Two days only: March 24 (11 a.m.) and March 26 (7 p.m.) at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway. This is one of their monthly Essential Cinema films, free of charge or $5 suggested donation.

Arguably the supreme masterpiece in the extraordinary canon of maverick writer-director John Cassavetes, A Woman Under the Influence was a landmark film in many ways, not least because it was one of the first true independent American films, self-financed and booked into art houses by the director himself. This harrowing and often humorous drama charts the emotional meltdown of a suburban housewife named Mabel (played with jaw-dropping intensity by Cassavetes’ real-life wife Gena Rowlands, who received an Oscar nomination and numerous prizes for her astonishing performance, including the Golden Globe and the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress), and its effects on her blue-collar Italian family. Mabel’s increasingly bizarre behavior frightens her children and forces her confused yet loving husband (played with heart-rending vulnerability by Peter Falk, then at the height of his Columbo TV fame) to commit her for psychiatric treatment, leaving the family even more dysfunctional than before. The story unspools not through melodrama but in long, spontaneous takes that escalate in intensity as Mabel’s mental instability increases, resulting in one of the most devastating portraits of a relationship ever committed to the screen. The project came from an idea by Rowlands, who was interested in being in a play about the problems faced by contemporary women. However, when Cassavetes presented her with the script, Rowlands knew she would never be able to maintain the intensity on stage night after night so it became a motion picture. Cassavetes was eventually forced to fund the project through loans from family and friends, as the film production establishment feared no one would want to see a film about “a crazy, middle-aged dame.” As it turns out, the world did indeed want to see such a film, and A Woman Under the Influence not only went on to become a critical smash, but a box-office hit as well. (Dir. by John Cassavetes, 1974, US, 155 min. Rated R) HD Digital

I first say this classic movie decades ago when women’s mental health issues were coming to the forefront as part of the feminist movement. And being as March is Women’s “Herstory” Month, watch this dramatic movie to find out this particular woman’s story.

The film that devilishly paved the way for such subsequent big studio horror blockbusters as The Exorcist and The Omen, Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby is a fiendishly clever hybrid of mainstream thrills and arthouse chills. Beautiful young couple Guy (played by legendary filmmaker John Cassavetes) and Rosemary (Mia Farrow, in the iconic role that catapulted her from actress to major celebrity) rent a fabulous apartment in New York’s fabled brownstone The Dakota, down the hall from an eccentric older couple—Minnie and Roman Castevet (Ruth Gordon in an Oscar-winning performance, and Sidney Blackmur).

The Castavets redefine “nosy neighbors” and Guy seems to revel in their attention as he tries to get his acting career off the ground. When a Broadway star mysteriously goes blind, Guy sees a possible break. After a night of wild celebratory sex, Rosemary becomes pregnant. But is Rosemary’s blessed event actually part of Guy’s unholy bargain for success? And is everyone around her really part of a satanic plot designed to ensnare Rosemary and her baby, or is it all just a figment her over-active imagination? Surely the Devil can’t be alive and well and looking for an heir in modern-day Manhattan … right?

Based on Ira Levin’s best-selling novel, Rosemary’s Baby spins a web of paranoia and fear perfectly in keeping with the cultural/political climate of the late ’60s, and the film generated major controversy due to its shocking themes of Satanism and a Godless society. The film was on its way to being directed by infamous schlock-meister William Castle (The Tingler), who secured the rights to the novel and produced the film, until Paramount chief Robert Evans brought director Roman Polanski on board. Polanski’s sterling reputation as a serious art director with a penchant for suspense (based on such offbeat thrillers as Knife in the Water and Repulsion) took the project out of the realm of a “B” genre picture, and placed it firmly in the “A” list category. Infusing the story with wicked black humor and extremely unsettling ambiguity, Polanski turned this tale of “a woman in trouble” into one of the most profoundly creepy films to ever escape from a major Hollywood studio..

After I first saw this movie, I couldn’t sleep for days and I didn’t want to ever get pregnant. Later I saw another Roman Polanski horror film “The Tenant” which was even more disturbing. So enjoy this film if you are a horror film lover, and Happy Halloween on October 31. And pray for Rosemary’s baby.