‘Cursed Films II’ Recap: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 202 of ‘Cursed Films’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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When we last settled in to discuss the wondrous Shudder series, Cursed Films II, we talked at length about how the notion of a cursed film comes to fruition. Simply because, it is genuinely fascinating to know that people hold to the belief that a particular moment or act can suddenly bring dark forces down upon the making of a movie or curse its cast postproduction. But folks do and they hold to that belief tightly for various reasons. Such as say, the possibility that mocking or exposing something that one shouldn’t in the first place, can awaken something sinister behind the scenes and motivate it to punish those involved. Which is a concept that is supremely relevant to our discussion today, because that’s basically what people think regarding Rosemary’s Baby.
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For this powerful horror film, made in 1968, revolved around the rise of Satanists that manipulate an innocent soul into having intercourse with the Devil so that she will in turn give birth to the Anti-Christ and bring about the end times. Which back then (and even now…) was a bold story to bring forth. Since the Christian roots present in this nation would and did, easily take offense to a mainstream movie that spotlights God’s greatest foe and well, the fundamental beliefs about spotlighting evil in our world that the Christian faith warns against, are indeed a deciding factor as to why so many see this movie as cursed. Because shortly after it was released, so many bad things happened to the cast and crew members.

For instance, William Castle, the producer of this film… came upon hard times after it was released. To the point where his pride was shattered by the angry response to the film, and his career pretty much cooled as well. Which is perhaps, the lightest outcome of the wild stories surrounding this film. Take the post Rosemary’s journey of Victoria Vetri for instance. Because after enjoying wild success in the 1960s as an actor, she too fell upon hard times after taking a role in the movie. To the point where she spent a little time in prison for shooting her husband in the back and now… time has taken some of her memories away from her, as evidenced by how hard it was for to her focus on the past in her interview segment in this story. But even then, issues like that can be attributed to coincidence over curse. Which is why what came next for Director Roman Polanski is important to spotlight.

For a year after this movie was released, major tragedy befell him. For he was the husband to Sharon Tate, who on one fateful August night in 1969, was brutally murdered by Charlie Manson’s ‘family’. Which was a horrific act that still is explored and discussed to this day. But there are definite overtones of a curse when it comes to that, since Polanski led the charge on creating this film, leaving so many to believe that he somehow awakened something dark and that those very forces were eager to punish and well… the fact that we have no definitive answers on whether or not that kind of dark energy exists in our world, allows for this fear to persist. In fact, William’s daughter has such great concerns about that possibility, that she won’t go near the devil themed cigar box Mia Farrow gave her dad as an end of production gift.

But all of that aside, this really was a fascinating episode of the show. One that really dug deep into the origins of what motivates people to believe a film is cursed and how that theory persists, and well… that made for one powerful episode. One that also paid proper respect to the tragedy of the La Bianca-Tate Murders by speaking to impact over theory and it just goes to show that this series, really is one of the most dynamic documentaries out there. Because of its desire to remain neutral and to present everything in an objective light and writer/director Jay Cheel deserves a round of applause for simply exploring the origins of concerns for this film, rather than passing judgment or pushing us one way or another. And it will be genuinely fascinating to dive into other reasons as to why people believe a movie can be cursed, as season two continues along. Until next time.  

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