Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby (1976)

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This belated sequel to the original hit film has been widely condemned by reviewers and fans of the original since it was first released back in 1976. I think they're being a little unfair, because this is certainly acceptable viewing and it works well in places as an atmospheric and subtle little thriller. It probably would have worked better had it not been a sequel to ROSEMARY'S BABY, a film it feels nothing like despite the return of Ruth Gordon in her skin-crawling role.The film pulls the trick of swapping Patty Duke for a missing Mia Farrow, although it's a switch that you never really buy. The emphasis now is on the baby as a young man, with most of the running time occupied by Adrian feeling conflicted over the good and evil within him and struggling to battle the forces of evil, led by an enjoyably polite and genteel Ray Milland. Adrian is played by Stephen McHattie, who I know as an actor from the likes of 300 and A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (he was one of the coffee shop robbers in the latter) but didn't realise was acting as far back as the 1970s.LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ROSEMARY'S BABY is episodic in places and the early sequences feel rather disjointed, although it all plays out better from the mid section onward. The ending is more than a little predictable. Overall, this feels more like an OMEN film than a sequel to ROSEMARY'S BABY, and there's no doubt that the success of THE OMEN saw it hastily written and released. As black magic thrillers from the 1970s go, though, it's a very middling genre instalment.

I was always curious about this sequel and I finally saw it on YouTube. There is one very good asset to this movie: it contains 4 Oscar winners: Patty Duke (1962 winner for The Miracle Worker) playing Rosemary; Ray Milland (1945 winner for The Lost Weekend) playing Roman; Broderick Crawford (winner for All the king's men) playing a sheriff; and of course last but not least, Ruth Gordon (1968 best supporting actress for the original film, Rosemary's Baby). That's pretty much it. From what I saw it has very little to do with Ira Levin's original. He certainly doesn't receive any acknowledgment in the credits. The screenwriter seems to be speculating about what happened after the first film ended. It doesn't even pickup from New York like the original film. And for any Seinfeld fans out there: if you look closely, the guy who plays Adrian later portrayed Elaine's "Svengali" psychologist/boyfriend. I gave this film one star for each Oscar winner that was in this film. They are the only good things about it.

It probably goes without saying but Rosemary's Baby was a film that did not need a sequel. It ends on a tense yet perfect note, to elaborate further just seems misguided. But this is the movies and this is the way things go. I am sure that the primer for this particular sequel was the massive success of The Omen which was released the same year as this one. It seems likely that some executives somewhere thought that a cash-in follow-up to Rosemary's baby would be just the ticket and while I think it was a bad idea overall to make such a film, there is nevertheless some potential for it being enjoyable if it's made with a bit of care and thought. That's the problem though because Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby is a movie that has not been made with any care or consideration whatsoever.It is a TV movie. But this isn't any kind of excuse because I have seen several television films from the period and have found the standard to have been pretty good overall. The main problem is that it simply has a badly written screenplay. At the start Rosemary and son Adrian run away from the satanic cult. She re-locates somewhere in the Midwest but is soon removed from the scene by supernatural powers when she is taken away on a strange driver-less bus. Her son is then taken under the wing of a mysterious woman. We fast-forward in time and encounter the now adult Adrian who is now visited by the Satanists who want to see if they can unleash the evil within him.To be honest, it's an awkwardly told story that has little focus. It's broken up into three named chapters and despite this sounding like a good idea; it's only interesting on paper and doesn't really add anything. Rosemary herself is taken out the film early on and we then focus on her son but he isn't really a very interesting character, especially when you consider he is meant to be the son of Satan. He mopes around a lot and doesn't in truth do much; while I failed to understand why the plot-line was designed to not take full advantage of him being the Devil's son instead of making him a reluctant victim who the cultists are quite prepared to kill. This film should have had him out there causing perturbation and despair! He occasionally lets his powers loose, although he doesn't seem aware of them and they don't amount to much more than glowing eyes and super-strength. He even kills a couple of kids when he is a boy, although this incident is dealt with like it's a minor incident of little importance! Also of note is a bizarre scene later on where the Satanists involve Adrian in some ceremony where he is whitened up like a mime artist. I couldn't work out the point of this scene but it was a little bit memorable at the very least.The only cast member to return is Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet and she definitely adds a bit of class to proceedings. But every other character is replaced with a new actor. It's not really too surprising when you consider the TV budget though. It's overall a film that looks really bad when compared to the original movie. But, unfortunately, even as a standalone production this one is pretty bad as well.

If you thought "ROSEMARY'S BABY" was bad, this one isn't much better. Easily one of the worst movies ever made, like it's lame predecessor, it goes nowhere fast. Rating: 1/2* out of *****