Apartment 7A – Review | Fantastic Fest / Paramount+ (3/5)

APARTMENT 7A is the prequel to the horror classic ROSEMARY’S BABY. The cast delivers stellar performances and the ending is sublime. Read our full Apartment 7A movie review here!

APARTMENT 7A is a new horror movie based on the same novel as the horror classic Rosemary’s Baby. In fact, it’s a prequel, so you should recognize the world it’s set in. And especially the apartment building.

Julia Garner stars in the all-important lead role, but every single character is cast by actors delivering stellar performances. The film premieres at Fantastic Fest on September 20, before being released on Paramount+ on September 27, 2024.

Continue reading our Apartment 7A movie review below.

Too good to be true

In Apartment 7A, we meet the ambitious young dancer Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner), who had a pretty rough childhood, but feels happy when she dances. She dreams of fame and fortune in New York City, but fate would have it differently.

Shortly after the movie opens, Terry suffers a devastating injury – that scene alone is pure horror to me! Fortunately, she meets an older, wealthy couple (Dianne Wiest & Kevin McNally) who decide to make her happiness their charity.

They have an extra apartment where they live themselves and offer Terry to live there for free. Just until she can get back on her feet.

Also, one of the other residents in the luxury apartment building, The Bramford., is an influential Broadway producer (Jim Sturgess). Introducing Terry to him just may be the foot in the door she needs.

However, as we all know, and especially from horror movies, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. After a night Terry can’t fully remember, things around her start changing. She’s seeing things and feels off somehow.

And that’s just the beginning!

Premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024

We’re doing this review of Apartment 7A for its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, which takes place one week prior to the release on Paramount+. I wasn’t sure what to expect, except something amazing from Julia Garner.

And, Good Lord, did she deliver. Of course, she always does, but the entire final scene was just pure magic for me. If I were to rate this movie based on the acting and that ending alone, it would’ve been at least a 4 out of 5.

Dianne Wiest (I Care a Lot) is another of the cast members, I want to highlight. Actually, scenes with both Julia Garner (Dirty John) and Dianne Wiest are simply fierce in intensity.

Also, Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu (The Irregulars), Rosy McEwen, and Kevin McNally (Dead Ringers). Truly, everyone in this movie should be proud of their performances.

Watch Apartment 7A on Paramount+

Natalie Erika James is the director of Apartment 7A and after watching her 2020 feature film debut Relic, my expectations were pretty damn great. Just like with Relic, the ending of Apartment 7A is both fierce and memorable.

Producers include John Krasinski (A Quiet Place) and Brad Fuller (horror franchises The Purge and Ouija), so the people involved with this are definitely part of our horror family.

The screenplay comes from Natalie Erika James, Christian White, and Skylar James with the latter also credited for the screen story, which is based on the novel “Rosemary’s Baby” by Ira Levin.

I don’t know that this movie necessarily offers much new insight into this world. However, the cast delivers amazing performances and I adore the ending. The runtime is 1 hour and 44 minutes, which is a bit long, but not too long.

Apartment 7A is streaming exclusively on Paramount+ and out on VOD from September 27, 2024.

Details

Director: Natalie Erika James
Screenplay: Natalie Erika James, Christian White, Skylar James
Cast: Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu, Andrew Buchan, Rosy McEwen, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith