Rosemary's Baby is my favourite film of all time. I'd heard that a prequel called Apartment 7A was in the works and saw the trailer, but I wasn't exactly sure how to go about watching it on which streaming service (it's such an unnecessary convoluted mess with services having different availability in different countries) so when I saw the DVD for sale I didn't think too hard about it, but I really wasn't sure what to expect of it going in. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did!
Rosemary and Terry in Rosemary's Baby
If you've seen Rosemary's Baby you'll remember Terry, who lives with Minnie and Roman Castevet at the beginning of the movie. She briefly meets Rosemary in the laundry room, before seemingly committing suicide shortly after (but that's up for interpretation!) Apartment 7A expands on Terry's story, fleshing out what little we know of her and her history with the Satanic Castevets.
It had a lot of homages to Rosemary's Baby, mirroring particular scenes almost exactly (such as Terry waking up in her bed the morning after her night with the devil) but it still felt fresh and it was clearly a homage rather than a copy and didn't feel cheap. I just really liked and appreciated all of the nods to the original plot, such as mentions of Adrian in passing which felt like a wink to the fans. It doesn't waste time setting up and does assume a prior knowledge though, so it's probably not a good film to go into blind. I think you'd need to see Rosemary's Baby first to really be able to enjoy this film to it's fullest.
Terry with Minnie and Roman in Apartment 7A
I only have two real issues with the plot: Rosemary is seen in the basement with Terry before Miss Gardenia dies which doesn't make sense as Rosemary and Guy live in Miss Gardenia's apartment, but this was the only plot hole I noticed. I also felt Dianne West played Minnie a little too overtly cruel, which kind of leads into what makes the original so special and where they missed the mark. In the original outside of Rosemary's drugged visions we don't see anything supernatural, and there's nothing sinister about the Castevets beyond their lack of boundaries. Which is important as it plays into the idea of female hysteria; Rosemary isn't believed, she tells people she's in active danger and they call her husband to come and collect her despite him being one of the accused because she holds no power - that's her vulnerability, and that's what the Castevets preyed on along with Guy's narcissism. In Apartment 7A there's no question as to whether Terry is paranoid or not as the film makes it explicitly clear that there are supernatural forces from the very beginning, and Terry doesn't feel vulnerable enough. She's proud and headstrong and has unwavering support in her friend Annie. In Rosemary's Baby we know Terry very briefly, gleaning details of her life from what she tells Rosemary in the basement and snippets we hear from Minnie through the thin walls - but we know she's isolated, a recovering drug addict that Minnie and Roman offer a roof to as she's homeless, and she's endlessly grateful to them for that: "I'd be dead without Minnie and Roman, that's the God's honest truth". In this movie she's an ambitious dancer trying to make it on Broadway and suffers an injury, becoming addicted to painkillers and sleeping on Annie's sofa when she can't work. Which is a vulnerable position to be in for sure, but not quite the rock bottom that original Terry is at, and through sanitizing her drug addiction and homelessness much of Minnie and Roman's casual sinister-ism is removed, so they resort to actual cruelty to make up for it which feels so out of character. And it's a shame as it feels like the filmmakers are deeming the original Terry as not relatable enough for audiences to feel sympathetic towards instead of just giving her additional depth.
This is all looking at the film on a much deeper level though, and overall I did really enjoy it! It was a great homage to the original, and felt like an equal mix of Rosemary's Baby and the remake of Suspiria (the original is another of my favourites!). It's a fun movie and worth a watch!
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