Major spoilers ahead for Apartment 7A. You’ve been warned.
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In 1968, Rosemary’s Baby came out and forever changed the horror genre. Very much a product of its time, it was full of late-60s psychedelic surrealism. It also helped introduce the subgenre of body horror and showed just how frightening pregnancy can be. Mia Farrow’s performance, which combined a doe-eyed innocence with both sweetness and desperate determination, made for a terrific female lead that women could empathize with. But most of all and most importantly, Rosemary’s Baby was scary. Now Apartment 7A hopes to recapture that dark magic by going back to The Bramford and telling the story of the girl who came before Rosemary.
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The story begins in New York in 1965, where a young woman named Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner), a chorus dancer, skillfully moves her way through Kiss Me Kate’s “Too Darn Hot.” Terry does a beautiful, balletic leap – only to roll her ankle on the landing (with a truly cringe-inducing crunching sound). There’s a dreamlike, theater-ish kind of transition between the stage and the hospital where they put her under for surgery.
Cut to months later, and Terry now walks with a definite hitch. She talks to a busker who gives her some pain meds in exchange for cash. Terry goes to her best friend Annie’s (Marli Siu) apartment, where she’s been staying. She hears Annie and her roomie arguing about when Terry’s going to move out. Then there’s a montage of failed auditions, Terry icing her ankle and popping pills, and bills piling up.
Terry goes to another audition for a show being put on by famous producer Alan Marchand (Jim Sturgess). The director (Andrew Buchan) recognizes her as “the girl who fell” and Terry reveals that she’s originally from Nebraska and her folks own a pig farm. The director tells her to repeat the same move that injured her, over and over, until it’s clear that she’s in terrible pain. Then Marchand tells her to imitate the pigs she grew up with, and Terry politely shuts him down, saying she won’t humiliate herself like that.
Annie warns Terry to ease up on the pain meds, saying she should consider going back home until she’s healed up. Terry says that dancing and seeing her name in lights is all she wants. She sees Marchand leaving and decides to follow him to his apartment building, The Bramford.
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Terry goes in and talks to the doorman (Raphael Sowole), but it’s clear that she’s taken too many pain pills. She stumbles back outside and runs into an elderly couple, Roman (Kevin McNally) and Minnie (Dianne Wiest) Castevet. Terry falls down and pukes, and Minnie and Roman take her to their apartment and put her to bed.
Terry wakes up the next morning and has breakfast with the super-friendly old couple, thanking them for their kindness. Minnie asks what happened to her leg and Terry tells her about the fall. Then Minnie and Roman show her one of the other apartments they own, and they offer it to her. Terry’s shocked and says she couldn’t possibly afford it. But Minnie says she won’t have to pay, and it’s only until she’s back on her feet.
Cut to Terry packing up and Annie warning her, like any good friend would, that moving in might be a bad idea. Terry says she can’t leech off her forever and she’s happy to let the Castevets rescue her for a while. Then as Terry’s settling into the new place, she finds a dancer’s shoe belonging to a woman named Joan Cebulski.
Terry shows the shoe to Minnie, who just dumps it in the trash. On instinct, Terry snatches it back. Minnie asks her to come and have drinks later at Alan Marchand’s apartment. Terry puts on her best face and clothes and arrives, only to find out that the Castevets conveniently ducked out.
Terry asks why he agreed to meet her, and Marchand says that Roman and Minnie are patrons of the arts with deep pockets. Besides, he was intrigued by her. Marchand shows her some concept art for the new show and then asks her what really drives her. Terry tells him that dancing was her escape after her mother died and her father fell into depression. She says she’ll do anything to recapture that feeling.
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Then Terry starts feeling woozy and Marchand helps her up. As she stumbles through the apartment getting dizzier, Marchand puts on Peggy Lee’s “You Gotta Have Heart.” Everything turns into a surreal dream combined with an awesome musical number. And somewhere in the middle of it, Terry ends up tied down to a black bed and a bejeweled demon attacks her.
Terry wakes up in the morning to find Marchand bringing her espresso and saying what a great time he had. And the good news – she’s in the show. Cut to rehearsal, where a still-woozy Terry powers through the choreography. She also notices a bruise on her wrist. The catty lead dancer, Vera (Rosy McEwen), comments that Terry’s slept her way into the show.
In the bathroom, Terry checks herself over and finds more bruises all over. When she gets home, Minnie introduces her to Mrs. Gardenia (Tina Gray) (who lives in the apartment where Rosemary will be living). Mrs. Gardenia examines Terry’s ankle and rubs some weird homemade salve on the surgical scar, saying to use it twice a day. That night, Terry has weird dreams about the elevator shaft, tunnels and a demon attacking her.
When Terry wakes up, she realizes her ankle doesn’t hurt anymore. The magical salve works – just don’t ask what’s in it. And at rehearsal, the director praises her work. Later, Terry brings Annie to the Castevets’ for a costume party. Minnie introduces Terry to the rest of the weird neighbors we’ll come to know as fellow Satan worshippers, including obstetrician Dr. Sapirstein (Patrick Lyster).
