IraLevin.org
In the newest episode of the New York Times podcast Cannonball with Wesley Morris (“A Horror Movie Halloween Special: The Dread Under the Bed”
) host Morris and guest dissect “… the pleasures of dread,”
honing in on the 1968 film adaptation of Rosemary's Baby for its singularly high dread quotient – with Morris noting “… the horror
That persistent dread is part and parcel of Levin's design, as he shared in a 2003 Afterword:
You know R.L. Stine as the creator of the Goosebumps series, and much more. But we prefer to call him Dr. Sapirstine – the derivation of which we trust is readily apparent.
Having previously placed Rosemary's Baby atop his list of favorite scary books, the good doctor has now included it in his list of favorite books, adding:
Goosebumps, indeed!
Each production of Deathtrap creates its own prop window cards – the slightly-undersized posters used in the theater – depicting the former glories of now-frustrated playwright Sidney Bruhl.
We've seen many such designs over the years – but these ones from UpStage Productions in Fort Lauderdale are true standouts. (Though we're surprised to learn that Sidney was moonlighting as a screenwriter!)
(And kudos to UpStage for making Deathtrap their inaugural production – it runs from October 10th through November 2nd.)
As spooky season creeps on, the smart money seems to be on Rosemary's Baby – with the Wall Street Journal including Levin's horror classic on their new Five Best: Tales of Horror listing.
Halloween
A nice spooky season shout-out from the pages of Vogue to Levin, for crafting twin icons of feminist horror: Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives. “… he's obviously a devout feminist. His books are very pro-women …”
(And check out this 2018 Bustle piece for more along similar lines.)
What better way to welcome it than with a book club reading of Rosemary's Baby like Paper Boat Booksellers in Seattle is having this October 5th.
(Do you have a book club reading of an Ira Levin novel coming up? Let us know! Maybe we can post about it here.)
Per PageSix.com, one of actor-author Josh Pais' six favorite books (thank Uni) is Ira Levin's Prometheus Award-winning future tale of a world in uncomfortable lockstep with the direction ours is currently heading, This Perfect Day.
Top speed, Mr. Pais.
Read more about it at Playbill.com
Weighing in at eleven separate volumes, this is far and away the largest single publication of Levin's works to date – nearly his entire library! Visit Blackstone's website to see the entire Collection.
Goodreads has published
With “One of the most enduring premises of twentieth-century American fiction”
(Daily Beast), Levin's fable reads perennially "fresh" and relevant — there's a reason why it continues to inform so many new works of film and fiction in the here and now.
Blackstone Publishing's 2024 hardcover edition (at right) was fully supervised by the Levin estate, and corrects decades of errant formatting issues and typos — and in our opinion represents the best-reading edition yet published.
Orlando Weekly has published a new interview with Mia Farrow in conjunction with the Florida Film Festival screening of
Darkside Books, the Brazilian publisher of uniformly graphically-striking editions, will be releasing a new Portuguese translation (by Luci Collin) of This particularly eye-catching publication comes with a bookmark in the shape of the jacket's "missing piece," and joins Darkside's 2022 edition of 2025 saw “stereo” productions of Ira Levin and Milton Schafer's legendary 1965 musical Drat! The Cat!… one on each coast!
Here's a snippet from The Malta Independent's review of MADC's production:
“In a theatrical landscape often dominated by reboots and modern reimaginings, Deathtrap stands out as a reminder of the power of classic suspense done well. […] The packed auditorium and strong applause at curtain call said it all. This is theatre that grips, entertains, and lingers in the mind long after the final blackout. Whether you’re a lover of thrillers or simply enjoy a well-crafted, well-acted night out, Deathtrap is a must-see.”
Did you know that Ira Levin, author of Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives, also wrote side-splitting comedies?
Hot on the heels of February's Dramas omnibus edition, Blackstone Publishing today released their Levin Comedies compendium, featuring three of his stage plays that are just as hilarious as his darker works are disturbing.
From The first-ever compilation of Ira Levin's stage plays was released today. This substantial volume features three of Levin's Dramas – the biting human study Interlock, the suspenseful Dr. Cook's Garden, and the black-as-night Veronica's Room.
By turns tense, thought-provoking, and terrifying – and featuring new introductions written for the edition by the author's son Nicholas Levin – this is one room you may not want to leave.
The 1993 screen adaptation of Ira Levin's erotic thriller Sliver has been reissued by Vinegar Syndrome in a new 4K UHD transfer made from the original 35mm camera master. (Slightly less fancy edition available here and elsewhere.)
You can read more about Levin's novel here, and its 1993 film adaptation here.
A brand-new reading edition of Deathtrap has just been released by Blackstone Publishing – the first of four volumes collectively showcasing ten of Ira Levin's stage and television plays.
Three future omnibus volumes will focus on his comedies, dramas, and more. All (including Deathtrap) feature new reader-friendly typesettings, and introductions written for the editions by the author's son, Nicholas Levin.
"The genuine article," as Sidney Bruhl might say.
ScaryMommy.com's Samantha Darby gets this.
Some commentators don't understand that Rosemary makes a reasoned, character-based choice – mistakenly thinking that Levin simply couldn't conceive (to coin a term) of a woman taking a different path. (Despite Terry Gionoffrio doing just that!)
That reading Levin's timeless tale has become a yearly Halloween tradition for Ms. Darby is just icing on the (spooky) cake.
Visit our 7A page to learn about Terry's actual role in Levin's seminal novel, and its renowned 1968 filming.
As their artistic director told Florida Today, "What playwright Ira Levin does so brilliantly is to set the scares not in a haunted house or a graveyard, but in a beautiful garden, an idyllic Vermont community. He brings the horror out of the dark and into broad daylight. And Levin's dialogue is so naturalistic and true to life that it's easy to suspend disbelief."
We wish MCT the best with their run of Levin's "gripping exploration of the darker side of human nature."
Happy Birthday to the author of Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, A Kiss Before Dying, Deathtrap, The Boys from Brazil, Critic's Choice, Sliver, This Perfect Day, Drat! The Cat!, Veronica's Room…
Levin envisioned a disturbingly plausible future dystopia – one which presents as its opposite; a 'benign' vision, which increasingly aligns with our own tech-heavy world's present, and future trajectory.
This edition features a new afterword from renowned Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel.
Unfolding in a 'sliver' building (like this strictly illustrative example) Levin memorialized many of his Carnegie Hill neighborhood's actual fixtures (such as those seen here) in creating this unnerving 'cautionary' tale.
Sliver contains a new introduction by award-winning screenwriter and producer Rockne S. O'Bannon.
No, not Sidney Bruhl. Today would have been venerable Hollywood director Sidney Lumet's 100th birthday. Lumet directed the 1982 screen adaptation of Levin's comedy-thriller stage classic Deathtrap (still the fifth longest-running play in Broadway history). As Sidney B. might've said, here's to an actual "gifted director"!
What's perhaps most thrilling about the edition is the new Afterword contributed by Dr. Efraim Zuroff, real-life Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. (The book's central character, Yakov Liebermann, is a fictionalization of Wiesenthal.)
After nearly 50 years, Levin's boys are still going strong. (Read more about this classic thriller here.)
Congratulations to the Oswego Players on receiving six, count 'em, six Theatre Association of New York State TANYS awards for their recent production of Deathtrap.
Blackstone also released their hardcover edition of The Stepford Wives today, and it is simply beautiful.
The Levin estate worked directly with Blackstone on the hardcover to restore the first edition's layout, and all the other niceties lost to a half-century of reissues – while eradicating all known typos (some dating back to the first edition itself), and other such distractions which had crept in over the years. All resulting in the most definitive, best-reading edition to roll into town since Levin's iconic tale was first published.
The Levin estate had no role in its creative development – and as such is eager, along with everyone else, to see what they've done with the place.
(Levin of course made no secret that nearly everyone involved with the filming of Rosemary's Baby claimed credit for Farrow's casting.)
“Luckily, I had that book [by Ira Levin], so though we didn't shoot it in sequence, I was able to always know where I was.
