Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Ruth Gordon’s Minnie Castevet talks too loud, wears outfits you can hear from the hallway and keeps dropping by with a homemade health drink, and she’s the most frightening thing in Rosemary’s Baby. She’s also so funny you almost miss how trapped Rosemary is getting. The horror here is slow and social: doctors who wave off her pain, a husband who keeps changing the subject, friends who get pushed out one by one. Mia Farrow is extraordinary, going from cheerful newlywed to pale, frightened and stubborn, and you believe every step. John Cassavetes plays Guy as a charmer who’s hard to read, which is exactly right. The flaw is the pace. At 137 minutes, the middle stretch circles the same doubts again and again, and it can feel slow before the final act snaps shut. Critics gave it 97% and a 96 on Metacritic. A 9.1 because it makes ordinary niceness feel like a trap. $119 says the next neighbor who knocks with a casserole gets a polite smile and a closed door.

What works: Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon are brilliant, and the slow build of paranoia makes everyday kindness feel sinister.

What doesn’t: At 137 minutes, the middle stretch repeats the same doubts and can feel slow before the final act tightens.

Who it’s for: People who like their horror slow, social and paranoid, with no jump scares required.