Apartment 7A, 2024.
Directed by Natalie Erika James.
Starring Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu, Rosy McEwen, Andrew Buchan, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Julia Westcott-Hutton, Nikkita Chadha, James Swanton, Anton Blake Horowitz, Patrick Lyster, Amy Leeson, Brooke Walter, Mellanie Hubert, and Scott Hume.
SYNOPSIS:
A struggling dancer finds herself drawn into dark forces by a peculiar couple promising her fame.
In 1976, there was a made-for-TV sequel to Rosemary’s Baby titled Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby. It’s also a fitting title for this insulting prequel, Apartment A, which is mostly a stealth modern horror remake and an inferior version in every way. Replacing important aspects like nuance and characterization are now the usual onslaught of jump scares, more overt supernatural horror (which really comes through in an ending that’s breaking the film’s internal rules and mostly doesn’t make any sense, likely because it’s more concerned with forcing its way to a particular character’s fate in Rosemary’s Baby), and an abundance of nightmare sequences rather than one terrifying demonic impregnation sequence (a variation of that is still here although it makes no chilling impression whatsoever.)
Co-writer/director Natalie Erika James collaborates with screenwriters Christian White and Skylar James (of course, inspired by Ira Levin’s with no mention of Roman Polanski’s adaptation anywhere, which could mean this interpretation of characters sticks closer to the book, although that isn’t too likely, so it mostly comes across as a studio understandably not wanting to credit a criminal filmmaker who fled the country) have taken it upon themselves to tell a story of the events leading up to drug-addicted Terry Gionoffrio’s suicide. It’s also odd that the marketing (poster and official synopsis) apparently doesn’t want people to know that this is a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby, as if they know anyone unfamiliar who, theoretically, might be enjoying this, will change their tune once they realize it’s a cheap imitation remake using a supporting character from that film.
Anyway, played by Julia Garner, Terry is an aspiring dancer down on her luck and living with a friend named Annie (Marli Siu), who is pursuing the same dream. They audition for similar roles, confide in one another about rejection, and generally have each other’s backs, although Terry understandably wants some independence and a place of her own. Following a rough audition with director Alan Marchand (Jim Sturgess) prying into Terry’s upbringing on a pig farm and using that against her to see if she will humiliate herself to be cast in a role, she comes across notoriously deceptive elderly couple Minnie and Roman Castevet (Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally, fine enough filling the shoes of extraordinary portrayals that came before)) who claim to be kind souls who love helping people to the point that they own the neighboring apartment and love sticking guests in there until they sort out their lives.
Anyone who has seen Rosemary’s Baby knows what they are really up to, but the issue is that it isn’t going to come across as shocking, upsetting, or horrifying here because so much of this take on the material simply feels neutered, and only interested in mainstream horror tropes. Setting some of this inside the world of dancing admittedly makes for one or two strikingly shot numbers, which sometimes end up contorted into a satanic environment (a neat atmospheric effect and one of the only interesting ideas the film has going for it), but when it comes to essentially trying to redo Rosemary’s Baby, well, you will wish you were watching that instead.
There are also attempts to tackle pressing modern topics in the old-fashioned 1960s (not to mention surrounded by zealotry), such as abortion and abuse of power dynamics in show business, all of which are presented in hollow form. The only reason any of that comes close to being engaging is due to Julia Garner, who is doing what she can to find complexity in the character amid an awkward situation of supposedly nice people trying to gift-wrap her an easier life in exchange for some extreme wants. She also crushes the climactic dance number, coincidently the film’s only intense sequence. Aside from that, Apartment 7A is a meandering chunk of nothing, slowly shuffling its way to inevitability while laughably trying to put its spin on the same character dynamics and plot means of Rosemary’s Baby.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
