I have been eagerly awaiting Apartment 7A for over a year. While the Rosemary’s Baby well has been tapped a couple of times, but I have been dying to see this world brought to life by women. I also really dug Natalie Erika James’ previous film, Relic, so I was excited to see her aesthetic applied to this prequel. While I have many issues with this movie, her direction is one of the things working in its favor.
A Girl Has Gotta Dance
Our protagonist this time around is Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner). She is a dancer who has just suffered a devastating injury that has left her down on her luck. As a starving artist, I empathized with her immediately, and I felt extra bad that she would be Satan’s vessel this time around. Right when Terry is about to make a huge mistake she is swooped up by an older wealthy couple ‘Minnie‘ and Roman Castevet (Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally). They take a liking to her and offer her an apartment rent-free. This is where things get weird and we fall into the narrative that we know all too well.
Wiest is the brightest spot of the Apartment 7A. While I cannot say the film needs to be at the top of your Halloween watches, I can say her performance should be on your radar. After a career of being our favorite moms and comfort characters, she gets to weaponize that and have a delightfully sinister time. I sincerely wish her performance and James’ direction were brought together with a stronger script.
Let’s Dive In
To be fair Natalie Erika James, Christian White, and Skylar James had an uphill battle with Apartment 7A. Ira Levin’s novel debuted in 1967 and was then turned into a movie directed by a predator who does not respect women. However, the original adaptation of Rosemary’s Baby resonates with many horror fans for various reasons. It is also a story that forces any sequels, or prequels, to retread its footsteps instead of really getting into the nitty gritty of reproductive health, sexism, and the assault that is always a part of these kinds of narratives. We get a polite passthrough of these topics that I feel is still way too kind to the patriarchy.
This is a problem I have had with most of the religious pregnancy horror this year, looking at Immaculate and The First Omen. If you are creating something with a predictable narrative, you have to make the journey unique. Sadly, this script does not give itself too much room to play aside from a few dance/dream sequences. It chooses restraint at every turn instead. It delivers another lukewarm pregnancy horror experience in a year where we have had so many.
Is This Really New York?
We are also still painting a very white and straight version of New York City in the year of our Lord 2024. No shade to any of the performers who did the best they could with what they were given, but I wonder if moving towards a more inclusive version of feminism would have led them to explore something cool. Or at least give us a protagonist that is a bit more interesting. Another thing holding the movie back from being great is that we know how it is going to end. Whether you paid attention to the poster or at a few specific moments, you know where it is going. Waiting for the inevitable makes Apartment 7A feel like a chore to sit through.
It Is Not All Satan’s Work Though
Apartment 7A is one of many movies this year that sings my favorite song without knowing the melody. I am very much here for reproductive rights for people with uteruses. I am also here for bodily autonomy and to really examine the patriarchy. However, I wish the movies getting greenlit to comment on these important conversations were not so one-note. I also wish they would look into more intersectional lenses because the overwhelming white narrative is not helping anyone’s project.
Come for the cool Natalie Erika James aesthetic and stay for it. There are a couple of tense moments, an injury shot so beautifully you wince, and Dianne Wiest reminding us why we love to see her on film. However, this is not a movie I need to revisit. I hate that for me and for everyone involved.
Apartment 7A arrives on Paramount+ on September 27.
