A few, short months after The First Omen hit screens, horror fans are treated to another prequel to another devilish classic, Rosemary's Baby, in the form of Apartment 7A.
Directed by Natalie Erika James, who cowrote with Skylar James and Christina White, and based on Ira Levine's bestseller and Roman Polanski's acclaimed, movie adaptation, Apartment 7A tells of an aspiring, Broadway dancer, Julia (Ozark) Garner's Terry Gianoffrio, who falls upon bad times ... really bad times.
Like dear Rosemary Woodhouse, Terry is taken under the wing of Minnie and Roman Castevet, on this occasion portrayed by Dianne (Edward Scissorhands) Wiest and Kevin (Pirates of the Caribbean) McNally. Once more, they seem like such nice people, but we know where their allegiance lies.
Terry moves into their accompanying apartment and soon after, up the entertainment ladder, getting in good graces with Jim (Across the Universe) Sturgess' not-so-good producer, Alan Marchet. Indeed, all appears to be going fine dandy, with Terry's dancing pal, Marli (Anna and the Apocalypse) Siu's Annie Leung, along for the supportive ride, but there comes a point where Terry skids from normality. That's because she's pregnant, with Marchet the evident father, but regardless of her birthing pangs, she also experiences deep, demon-infested visions.
She sees a couple demons (a Donnie Darko sort of thing and a kind of psychedelic frog). Such inspires her to converse with those who hold knowledge of the satanic Castevets, who tell her that her baby mustn't be born. But what can poor Terry do? Even when she visits a makeshift, abortion clinic, it goes awry. When she positions a blade to her stomach, some unseen force prevents her from sticking it in. Get the picture? Terry appears bound by her monstrous fate, or is she? Remember, this is a prequel, and if the Son of Satan emerges for this sojourn, why would the Casevets even bother with that Woodhouse girl?
Terry's quest to snuff her curse is what makes Apartment 7A interesting. It's a story told from her vantage, wrought with her worries and fears. It's a preview of what's to come and flows accordingly. Therefore, it'll be familiar turf to fans of the 1968 effort, leaving its nostalgic execution the means that makes it mesh.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit and wouldn't mind seeing other chapters in Castevet lore, whether relegated to the titular apartment, the Bramford complex in general, or wherever it might be. If not, this still works as a welcome submission in the franchise, including not only the original movie, but those made-for-tv pieces, Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby and the 2014, miniseries remake, and then there's, of course, Levin's novel, Rosemary's Son.
Check out Apartment 7A this Halloween season for some creepy, character-driven fun. It's now streaming on Paramount+.
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