CHINATOWN

GENRE:  Crime/ Drama/ Mystery
MADE:  1974
CAST:  Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
DIRECTOR:  Roman Polanski
WRITER:  Robert Towne, Roman Polanski

PLOT:  Approached by the wife of one of the owners of the Los Angeles Water Department detective Gittes agrees to take on an adultery case when the husband is murdered, leading Gittes into investigating a scheme behind the scenes of the people running the water department.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Ghost Writer, L.A. Confidential, Gone Baby Gone

SCORE:

THE NINTH GATE

GENRE:  Horror/ Mystery/ Thriller
MADE:  1999
CAST:  Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin
DIRECTOR:  Roman Polanski
WRITER:  Arturo Perez-Reverte, John Brownjohn, Enrique Urbizu, Roman Polanski

PLOT:  Dean Corso is a rare books dealer, while looking for the last two copies of a demon text, Corso begins to get drawn into a supernatural conspiracy.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Rosemary's Baby, From Hell, The Mothman Prophecies, The Omen

SCORE:

ROSEMARY'S BABY

GENRE:  Drama/ Horror/ Mystery
MADE:  1968
CAST:  Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon
DIRECTOR:  Roman Polanski
WRITER:  Ira Levin, Roman Polanski

PLOT:  A young couple moves into a New York apartment with an eccentric old couple as neighbors.  Things are strange and shaky between the young couple and only get worse when they get pregnant.  As their pregnancy furthers and their due date gets near the young girl falls into paranoia and thoughts of a conspiracy against her deepens.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Omen, The Shining, The Reaping

SCORE:

NOTE:  The film is neither slow nor fast paced, the driving force of the film is the mystery.  The anticipation of the baby being born, which ultimately is the ending of the film is where the viewers sole interest lies, this is what I found kept my attention. There is something oddly creepy about the film and what it is that makes it so I'm unable to say, perhaps that is what makes it a great film.