In the fifth episode of American Horror Stories, titled “Ba’al,” we see a demonic storyline akin to Rosemary’s Baby, but with a twist. Liv Whitley, a young wife wanting to conceive a child with her husband, is the focus of American Horror Stories episode 5. She successfully falls pregnant and gives birth after mistakenly using a demonic statue to aid her fertility. However, the ramifications are more horrible than she can handle.
The demonic pregnancy looks eerily similar to Rosemary’s Baby, a classic horror film directed by Roman Polanski in 1968. The film also follows a young, pregnant wife who fears her neighbours are members of a satanic cult, only to find out that her baby and husband are also involved in the occult plot. American Horror Stories’ demonic connection between the baby and spouse is based on the Rosemary’s Baby twist of the infant being the product of a demon, but creator Ryan Murphy adds a few of his own unsettling twists to the homage that he pays to the cult classic.
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Rosemary discovers that her baby is the antichrist at the end of Rosemary’s Baby. She attends their satanic ceremony, appalled, but is eventually shown giving in to her mother impulses.
However, in AHS, the prior demon statue was a fake, Liv’s baby Aaron is technically Matt’s, but once Liv summons the real Ba’al, American Horror Stories’ unexpected conclusion is revealed. In retaliation, Liv employed the demon to kill all of Matt’s friends and blame him for their deaths, eventually developing a consensual sexual connection with Ba’al and asking him to impregnate her.
The main difference between the two stories is that Rosemary was frightened when she discovered her kid was the antichrist, whereas American Horror Stories implies that Liv wants to have sex with Ba’al and has a demonic antichrist baby.
Definitely check this episode out!
