The scene in Rosemary's baby where she gets impregnated by the devil has always given me the willies. The rest of the movie is not all that spooky, although a bunch of old people chanting "hail Satan" does creep me out. I've always wished they would have shown the baby at the end though. "The eyes!" C'mon, show us the eyes! I'm sticking with the 5 though.

Rosemary's Baby is one of those movies, like Paranormal Activity, where you have to be able to empathise with the main character in order to understand why it is scary. If you can't share her feelings of betrayal and uncertainty, her complete isolation, not knowing who, if anyone, she can trust, or if she can even trust her own senses, then you won't find this movie scary.

It's not a judgemental statement- it's just a matter of fact- some people are not able to feel ampathy, to put themselves in someone else's world and feel what they feel. Certain movies require this in order to get the full effect.

Although I agree that that's true for many people, I'm actually diagnosed as hypersensitive and usually react strongly to the emotions of people around me, so I don't really think that's my own problem with the movie. But for me to feel empathy for a character in a movie, the character has to be believeable - and whatever happens around them has to be believeable too. If it's not, then it's "just a movie", and it won't trigger any emotions in me at all.

If the mother was a REAL person, and not a character in a movie, obviously I'd feel emapthy for her. Some movies or actors are so good that they kind of make you "forget" that what you're watching isn't real, but that's not the case with Rosemary's Baby - in my opinion.

This. I also first saw this when my ex girlfriend was pregnant with my daughter and so I could empathize with her fears of anyone harming the baby and her own fear of the baby

I guess you'll have to be content to be in the minority on that point. Mia Farrow was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for her portrayal. Variety called her performance "outstanding." Rotten Tomatoes consensus on the film (which maintains a 98% fresh rating) states "A frightening tale of Satanism and pregnancy that is even more disturbing than it sounds thanks to convincing and committed performances by Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon." Ira Levin, who wrote the book, liked her performance so much he dedicated his sequel to her.

And of course, the status of the film as a true classic, which it would not be able to maintain if the performance of the central character was weak.

I definitely agree that the film is absolutely brilliant and when I watched it I was absolutely captivated. It is an all-round amazing film. I also agree that Mia Farrow's performance was excellent; she definitely deserved any awards she won or was nominated for. To me, she seemed like a genuine person and not just a movie character. I completely understand all the arguments presented here. I simply never regarded the film as scary. Of course, I have Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism), so sympathy/empathy have always been difficult concepts for me. Ultimately, I understand why some of you think it is scary; I simply never thought of it as such.

NOTLD - 5

My earliest zombie-based nightmares can all be attributed to this movie (though there was never a house handy to hole up in; I would find myself climbing trees)

Rosemary's Baby - 5

One of the single most genuinely unsettling movies I've ever seen.

Night of the Living Dead - 4
Rosemary's Baby - 5
Spirits of the Dead - haven't seen it

A lot of bad actors and crappy movies have won awards - but I'm not really saying the movie is crap, because obviously a lot of people love it. It just doesn't work for me. To be honest with you though, I think the fact that I was raised as a Jehovas Witness - and my struggles as a teen to break free from i - might influence how I respond to movies with similar themes in general.

I think the way I respond to movies such as Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist might be very different than it would have been if I had grown up as a "normal" kid. Then again, there are movies in that genre of horror that definitely made me uncomfortable.

Night of the Living Dead: 4
Rosemary's Baby: 4
Spirits of the Dead: Not seen it, but that is quite a cast.