What actually happens
The apartment comes with a pendant
Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse take an apartment in the Bramford, an enormous Gothic building in New York City. The apartment's last tenant, an elderly woman, had fallen into a coma and died. Their friend Hutch warns them about the building's history of witchcraft and murder, and they ignore him. Rosemary meets Terry Gionoffrio, a young woman recovering from drug addiction whom the Woodhouses' elderly next-door neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet, took in. Terry shows off a pendant necklace the Castevets gave her. Rosemary likes it but dislikes the strong smell. Soon after, Terry is found dead after what looks like a jump from the Castevets' seventh-floor apartment. The Castevets then befriend Guy and Rosemary. Guy grows fond of them, while Rosemary finds them annoying and nosy. Minnie gives her Terry's tannis root pendant as a good luck charm.
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Baby night comes with chocolate mousse
Guy gets a big part in a play after the actor who had it goes blind for no reason anyone can explain, and with his career on track he wants a baby. On the night they have picked for conceiving, Minnie brings each of them a cup of chocolate mousse. Rosemary says hers has a chalky aftertaste, and Guy scolds her for it. She eats only a little and secretly throws the rest away. Then she passes out and has a dream in which a demonic figure rapes her while Guy, the Castevets and other tenants, all naked, stand around and watch. This is the scene people mean when they call the movie disturbing. It happens early and it plays out as a dream sequence. The next morning Rosemary is covered in scratches. Guy tells her they slept together while she was out cold, since he refused to skip baby night.
An obstetrician recommended by the neighbors
Rosemary becomes pregnant, and the Castevets insist that she see their close friend Dr. Sapirstein, a prominent obstetrician, instead of her own doctor, Dr. Hill. In her first trimester she suffers severe abdominal pains and loses weight, and Dr. Sapirstein says it is just stiff pelvic joints. Hutch is alarmed by how thin she looks, researches the Bramford and Roman Castevet, and arranges to meet her the next morning to share what he found. He never shows up, and a friend tells her he fell into a coma the night before. At a party she cannot hide her pain from her friends. She begins pouring Minnie's health drink down the drain and asks to see Dr. Hill for a second opinion, which makes Guy angry. During the argument the pains suddenly stop and she feels the baby kick for the first time.
The name is an anagram
Three months on, Grace Cardiff, a friend of Hutch, phones to say that he has died. Before he died he woke briefly and asked Grace to hand Rosemary a witchcraft book, along with the message that the name is an anagram. Rosemary reads it closely and works out that Roman Castevet is an anagram of Steven Marcato, whose father once lived in the Bramford and was a reputed Satanist. Rosemary concludes the Castevets are part of a Satanic coven with designs on her baby. She tells Dr. Sapirstein, who says the Castevets are about to go away on a trip because Roman is dying, so she has nothing to worry about. Guy waves off her suspicions and tosses the witchcraft book in the trash, which makes Rosemary wonder whether he is in on it.
Everyone is very sorry about the baby
Rosemary buys more books on witchcraft and reads that a coven needs something belonging to its victim to cast a spell. She calls the actor who went blind and learns from him that Guy visited and walked off with one of his neckties. That alarms her, so she grabs a bag of clothes and money and walks out. On the way to see Dr. Sapirstein, a remark from his receptionist about his tannis root smell makes her realize he is part of the coven. She runs to Dr. Hill instead, but he assumes she is delusional and phones Dr. Sapirstein, who turns up with Guy to bring her back. Back at the apartment, coven members get in and restrain her, and Dr. Sapirstein sedates her. She goes into labor and gives birth, and when she wakes up she is told the baby was stillborn. While she recovers, she hears an infant crying, which Guy says belongs to new tenants.
The ending, explained
Believing her baby is alive, Rosemary finds a hidden door in the linen closet that leads into the Castevets' apartment. Around a cradle stand the Castevets, Guy, Dr. Sapirstein and the rest of the coven. Rosemary sees the baby's eyes, which look like those of the demonic figure from her dream. Roman says the baby has his father's eyes: he is Satan's son and Guy is not the father. The night of the dream was real, and the child is meant to lead the Satanists against everyone who opposes them. Guy tries to calm her by promising a generous reward and a child of their own, and Rosemary spits in his face. Roman gently asks her to be the baby's mother, since the coven's women are too old. Stunned, she hears the baby cry and begins to rock the cradle.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Rosemary's Baby scary?
Rosemary's Baby is a 6 out of 10. It has almost no jump scares and very little gore, and the fear comes from watching nobody believe a pregnant woman about her neighbors. The dread lasts about a night.
How does Rosemary's Baby end?
Rosemary finds the coven around her baby's cradle and learns that Satan is the father. After hearing the baby cry, she begins to rock the cradle.
Does the dog die in Rosemary's Baby?
No dog dies in Rosemary's Baby, and no other animal does either.
Is there a post-credits scene in Rosemary's Baby?
No. Rosemary's Baby has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who are the Castevets in Rosemary's Baby?
Minnie and Roman Castevet are the Woodhouses' elderly next-door neighbors and members of a Satanic coven. Roman Castevet is an anagram of Steven Marcato, the son of a former resident of the Bramford and a reputed Satanist.