Terry leaves the neighbors and walks around, seeing secret gatherings going on. Then she sees Minnie arguing with Mrs. Gardenia, who leaves. Then Roman brings in Terry’s Christmas gift – a lovely fur coat with a necklace in the pocket (which Rosemary’s Baby fans will recognize as the one Rosemary wears later). Roman says it’s 300 years old, and the ball charm holds a bit of Tannis root. It smells bad but it brings good luck, so they say.
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In the morning, Terry’s suddenly overcome with nausea and pukes in the toilet. She goes to her costume fitting, her envious eyes glued to Vera. Then Terry goes to the doctor and finds out she’s pregnant. Terry talks to Annie, who says her cousin got an abortion and she can find out where she had it done.
An eavesdropping, cruel Vera appears, saying drinking bleach would do the trick. Or she could get someone to push her down a flight of stairs. Terry gives Vera a hard shove, almost sending her tumbling down the stairs.
Doing her laundry later, Terry eyes a bottle of bleach on the sink as she holds the charm – then she gets terrible pain in the lower abs. A dryer door opens, and when she restarts it, she sees a bloody baby tumbling around with the clothes – and then that same demonic figure in the reflection.
While at dress rehearsal, Terry unknowingly sits down on an egg and ketchup, which splatters all over her costume, looking like a bloody mess. A nice little joke from Vera. Marchand enters and tells Vera to clean it up, but then everyone gets called to the stage. Marchand helps Terry, saying she’s got a lot to prepare for. Terry’s surprised he already knows about the pregnancy. He says cryptically that one day, everyone will know what she’s capable of, and people like Vera won’t matter.
When Terry goes home, she finds her door open and Minnie and Roman in the kitchen. She tells them it wasn’t their place to tell Marchand. But Roman says they just want to help her in any way they can. Terry says she hasn’t decided if she’s even keeping the baby. Minnie says they’re family and they’ll help – but Terry argues that they’re not family.
Minnie and Roman then show Terry a bassinet they have in their apartment. They tell her if she doesn’t want the baby, to give it to them. They tried for years but could never have their own. They say they’ll give her whatever she wants in exchange for the baby.
Terry says all she wants is to be able to work. Minnie says she’s wasted in the chorus and that what Terry really wants is to see her name in lights, headlining the show. Roman says they’ll take care of it – and so Terry agrees.
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Terry has more bad dreams, seeing more of the ritual before she wakes up – people surrounding her as she lies on that black bed. She wakes up, hearing noises and goes out into the hall to find Mrs. Gardenia, who tells Terry that she’s sorry and that she has to stop it. She attacks Terry with a pair of shears and Terry locks herself in the bathroom. When she comes back out, she sees Mrs. Gardenia slumped on the floor, struggling to breathe – then cut to an ambulance taking her away.
The next morning, Minnie and Roman come by to tell her Mrs. Gardenia’s in a coma. After they leave, Terry discovers a hidden door in the back wall of her pantry, which leads to Mrs. Gardenia’s place. She snoops around, finding a book all in Latin with pictures of plants and rituals – and that same demonic figure from her dreams. When she hears Minnie and Roman coming, Terry ducks out and hides the book in her bread box.
At the next rehearsal, Vera’s ankle suddenly turns grotesquely inward and she collapses, contorting in pain. Later, Marchand announces she won’t be able to return, and he offers her part to Terry, who’s shocked, but takes it.
Minnie cuts Terry’s hair to look like Vera’s, and Terry comments on the strange timing of Vera’s accident and how she might never walk again. Minnie gets suddenly angry, saying she thought Terry would be glad – she’s getting everything she ever wanted. All Terry can do is apologize as Minnie roughly handles her and nicks her ear with the scissors.
Terry walks to the theater and sees a girl getting off a bus with a suitcase, looking around with the same innocence she once had. Then Terry looks at the theater marquis and sees what she’s always wanted to see – her name up there. During the dress rehearsal, as Terry sings the opening number, she thinks she sees Minnie up in the balcony, which throws her off. But when she looks again, she’s gone.
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Afterward, in her dressing room, Terry takes off her makeup and hears everyone else outside laughing and having a good time without her. She’s the star now, but she has no friends. Upset, she closes her door. Then she has more pain and has a vision of her swollen belly and something clawing under her skin.
Terry goes home and calls Dr. Sapirstein, telling him what happened, saying there’s something wrong. Sapirstein suggests she might be suffering from “perinatal hysteria” and might need hospitalization. Terry hangs up on him. Then she digs the weird book out of the bread box and goes through it, finding a picture of the Tannis root charm and a frightening drawing of a woman birthing a demon.
Minnie knocks on the door then and tries to get in but the chain’s on. Terry politely shoos her away, then waits for Minnie to close the door. But when she looks through the peephole, she sees Minnie smiling knowingly at her before walking away.
