JP Nunez
Do we really need a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby? More to the point, do we really need a prequel about a D-level side character whose fate we already know? I don’t know about you, but when I first heard about Apartment 7A, I was skeptical. Horror prequels don’t have a great track record, and at first, this one seemed particularly unappealing. It’s about the Castevets’ first victim, the woman who jumps out of their window in the opening act of Rosemary’s Baby, and on paper, that sounds like a horrible idea.
But when I found out who was directing the movie, I did a complete 180. Apartment 7A was helmed by Natalie Erika James, the woman who burst onto the scene with the 2020 gem Relic, and if you’ve seen that film, you know why I instantly became excited for her sophomore feature. Relic is one of the best horror movies of this decade, so I couldn’t wait to see how James would handle her first major studio gig.
Apartment 7A was directed and co-written by the aforementioned Natalie Erika James, and it stars Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, and Marli Siu. In the film, Terry Gionoffrio is a struggling dancer who wants nothing more than to make it big, but an ankle injury threatens to derail all her hopes and dreams. Luckily (or so it seems), she randomly meets an elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet, and they immediately take a liking to the young woman.
They let her live rent-free in an apartment next to theirs, and soon enough, Terry’s fortunes appear to change. She gets some big breaks in her dancing career, but when she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she quickly begins to suspect that something isn’t quite right. She thinks she’s at the center of a satanic conspiracy, and despite the fame and fortune the Castevets promise her, she doesn’t want any part of their deceptive cult.
Like most prequels, Apartment 7A suffers a bit from being beholden to its predecessor. If you’re familiar with Rosemary’s Baby, you know exactly where Terry’s story is headed, and no amount of cinematic gymnastics can change that. This movie plays out exactly the way you’d expect, so the story isn’t exactly its strong point. In fact, as Apartment 7A goes on, it eventually starts to feel more like a remake of Rosemary’s Baby than a prequel.
It has all the hallmarks of the Castevets’ diabolical coven, like the spherical charm containing tannis root, a demonic sex scene, and Dr. Abe Sapirstein dishing out horrible pregnancy advice, and the cult’s MO is pretty much exactly what it was back in 1968. There’s even a shot of Minnie through Terry’s keyhole, so I suspect that some people are going to find this film a bit too similar to its legendary predecessor.
But not me. I think director Natalie Erika James executes this derivative story well enough that it’s still worth a watch, and the main characters are especially delightful. Let’s start with Terry. She’s played excellently by Julia Garner, and from the moment you first meet her, she exudes a charm and believability that make her an absolute joy to follow.
You can’t help but root for this young woman to succeed, so you’ll be right there with her as she experiences all the ups and downs of this emotional roller coaster. You’re sad when Terry injures her ankle, you’re happy when she gets back on her feet after meeting the Castevets (even if you know the truth about them), and you worry when things begin to go south, so you’ll be invested in her journey from start to finish.
But as great as Julia Garner is in the role, the best performance in Apartment 7A just might belong to Dianne Wiest. She plays Minnie, and I have to be honest, when I saw the trailer for this movie, I thought she felt more like a Minnie impersonator than the real thing. But in the actual film, she’s a worthy successor to the Oscar-winning Ruth Gordon (the actress who played the character in Rosemary’s Baby).
From the moment this woman opens her mouth and you hear that squeaky New York accent, she feels almost exactly like the Minnie Castevet we know and love, but Wiest also gets to add a bit of her own unique touch to the role. There are a couple of brief moments when Minnie lets her sinister side shine through her overly polite veneer, and Wiest totally nails those scenes as well. It’s really a great performance all around, so the one-two punch of her and Julia Garner as Terry is more than enough to make Apartment 7A a fun time.
In contrast, Kevin McNally doesn’t entirely hit the mark as Roman. He has the warm, almost grandfatherly demeanor that helped make the character so great in the original film, but he lacks the booming sense of authority Sidney Blackmer brought to the role all those decades ago. It’s a bit of a disappointment given how good Dianne Wiest is as his wife, but it’s by no means a bad performance. I still enjoyed Roman for what he was, and with two other great characters to pick up the slack, I barely minded his deficiencies at all.
Last but not least, we have to talk about the horror in Apartment 7A. It’s a mix of jump scares, tense atmosphere, and a few other random frights, and to be frank, it doesn’t go nearly as hard as I would’ve liked. In particular, I really wanted the movie to go all-out in the third act, but instead, the finale goes for a more Rosemary’s Baby-esque approach. It focuses primarily on the psychological terror of its diabolical story, but since we know exactly where this is all headed, it just ends up feeling a bit lackluster.
That being said, the movie does have plenty of fun moments. Most notably, there’s a scare involving a pair of hands (you’ll know it when you see it) that I found particularly effective, and at the one-hour mark or so, we get a cool scene that I, for one, was not expecting. So somewhat like the character of Roman Castevet, the horror in Apartment 7A is an enjoyable mixed bag. I wanted it to be better, but it’s good enough that I mostly enjoyed it for what it was.
And when you combine that good-enough horror with the likable characters (especially Minnie and Terry), you get a prequel that’s worth a watch even if it’s not a must-see. Sure, this film is probably not going to win any Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, and it’s not one of the best horror movies of the year. But if you have some free time in the next few weeks and you’re looking for something good to watch, I suggest giving Apartment 7A a shot.
Apartment 7A had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 20, and it’s going to screen again at the festival on September 23. The film is also set to hit Paramount+ and become available for digital purchase on September 27.
