Why ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Is Scarier Than ‘The Exorcist’

The original 'Rosemary's Baby' is acclaimed but 'The Exorcist' has a reputation for being the most terrifying film ever. While 'The Exorcist' is scary, it has nothing on 'Rosemary's Baby'.

Sometimes, horror history is written all wrong. The original Rosemary’s Baby is considered one of the best horror movies ever, but The Exorcist has a reputation for being the most terrifying horror film ever. While The Exorcist is scary, it has nothing on Rosemary’s Baby in the fear department.

‘Rosemary’s Baby’ has a more layered ending than ‘The Exorcist’

The Exorcist has a lot going for it, including top-notch performances, effects, and direction. It’s the rare horror movie that’s both absolutely disgusting and intelligent. If you don’t believe in the devil, the effective brutality of the ending of The Exorcist might be enough to make you doubt your disbelief — if only for a moment.

Rosemary’s Baby, on the other hand, has an ending that works on three levels. The denouement that everyone in Rosemary’s life is secretly a Satanic witch might seem far-fetched. However, it plays on a common paranoia — what if the people who supposedly love and care for you are working against you?

In addition, Rosemary’s acceptance of her child, the Antichrist, is haunting. A combination of perverse maternalism and her broken spirit causes her to decide to love Satan’s son — no matter what. Finally, the film ends with the birth of the Antichrist. The implication is that all the horrifying prophecies from the Book of Revelation are about to come true.

‘The Exorcist’ went for the jugular when it could have been more subtle

The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby are both films about Satan, but they take different approaches to the Prince of Darkness. The Exorcist shows you a lot of Lucifer. To keep up with perceptions of his terrifying nature, the movie gives us violence, vomit, and child endangerment. It pulls out all the stops.

Meanwhile, Rosemary’s Baby shows you the devil in small glimpses. It knows that no film can truly capture the unspeakable horror of Satan. Instead, it’s more about suspense and implication. For that reason, Rosemary’s Baby takes a much wiser approach to the unknowable.

The main legacy of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’

During a 2003 article republished by The Criterion Collection, Rosemary’s Baby novelist Ira Levin discussed how he came up with the idea of a demonic child. “Having observed that the most suspenseful part of a horror story is before, not after, the horror appears, I was struck one day by the thought (while not listening to a lecture) that a fetus could be an effective horror if the reader knew it was growing into something malignly different from the baby expected,” he said. “Nine whole months of anticipation, with the horror inside the heroine! Several years later, the thought came back to me when, in the wake of a Broadway flop, I was fishing for an idea for a suspense novel.”

Levin said that Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist left a similar cultural legacy behind. “The success of Rosemary’s Baby inspired Exorcists and Omens and lots of et ceteras,” he wrote. “Two generations of youngsters have grown to adulthood watching depictions of Satan as a living reality. Here’s what I worry about now: if I hadn’t pursued an idea for a suspense novel almost forty years ago, would there be quite as many religious fundamentalists around today?”