Mikes Film Talk

Looking at the 2024 prequel Apartment 7A, one cannot help but feel that there was no need to look at this “prelude” baby. Author Ira Levin wrote Rosemary’s Baby, it was published in 1967. Roman Polanski snapped the book up and made the now iconic film in 1968. This attempt to milk the success of the original is futile.

Even Ira Levin felt no need to elaborate on “first girl” Terry from the book. *Although years later he would write a sequel titled Son of Rosemary.*

The story

Terry is a girl from rural America working on the stage in New York. She injures her right ankle after a horrific accident mid-performance. The dancer is desperate to work and is sharing a flat with her pal Annie.

She becomes addicted to the pain medication. Terry is overusing the drugs so she can continue to audition. After her accident, she cannot pay her share of the rent. Problems arise.

A kindly couple, Minnie and Roman, step in and help the young woman. They allow her to stay in their “spare” apartment; 7A. Terry’s luck changes.

After a strange sexual interlude with a horned apparition, Terry learns she is pregnant.

The Main cast

Julia Garner is Terry. A young woman whose very soul screams for the ability to dance.

Dianne Wiest is Minnie Castevet, wife of:

Roman – Kevin McNally.

Marli Siu is Annie, Terry’s pal.

Jim Sturgess is Alan Marchand. Stage producer and quite literally, the Devil’s advocate.

The original Rosemary’s Baby

This film, made by the upcoming wunderkind Roman Polanski, was almost a perfect recreation of Levin’s book. Prompted by the times: Hippies, free love, sex, drugs, et al. The sixties was a time where “God is dead” was the cryof the younger denizens of the US.

*This sentiment hung on for awhile. William Peter Blatty would write The Exorcist in 1971. He cited the tagline as well as The Church’s struggle to fill pews. Like Rosemary’s Baby, the tale of demonic possession would also be a hit.*

The cast includes John Cassavetes, Mia Farrow and the creme de’ la creme of character actors from both stage and screen. Veteran actor Ruth Gordon played Minnie. Somewhat amazingly, she won an Oscar for her performance. What is amazing is that Rosemary’s Baby is a horror film.

In those days horror was not deemed award worthy. You might get a nod, AKA a nomination, but not the gong.

Apartment 7A

This “adaptation” of Levin’s tale lacks the empathy factor. In the first story about the devil wanting to impregnate a willing, or unwilling, vessel, Rosemary is the victim.

It is her husband Guy who is the willing cuckold to Satan. His active participation is in return for his success as an actor. Rosemary has no dreams of stardom, or uber success.

Rosemary is a true innocent. Terry may be a touch naive but she is not really an innocent. Terry’s character is seen in Rosemary’s Baby very briefly. The young lady then commits suicide by flinging herself out of a window.

Writer and director Natalie Erika James gives us a “fill in the blank” version of Terry’s story. The first option in original film. While this “prelude” to Rosemary and Guy is interesting, we already know where it is heading. Anyone who watched the first film will realize that Terry does not get out of this one.

This is somewhat akin to watching the 2014 film Pompeii. We know how this story ends going in.

Kudos

Dianne Wiest channels her inner Minnie wonderfully. Her accent is spot on. The only problem is that she is not Ruth Gordon. The late Oscar winning actor had a voice that was part rasp and part deafening. I adore Wiest. Her role as Lucy, mother to the two boys in The Lost Boys, made me a forever fan.

But.

She is not Ruth Gordon.

Still, kudos to her for managing to knock this out of the park. Wiest has still got them “chops.”

The Verdict

Apartment 7A is a perfectly adequate horror offering in the run up to Halloween. It is not, however, Ira Levin nor is it Polanski. *Roman Polanski is a convicted rapist who fled the USA to avoid jail time. That said, the man can and does make movies that soar.*

This is a somewhat shaky 3.5. Garner and Wiest take this mediocre “ode” to the original and keep it out of the bargain basement bin.

Barely.

The film is streaming on Paramount +. It is worth watching but before watching this one, head over to MGM + and watch the original, not the remake, Rosemary’s Baby.

The Trailer

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