Frustrating horror prequel is just too haunted by Rosemary’s Baby

in 1968, Rosemary’s baby was released and became one of the most influential horror movies of all time. 56 years later, Apartment 7a Tells the story of what happened just as Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes moved into New York’s creepy Bramford building and were engrossed in the plans of the resident devil worshippers. Set once again in 1965, it tells the sad tale of Terry Gionofrio (Julia Garner) and her own involvement with the same cult, until we meet her in Rosemary’s baby.

The Rosemary’s baby Prequel comes from director Natalie Erica James, who previously made the critically acclaimed but divisive relic, Which is a masterclass in dread. This gave Apartment 7 a A strong foundation, granted Rosemary’s baby‘s success was all about building claustrophobic dread, but the prequel was a major challenge. We already know how it ends, because it is how it is Rosemary’s baby Begins. So how do you compellingly tell a story that doesn’t surprise?

In fact, this should not have been a catastrophic hurdle for the late prequel, because Rosemary’s baby Was never about the revelations of the plot. There is a sick inevitability about the original, and it is only Rosemary’s babyIt’s the ending and Rosemary’s choice that really throws things off. And it’s not like we haven’t been in this position countless times thanks to countless prequels: but the question is, does it accomplish its narrative goals?

Apartment 7A is let down by its own comparisons to Rosemary’s Baby

The prequel tries to be both new and old and it doesn’t quite succeed

Apartment 7 a is always going to exist in the long shadow of Rosemary’s baby, And comparisons are impossible to avoid. This is navigated quite blatantly in the movie itself, thanks to the decision to effectively prequel and remake the original at the same time. The story is jarringly similar, which feels like an intentional choice to offer commentary on how cyclical the search for Satan’s heir is. There’s even a nod to the victim before Terry at the beginning in case you missed the message.

The problem with Apartment 7a Although, is that It is not Rosemary’s babyIn spite of the fact that his steel was quite consciously a facsimile. Natalie Erika James handles the assignment of imitating Roman Polanski’s style very well: Terry’s camera moves and close-up framing are expert forgeries, and there are enough nods in both style and substance to rate as well-studied. Apartment 7a Is.

So many changes have been made that you get the feeling that it is more of a reimagining of the original that keeps insisting that it is not.

Unfortunately, the movie gets so lost in trying to keep up with the creative copying that it forgets both its own identity and, confusingly, some of ​​the finer details of Rosemary’s baby. Surely, if the agenda was to make this seamless tie to the original, it would have to end exactly the same way the other film starts? Instead, so many changes have been made that you get the feeling that it is more of a reimagining of the original that keeps insisting that it is not. Who said the devil is in the detail?

And this is one of the biggest issues: the fidelity is impressive, even if I would like more of RelicIt’s scary, but the changes are very distracting. We are given the promise that in the end we will come to a predetermined point, and to the happy character that we saw in the laundry room, but every change becomes more confusing. The only logical conclusion is that these are not the same letters, but that’s not why Apartment 7a Says. At this point, it is probably wise to acknowledge the franchise’s association with gaslighting.

The cast of Apartment 7A is unevenly balanced, but Garner is great

Diane Wiest comes out of the prequel well

Part of the fun of a prequel is seeing who gets to play the new versions of the old favorites. Diane Wiest took on the terrifyingly difficult prospect of replacing Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet; Kevin McNally plays Roman Castevet (formerly Sidney Blackmer), and Patrick Lister offers a new take on Ralph Bellamy’s ode to Dr. Sapirstein. McNally is fine in his own right, but plays Roman too friendly compared to the uncomfortably clipped original, Lister looks the part But is background detail, and Wiest is very good.

She’s not Ruth Gordon, which would be impossible, but her take on Minnie is a little sour. And a little less outrageous. Still, if this is not a Rosemary’s Baby prequel, and there is nothing to directly compare it to her performance would stand well.

Julia Garner is excellent as Terry. She does not have the same weight of comparison in performance, because Victoria Vetri was in only one scene. I still can’t ignore the fact that her backstory was changed entirely, along with some glaring specifics of the ending, or her completely different attitude, or the fact that this scene didn’t actually happen here, despite the overlapping timelines, but Garner plays The isolated lead strongly.

She finds something complex and disarming in the darkness of Terry’s desire to be famous at all costs, in flashes of arrogance and aloofness. Not everything just happens to you. And actually, in this choice, we finally get an answer to why Rosemary does what she does at the end of Rosemary’s baby. It just comes at the cost of faithfulness to Vetri’s version of the character.

Jim Sturgess’ new character – Alan Marchand – is a weakness. He is the key to all Teri’s dreams, as the gatekeeper of her chance at fame, but he doesn’t feel good enough or disturbing enough to really sell his part in things. Had he been either an ounce more darkly charming, or otherwise repugnant enough to make Terry’s literal deal with the devil more painful, he would have been more memorable.

The story and subtexts of Apartment 7A explore similar ground to Rosemary’s Baby

An important message handled well

Compared to Rosemary, Terry is consciously less lovable, as her motivation is fame, rather than the burning urge to have a child. But there is an interesting commentary in her character, just as there was a significant subtext to Mia Farrow’s character. Both represent oppressed womanhood, but rather than just a loss of agency (What Apartment 7a work in), there is also a more blatant parallel between bodily autonomy and abortion rights.

The heavy message works quite well, interwoven into the narrative, rather than standing apart from it glaringly. It’s just a shame that the movie holds back just as you feel it’s about to bare its teeth. There is not the conviction to follow that it should be, and the message ends up confused. As with Sturgess’ character, it feels like a setup that’s never quite delivered.

The film is also daring enough to explore Terry’s part in her own condition: Not in the abuse she suffers, but her willingness to go along with things. Rosemary is robbed of agency and trapped, but Terry feels freer to walk away until she isn’t. This could be misread as a misunderstanding of domestic abuse (which this is also an allegory of), but it’s not.

Terry’s conformity is exhausting, but that’s the point. TThe camera work is smartly designed to make the audience’s perception of Terry unbroken. At one point we are her literal dance partner, and there are lingering close-ups that feel like we are just at the edge of being to shake her and tell her what she is getting into. Unfortunately, she has a friend in the movie’s universe who you feel should do this, but she’s mostly there as an enabler.

How apartment 7a works like a horror movie

There are creepy moments but it’s not really enough

It may be almost 60 years old, however Rosemary’s baby Retains a special place for horror fans: Although the impact is more unsettling than outright scary, Polanki’s brand of psychological horror burrows under the skin and persists. Apartment 7A, In comparison, is more subtle at times, and sometimes stupid at others. One of the supernatural entities shown is a bafflingly on-the-nose allusion to Terry’s hunger for fame, for example.

The most successful moments are not the slightly too modern jump scares, and, in particular, the very modern body horror, which is as unflinchingly painful as fellow dancer movie Black swanS Peeled Cuticle Scene. Had there been a little more of that, given Apartment 7A’s aspirations to comment on body control, the horror promise would have been stronger. As it is, it feels muted.

Again, it feels like Apartment 7a Holds back too much in service of being more than Rosemary’s baby. If it had been more deranged—and not just in its repeated use of musical numbers that feel conspicuously out of place—and more creepy, it might have landed more of a punch. as it says, The whole thing feels like a slightly wayward, if well-intentioned throwback which was created from the opportunity to answer three very specific mysteries in Rosemary’s babyBut muddled things too much. It is certainly passable, and there are things to admire, but this is nothing on the original.

Apartment 7 a is set to be released simultaneously on Paramount+ and on digital VOD on September 27.