Apartment 7A review.
The prequel to Rosemary’s Baby doesn’t just travel the same halls…it largely follows the same path.
This review will contain spoilers.
Apartment 7A
Directed by Natalie Erika James
Screenplay by Natalie Erika James, Christian White and Skylar James
Starring Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu, Rosy McEwen, Amy Leeson and Andrew Buchan
Apartment 7A Review
Full disclosure: I’ve never seen Rosemary’s Baby. Normally, when a sequel (or in this case, prequel) comes out…I make it a point to see the original work before watching it. This time, however, not seeking out the 1968 classic provided me with a unique opportunity. Most reviewers have seen Rosemary’s Baby. It’s an (admittedly) odd blind spot to have. There’s no specific reason I haven’t seen it. This isn’t a refusal to watch Roman Polanski’s work situation. Though I wouldn’t begrudge anyone who found themselves in that boat. It’s just one of those strange misses that never came around. But…if 98% of reviews are going to come from a place of familiarity with the original…let’s look at it through the eyes of someone going in blind.
Apartment 7A surprised me. Unfortunately, not in a good way. I may have never seen Rosemary’s Baby…but I do live in the world. Certain knowledge of the story is unavoidable. The movie has been a part of horror pop culture for longer than I’ve been alive. It consistently ranks highly on “best of” lists. You pick up some things along the way. Moreover…an idea forms in your mind of what the movie is. Like someone describing a painting to you. You aren’t going to get it right…but you’ll end up with an abstract version of it in your head. Which can get messy if they’re describing a piece of abstract art.
Anyway…Apartment 7A is so close to my abstract understanding of Rosemary’s Baby that it’s scary. It’s also the only thing about the prequel that can be labeled as such. The Hulu original doesn’t just ape the expected story beats that I’ve gleamed from the original…it re-uses the set-up. Terry’s Baby would have been a more accurate title for the picture. The apartment is no more relevant than a potted plant in the building’s lobby. It’s simply one of many recycled ideas from the original. Perhaps it receives top billing because it is the least egregious.
We try to avoid spoilers in new reviews but Apartment 7A does it to itself. It brings back major characters from the original to expand the story of a minor one. It’s not a bad starting point…it just chooses the least interesting story it possibly could have. An early tagline for the movie read something like “what happened before Rosemary?” A later one read “Rosemary was not the first.” The second one is infinitely more accurate.
Terry (Julia Garner) is a dancer struggling to overcome a serious injury. Her life turns around when the Castavets (Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally) offer her a place to live. Her career even turns around. Everything comes at a cost, however. She begins to see strange visions. Bad things start happening to her. And…yes…she becomes pregnant.
The movie probably doesn’t want you to know that last part ahead of watching it. While we usually avoid talking about things like that…the truth is that you already know Terry’s fate if you’ve seen Rosemary’s Baby. Apartment 7A is ultimately trapped by the original’s story like The First Omen was before it. The new wrinkle it throws in is the only interesting choice the movie can make…and it makes the least interesting one possible. It doubles down when in the space it has to innovate. The writers could have chosen anything. Any reason that Terry is fated to jump to her death in Rosemary’s Baby. Their choice is to say that only one kind of story is happening in the Bramford Apartments.
The First Omen took a different approach. Everyone knows that Damien will be born and end up Gregory Peck’s kid in The Omen. But that movie attempts to innovate the setup to the punchline. While the climax is trapped by what’s known…it creates an original parallel path for future stories to follow. Apartment 7A not only lacks such vision…it fumbles its open invitation to craft an original work.
As narratively befuddling as this prequel is…it’s still a fine watch despite itself. Garner is phenomenal. Wiest is too. The Castavets are doomed to take part in the exact same reveal for the exact same reasons as they did in Rosemary’s Baby…but Wiest finds some fun playing with what you know. She brings a creepy, winking kindness to the story. If you know the ending…you’ll enjoy the take on it. Even if there’s a clear impersonation going on, obvious to even those who haven’t seen Ruth Gordon’s performance.
But this is Garner’s show. She makes the strange trip through a world familiar to even people who have never set foot in it before a worthwhile one. You’d be forgiven for wishing she was given a more original story to work with. This unexpected franchise expansion remains about gaslighting and pregnancy fears through and through. Those are things you know whether you’re a fan of the original or have never hit play on it. Which is what makes their spots as the featured antagonists in a new entry so bewildering.
Apartment 7A doesn’t work for people with only that abstract idea of Rosemary’s Baby in their heads. It’s too much of a re-run to work for viewers who have visited these apartments before. Even if we take Terry’s fate as a counterpoint to Rosemary’s story…it’s not an original argument made by this prequel. It takes established canon and attaches the same story to a different character. Combining two unoriginal doesn’t make something new. It makes Apartment 7A.
Scare Value
Apartment 7A is a mixed bag. The performances, especially Julia Garner, are terrific. The setting may inspire some nostalgic excitement for fans of the original. The story, however, flies too close to the classic to forge its own path. It deals out the same reveals for the same purposes. Perhaps you’re a superfan of Rosemary’s Baby who desperately wanted to see this character more fleshed out. Well…Apartment 7A has that for you. How unoriginal her journey is, however, may not deliver everything you’re after.
2/5
Apartment 7A Link
Streaming on Paramount+
