10 Embarrassingly Poor Horror Movie Monsters

Rosemary’s Baby was convicted child abuser Roman Polanski's breakthrough horror hit, which made him into a global player in cinema. It's a sophisticated portrayal of paranoia, dread, and psychological manipulation.

Happy newlyweds Rosemary and Guy move into a new Manhattan apartment, hoping to begin raising a family together. Well-situated and elegant, it's a lovely place to start their idealistic, hopeful married life.

Apart, that is, from the nosy neighbours, who turn out to be a coven of satanists intent on using Rosemary as a host for the child of the devil.

One of the main accomplishments of the film is to create a crazed atmosphere of uncertainty, foreboding, and suspicion. It relies almost entirely on strong character work, with insinuation and suggestion doing all of the heavy lifting and only a few well-judged shock moments.

The monster letdown comes in one of the only scenes that features any kind of effects work. There's a delirious sequence on "baby night", when Rosemary is drugged so that she can be inseminated by Satan. From Rosemary's perspective, we see something that is supposed to be some kind of shadowy, beastly figure, clearly raping her in her sleep.

It’s a bloke in a rubbish suit, though, and it drains all of the credibility and emotional intensity out of one of the most important scenes of the film. A poorly-timed bit of crap costume punctures what should be a skin-crawlingly horrible crescendo.