In celebration of the holidays, here's a short seasonal reading from
Today marks the release of Blackstone Publishing's new edition of Levin's science-fiction epic This Perfect Day, recipient of the Libertarian Futurist Society's Prometheus Award.
Blackstone Publishing's new edition of Levin's taut, erotically-tinged 1991 techno-thriller Sliver was released today. In typical ahead-of-the-curve fashion, Levin contemplated more than thirty years ago how far "reality TV" might be taken.
We can now confirm that the upcoming film Apartment 7A is indeed an official, 'authorized' production (how refreshing!) based on Ira Levin's 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby.
Check out this great new piece about “The Boys from Brazil” as the book turns 48, featuring an interview with Levin's son.
Another welcome Levin Jeopardy! answer, in the current Champions Wildcard tournament, fresh on the heels of 2.19's The Boys from Brazil answer. Thanks, Jeopardy!
Check out this new piece on SyFy.com about Levin's The Boys from Brazil (the book's receiving a new edition this summer), which incorporates a brand-new interview with 1978 screen adaptation scribe Heywood Gould
Check out these mod promo shots from the Players Guild of Leonia's current production of Deathtrap (Groovy!)
Two of Ira Levin's best-known novels are currently being featured in new museum exhibits: Rosemary's Baby at the Museum of the City of New York, and The Stepford Wives at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Check 'em out! (And let us know if you spot any in your neck of the woods!)
Check out this promotional video for the UK's Mill at Sonning production of Deathtrap. (And get Sidney some meds!)
We mourn the passing of actor David Soul, whom we were touched to read met his wife when they co-starred in a 2002 tour of Deathtrap.
Publisher's Weekly has posted an interview with prolific author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Haunted…) discussing Ira Levin's influence on his work. Check it out!
New wave legends Duran Duran have just released a list of the scariest movies to watch at Halloween, and Rosemary's Baby tops the list: “The only Halloween movie to get an emphatic thumbs up from both founding members of Duran Duran was based on Ira Levin’s 1967 Satanic novel of the same name.”
"Goosebumps" creator R.L. Stine has published a list of his favorite scary books, with Rosemary's Baby in the top slot. (Stine has earlier generously dubbed Levin's novel "The best thriller ever written.")
The 1968 film adaptation of Levin's Rosemary's Baby was just named “The Best horror movie set in New York State” by The Hard Times
A Kiss Before Dying has just been named to Time Magazine's list of the 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time
Here's a refreshingly non-spooky October feature on Michael Caine's top thriller films, featuring the screen adaptation of Deathtrap
In the wake of Rosemary's Baby's NY Fashion Week appearance, InStyle writes “Prim, proper, and … Parisian? It's not the perfect formula for a Stepford wife, per se, but Kendall Jenner's look at the Schiaparelli presentation today at Paris Fashion Week seemed to draw from the perfectly coiffed look of Ira Levin's satirical work.”
“Rosemary’s Baby was a reference point. [Designer Joseph Altuzarra] had a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of the Ira Levin book placed on every guest seat.”
(Vogue)
Check out these moody promo photos of John Budzyna as Sidney Bruhl in Portsmouth, New Hampshire's Player's Ring production of Deathtrap
Paramount is issuing a 4K edition of Rosemary's Baby in time for spooky season
• Standalone
• Boxed set
Having recently been dubbed one of the 25 Most Significant New York City Novels From the Last 100 Years by the New York Times, Levin's classic Rosemary's Baby was just named one of Esquire's 50 Best Mysteries of All Time
IraLevin.org has received a top-to-bottom overhaul. We're still the same site (Honest, Joanna!) – just brimming with new content and information about Ira Levin and his works
Musical theater aficionados – pounce, don't jump – on this terrific new YouTube walkthrough of Levin's musical Drat! The Cat!
(Yes, the man who wrote Rosemary's Baby also wrote a Broadway musical)
Seattle gallery Roq Le Rue held a Stepford Wives exhibit featuring painted illustrations created by talented area artist Laurie Lee Brom for Suntup Press's upcoming limited edition of The Stepford Wives
IRALEVIN.org – The Official Website of Author Ira Levin
