• Release year: 2024
• Director: Natalie Erika James.
• Producers: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, John Krasinski and Allyson Seeger.
• Screenplay by: Natalie Erika James, Christian White and Skylar James.
• Cinematography by: Arnau Valls Colomer.
• Music by: Peter Gregson and Adam Price.

Shotgun Commentary: not nearly as good as the original, pretty average as an individual piece.

Review

The assignment was clear. The ending was written, the middle was skimmed through, and the beginning was mentioned. All they had to do was give it enough pizazz and not step on the original work. Did they manage? Great question!

Apartment 7A does a great job at turning the tables on the story of a secondary character from Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968). The character in question is a young girl named Terri (Victoria Vetri). She is roughly Rosemary’s (Mia Farrow) age, and she has a quick chat in the laundry room with her.

That is the only moment they coincide, other than when Rosemary sees her laying dead on the pavement. Her cheerful personality makes no sense with her supposed suicide, which makes her brief but intense appearance one of the most eerie moments of the thriller.

A modern-ish woman

This film’s purpose is to shine a light on what exactly drove Terry (Julia Garner) to jump out of the window, and whether she jumped or was pushed. After watching the original work, one can image what happened to her. In that sense, the feature discovers nothing new. However, it does bring a sense of modernity in the way it utilises single motherhood as an exploration of the sacrifices women have to make in comparison to men, who barely notice any change at all in their lives after becoming fathers.

Granted, being incapable of giving birth is not men’s fault. What is their fault is creating a system designed to exploit women and force them to be nothing but mothers the minute they get pregnant. The job market is already hard as is for women if we ignore ageism and pregnancy, but sadly we can’t exclude those from the topic.

Terry is trying her luck in one of the toughest industries out there: entertainment, and not only is she not getting anywhere, but it turns out the only way she can be given a chance is in exchange for sexual favours. This leads to one of her co-workers trashing her for not earning her job like everybody else.

This whole situation seems tragically ordinary and unsurprising, but what never ceases to amaze is the easiness men and women have to blame the women in the situation. Every. Single. Time. She’s starving, about to be kicked out of her house, and fighting an injury that barely lets her move, but the victim is the man that drugs and rapes her? How is that conclusion even a thing?

Let’s talk religion! But not really

Another topic that certainly reminds you of the date this film was released in is religion. You have your average aversion to churches and Doomsday nuns, a black goatish devil, and a… disco-ball demon? That last one is a nice touch. Ridiculous and completely unnecessary, but funny nonetheless. Finally, you have the whole satanism speech. “Is my religion bad because I pray to a different god?”. Well, the logical answer is no. However, if your god rapes at will and takes out anyone who opposes him… I mean…

Still, the disappointing thing about the speech is not the absurdity of it all, but the lack of fight or dialogue from Terry. It turns a potentially entertaining conversion into your average villain monologue leading nowhere.

Surviving Apartment 7A

What’s with the goat? Why is it always stalking Terry if it left Rosemary alone? Is it just another one of those things they decided to completely disregard while making this sequel? This critic has a theory: the devil loves Terry. He’s not only a rapist but also a stalker.

Terry’s death was ruled a suicide, and she is thought to be a random junkie, so presumably the Church has washed its hands off her. Therefore, she went to hell to be stalked by the devil forever. Hence, he only gets Rosemary pregnant and then leaves, never to be seen again.

Yes, this is an insane theory, but didn’t Terry want the spotlight? Didn’t she want to be a shining star? Why else would he suddenly look like a disco ball when he’s with her, and then never again? Anywho, this is the kind of trips you provoke in your audience when your script is only sort of there and your references to the original work don’t quite add up.

All in all, Apartment 7A is interesting enough for anyone who like Rosemary’s baby, but it is not really revolutionary as an individual work. The story is pretty average and the only truly great moment is the final scene, so watch it if you are feeling silly, but don’t purposely put it in front of any other film on your watch list.

Advice to take from this movie:

• Nothing in this world is completely free.
• Beware old couples without kids. You know, the only kind of old couples that regularly show up in horror for some reason…
• Always have a fallback plan.

What’s your take? Have you watched Apartment 7A? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