count and an excellent cast. [19 May 2014, p.44]

Saldana carries the full load throughout. Her skepticism grows--as does her performance--in tandem with her belly before it all boils over into a full-out escape plan.

There are enough deviations to keep horror aficionados at least mildly interested. [9 May 2014, p.61]

Although their four-hour production sags and drags in places, it is overall a stylish and engaging new take.

The miniseries is often visually striking, with helmer Agnieszka Holland delivering stylish, cinematic work. But the new script also undermines her mood-setting efforts with cheap shock tactics.

It starts to feel repetitive in the second half. But a convincing Zoe Saldana Avatar keeps you vested in the outcome, and the City of Light makes an enticing backdrop for the Prince of Darkness.

NBC's version lacks the undercurrent of humor that ran through the 1968 film.... What this Rosemary's Baby has going for it, mostly, is Rosemary herself. Saldana's terrific as a gutsy mother-to-be who knows something's wrong but can't get anyone to believe her. And Holland's direction maintains whatever suspense is possible. Which is only so much.

The script can be remedially hokey, but Saldana turns in a feisty and believable performance as a mother fighting for the life of her unholy spawn.

Thursday’s conclusion drags a bit if only because the miniseries requires Rosemary to be so deeply stupid for so long, and it’s not entertaining watching Saldana being practically sucked dry by her infernal fetus.

Nice to look at, good performances, but ultimately a snooze.

Rosemary's Baby is not terrible. Where the original film was shocking, this version, though bloody, is fairly mild.

NBC’s Rosemary’s Baby, which premieres Sunday night and finishes up on Thursday, is a not-great remake, but it is also a not-entirely-horrible miniseries, a beneficiary of the soft standards of low expectations.

Saldana seems to be sleepwalking through most of it, and we rarely feel Rosemary’s fear. Rather than jumping in your seat, you’re more likely to pick up a magazine.

The cast is very good, perhaps showing just how competent they are as they maintain a tenuous hold on our interest long after the film has dropped the credibility ball.

The new Rosemary’s Baby is, at best, a glossy, flat reminder that there are better versions of this story readily available. At worst, it’s just flat.

The problem for the miniseries is that what it adds to fill the extra time feels like padding.

The miniseries is leaden and slack. Part of the problem maybe simply be bloat.... But the greater problem is Rosemary and Guy, who are as anesthetically generic as a couple in a credit-card commercial.

Steeped in gore but deprived of atmosphere, this update on the Satanic classic suffers from its contemporary setting and attendant improvements in obstetrics, while feeling closer in tone to a remake of “The Omen” than of its namesake.

It won't take you long to recognize this inept remake for the dull, clumsy bore it is.

Even with actors who have done good work elsewhere, this Baby is a curiously lifeless “reimagining” with a thoroughly modern polish that actually makes the story harder to believe and lands well short of its target of generating atmospheric chills.

In nearly every scene of this Baby, you're judging it against the Polanski version and wishing you were watching that one instead. The writing is jumbled, the photography often merely pretty, the direction often shockingly clumsy.

Nothing is remotely atmospheric, death scenes are predictable and boringly filmed, the best friend character might as well be wearing a red shirt, and the dialogue and plotting are horrendously executed.

Roman and Margaux Castavet (scene-stealing Jason Isaacs and Carole Bouquet, the best reasons to tune in). Closer in tone to ABC's failed 666 Park Avenue homage than to Roman Polanski's still-haunting 1968 adaptation, this Baby isn't likely to keep you at night.

The style, or lack thereof, works against the tale of psychological terrors to the point that the whole thing feels like a rebuke.