If horror is the film flavour of the past few seasons, and you are relishing it, then you’ve got to grab Rosemary’s Baby (SaReGaMa/Paramount; VCD Rs 199). Rated as the best horror film ever made, Roman Polanski’s admittedly gruesome adaptation of Ira Levin’s bestselling novel will nicely horrify you, all right. And, except for the nightmares, it doesn’t even look like a typical ‘horror film’. A critic says that Polanski has shot “most of the film in a very neutral and naturalistic style, thus adding to the air of reality gone out of control”. Only the nightmares scenes and the finale get the stylised treatment.

A loving young couple in Manhattan, played by John Cassavetes and Mia Farrow, are getting ready to welcome their first child. And like most first-time mothers, Mia is suffering from anxiety, confusion and fear. The husband, who is an ambitious but failed actor, makes a deal with the devil, and one part of the deal is that his career will shoot skyhigh. Polanski unerringly draws out sterling performances from his cast in a film which is a tour de force for Mia Farrow. With Ruth Gordon, as an over-solicitous neighbour, winning an Oscar. Rosemary’s Baby, which released in 1968, is transferred almost completely from novel to screen by writer-director Polanski, and is best described as a “classic chiller”.

If it’s horror movies we are talking about, it’s the 1960 Hitchcock horror hit, Psycho, that is considered “the greatest suspense thriller of all time”, and it’s on a SaReGaMa/Universal VCD (Rs 199). There is a criminal on the run (Anne Heche) who takes refuge at the motel operated by a troubled man (Vince Vaughn) whose victims encounter a grisly fate at the hands of his “mother”. Anne becomes his next victim and her disappearance prompts inquiries from her sister (Julianne Moore) and a private investigator (William H. Macy).

When Psycho released in 1960, “horror movies were all about monsters, zombies, werewolves and vampires,” as one critic put it. With Psycho, audiences were introduced to psychological thrillers. Great cinematography, eerie music, awesome acting, stand-out story, and the audiences lapped it up, making it one of the most famous movies ever made, and certainly ol’ Alfie’s biggest moneyspinner. The shower sequence where Marion Crane (Anne Heche) gets murdered is one of the most celebrated sequences in cinema. The tagline about Bates Motel, and about the film, says: “Check in. Relax. Take a shower.”

Contrived potboiler? Well, Alfred Hitchcock believed that “this picture of reality [brave handsome heroes, pure heroines, wicked villains and triumph of good over evil] was as false as it was alluring”. Check it out yourself. Relax. Then take a shower. Cool?

Here’s a combination of two great patriotic films — Chattogram Astragar Lunthan directed by Nirmal Choudhury and Biyallish directed by Hemen Gupta (Channel B; DVD Rs 299). The first one showcases one of the significant events in the history of India’s freedom struggle, the other highlights the year, 1942, that took freedom movement to its climax. Looking back, after 59 years of Independence, these films are eyeopeners.

The raid on Chattogram armoury is a thrilling episode with far-reaching effects. The film opens on the campus of Beherampore college that gradually emerged as the hotseat of sedition, the breeding ground of the young blood of Bengal. The highlight of the film is also its inspirational songs like Ooi bhubano mono mohini, Oder badhan jotoi shakto hobe (Rabindranath), Urdha gagane baje madol, Karar ooi louha kopat (Kazi Nazrul Islam), etc.

The second film is yet another documentation of people’s sacrifice. Their dedication, their unrelenting struggle to free the country. How the shackles of slavery was broken and where they derived their strength is the mainstay of this film. The film has actors like Manju De, Pradip Kumar, Bikash Roy and Sombhu Mitra. An interesting anecdote about Bikash Roy, who played the part of an Indian employed in the British troop. Roy’s acting brilliance in the role of a ruthless lackey of the British had actually urged audiences to throw slippers at the screen and abuse him. In fact, he had to stay under ‘house arrest’ for months since it wasn’t safe for him to venture out.

This is a VCD compilation of film songs by Asha Bhosle, Sagar Dake... (Channel B; VCD Rs 69) and it portrays the many moods of Asha Bhosle. Starting with a B/W clip starring Soumitra Chatterjee and Aparna Sen in Jeeban Saikate, with the song Sagar dake (music, Sudhin Dasgupta) it goes on to more recent songs from Bengali films. The album ends with another song from the same film on Side B. That apart you have songs from films like Kori diye kinlam, Tumi Je Amar, Prem Pujari, Dujone among others.