Another re-invisioned, retconned prequel to a classic movie in 2024? This is no dream, this is really happening in Natalie Erika James’ Apartment 7A, a Rosemary’s Baby prequel which made its premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas on September 20th. In an eclectic, genre-centric festival chock-full of horrors and thrillers and sci-fi extravaganzas, Apartment 7A is a rather tame selection in the line up that attempts to make its own mark on this beloved horror series. The cast was impeccable, the set design was immaculate, and everyone’s hearts were in the right places, but in a time of oversaturated media franchises and an oversupply of nostalgia, this critic was left wondering how impactful this addition will be in the long run.
Roman Polanski’s original adaptation of Ira Levin’s infamous novel was feverish and frightening – especially for 1968. Its groovy aesthetic, star-studded cast, and colorful sense of humor brings an oddly upbeat quality to what is, in actuality, a very dark story about abuse, violation, and satanic witchcraft. Decades later, Rosemary’s Baby remains one of the most intensely effective metaphors for assault and manipulation, and Apartment 7A desperately wants to contribute to this legacy. In Rosemary’s Baby, we are briefly introduced to Terry, another young woman that the kooky Castavets have taken under their wing, only to be shown the aftermath of her suicide shortly thereafter. It’s one of the first jarring terrors Rosemary’s Baby throws at the audience, and Apartment 7A seeks to explain how Terry came to jump from that window of the Bramford.
Julia Garner stars as Terry Gionoffrio, an aspiring dancer fresh off the bus from Nebraska, who has yet to settle into a major role or a place of her own in New York City. The film opens on an anxiously excited Terry, preparing backstage with the friend with whom she’s been couch-surfing (Marli Siu.) They both perform some cabaret-style choreography with an ensemble perfectly, until Terry makes a confident leap that results in the spraining of her ankle – accentuated by a cracking sound that would make Luca-Bones-and-All-Guadagnino proud. Now injured and facing eviction, Terry follows a show director and potential employer (Jim Sturgess) back to his apartment at the Bramford to plead with him, only to meet Minnie and Roman Castavet instead. Dianne Weist fills the impossibly chic shoes of Minnie – a role that Ruth Gordon elevated to the fullest, most fashionable extent – and Kevin McNally stars as Roman. Both of their impersonations are remarkable, and they hold the fragmented pieces of this narrative together as they oscillate between charming and menacing with ease.
Apartment 7A doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel, and the creators at the helm seemed to grasp how blasphemous it would be to tweak any of the central thematic or aesthetic elements of this classic. The costuming is excellent, the set pieces are gorgeous, and to its credit, Apartment 7A found a way to reinvigorate the horrifying rape nightmare sequence by injecting it with even more style and anxiety. The film works best when it’s maintaining its paranoid atmosphere, but it loses steam as it dances its way to a climax where we already know the punchline. When sequels and prequels of cherished classic films are made, they have an odd way of trivializing themselves. Even when the intentions are good, the cast is devoted, and the entire project is backed by a long list of respected producers – Skylar James, John Krasinski, Allyson Seeger, Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller – these recreations can still feel hollow. And despite this film’s fresh perspective, Julia Garner’s reliably passionate performance, and the addition of a freakishly-sparkly Beelzebub, Apartment 7A feels like the off-brand Spirit Halloween costume rendition of a scary story we’ve heard before.
If our favorite horror classics are to be revisited, it begs the question: what new perspectives are actually worth exploring? In a year of dismally-derivative horror films, I still had hope that Apartment 7A would have a new bag of tricks to showcase, rather than just numbing us with nostalgia. On the plus side, Apartment 7A had some decently jumpy moments, and Julia Garner proves her proficiency in scream-queening. But I tire of this era of second-hand scares. It’s Maxxxine running for her life at the set of the Bates Motel, it’s Longlegs borrowing makeup and music from Buffalo Bill, it’s Terry Gionoffrio being given the same pixie cut and tannis root necklace and hoping it’s just as pungent. Just because lightning can strike in the same place twice doesn’t mean it’ll be as effective the second time. This film isn’t bold or brand new, but is it still worthy of watching? (Rosemary’s) maybe.