Terry packs her stuff, leaves the Tannis root charm behind and goes to a theater, looking at old programs. She finds the name Joan Cebulski and goes to the last theater where she worked. The guy there gives her Joan’s suitcase that she never came back for. She finds Joan’s headshot, a rosary and a Bible – and the rosary cross burns her hand.
She then goes to a church where she has more pain and tries to pray. A nun (Patricia Jones) finds her and Terry begs for help. The nun recognizes the book and does a huge info dump, saying how The Bramford’s a home for a coven of Satan worshippers. The nun also recognizes Joan from the picture and says they did terrible things to her. Then poor Joan tried to run away but got hit by a bus. The nun realizes Terry’s pregnant and says if her child is born, “God have mercy on us all.”
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Terry goes to Annie, and they find a place in Chinatown for an abortion. Terry lies down in a dirty back room while a woman goes to work on her with terrifying metal instruments. But before she can do anything, Terry suddenly kicks her away without meaning to. Then the poor woman ends up getting force-choked like Mrs. Gardenia.
A frantic Terry goes back to The Bramford and thinks she sees Minnie in the elevator going down. Terry follows and when she gets in the elevator, it goes down past the basement. Terry finds herself in the tunnels from her dreams and discovers a theater. Up on the stage, behind the curtain, she finds an altar and realizes that this was where she was raped by the demon. Marchand appears and tells her how special she is, how she’s always “belonged to the dark.” Terry ends up stabbing him with the sacrificial knife.
Terry tries to leave but the doorman locks her in. She goes back upstairs to find Minnie and Roman in her apartment. Now it’s their turn to do the info dump, giving her the basic spiel about the coven and the baby antichrist. Terry tries stabbing herself with a kitchen knife but it won’t go in. Debilitating pain hits her then and Roman helps her up.
They lead her back to their apartment, where the whole coven’s hanging out and having cocktails. They praise her and Satan, and a delirious Terry grabs a drink and toasts with them. She does a dramatic dance to The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and hugs Minnie. Then she goes to an open window and throws herself out as Minnie screams. And as the police and ambulance arrive and the police question the neighbors, Minnie and Roman stroll up to the terrible scene. They see Rosemary and her husband Guy, and they smile at each other.
***
On the pro side, Apartment 7A does a decent job of recapturing the late-60s look and feel of Rosemary’s Baby. Julia Garner turns in a solid performance as Terry, capturing that mix of naivete and hopefulness – and then ambition and psychological terror. Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally also nail their performances as the Castevets. And most of all, the “You Gotta Have Heart” dream/musical number is outstanding and truly unexpected.
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On the other hand, Apartment 7A fails to do a horror flick’s basic job. It just isn’t scary, even with the weird dreams and the visions of Satan. It works better as a drama, where Terry’s predicament of being afraid for herself and her baby – and her career – stands out.
Apartment 7A also fails to provide proper continuity. In Rosemary’s Baby, Terry actually meets Rosemary, and they have a great scene together chatting in the laundry room. Terry tells Rosemary about the Castevets and shows her the Tannis root charm. I’m not sure why the filmmakers chose to leave this out, except that maybe they thought it would take the attention away from Terry. But the scene could’ve easily been filmed in such a way that the coverage would’ve focused on Terry’s side, so ultimately, it’s just a disappointing retcon.
And while Dianne Wiest perfectly captures Minnie Castevet’s irritating, New York yenta attitude, for some reason, the filmmakers chose to have her look nothing like her. In Rosemary’s Baby, Minnie’s looks are as obnoxious as her behavior – the hideous, clown-like makeup, the clashing colors of her outfits, the bad wigs. But Wiest looks totally respectable, well-dressed and coiffed. So again, why? Why do it that way, especially when part of the wacky fun of Rosemary’s Baby is that extreme design sense?
Worst of all is the scene where Terry goes to the church. It reeks of an executive note, where the pace of the flick wasn’t matching up to the algorithm that states you must be at a certain point in the story by a certain page in the script. We need to hurry this along, so just have that nun do a giant info dump. It’s awkward, badly written and stands out, and not in a good way.
But if all you want out of this prequel is just the general look, feel and vibe of Rosemary’s Baby, Apartment 7A works pretty well. Julia Garner’s performance is certainly good enough to make you invested in Terry’s character and intriguing enough to hold you through to the end.
Of course, being a prequel, the ending is a given – so ultimately, there’s no mystery. And the flick doesn’t do anything to deepen the lore around the coven at The Bramford. Instead of just rehashing the same plot of Rosemary’s Baby, the filmmakers could and should have shown us the origins and inner workings of the coven – shown us something we didn’t already know. That’s the worst crime Apartment 7A commits – missed opportunity.
Directed by: Natalie Erika James
Written by: Natalie Erika James, Christian White, Skylar James, Ira Levin (novel)
Release date: September 27, 2024
Rating: R
Run time: 1hr, 44min
Distributor: Paramount+
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