I have to say if there is one streaming service that is really close to getting cut for me, it is Paramount+. It feels like hardly anything new gets added to Paramount+ and Apartment 7A is actually the first thing since Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that I have been interested in watching. This is a horror movie that is actually a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby so that is pretty cool.
How to Download Apartment 7A
Apartment 7A was released on September 27, 2024 on Paramount+. You can download or stream the film from this digital platform and also from other digital stores.. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review: Apartment 7A
I love the idea of a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby, but if I am being brutally honest, this is pretty much a retread of that movie. It takes place in New York in 1965 and our main character is a dancer/actress called, Terry who is played by Julia Garner. I have to say that I love the 1965 New York setting. While I was not alive back then, from what I have seen, it does have a very real and authentic New York of the 60s look which I thought gave the movie a real sense of style.
While Apartment 7A is a horror, it is a very slow burn kind of horror and much like Rosemary’s Baby, it is not full of jump scares or tons of gore. Actually, the most gruesome thing in the movie happens right at the start where we see Terry dancing and a move goes wrong and she snaps her ankle! Let me tell you, that scene had both me and my wife wincing as it went down.
The Impact of the Injury Scene
What was neat about this was that one accident caused me to freak out whenever Terry was dancing as you were always worried that it would happen again. There is one really brutal scene where a stage director keeps getting her to jump and it is so hard to watch. Terry gets hooked on pain pills and ends up passing out outside of a nice apartment building, a very familiar looking apartment building if you have seen Rosemary’s Baby!
The Introduction of Familiar Characters
She is taken in by two very “nice” old people, Minnie and Roman Castevet. If you have seen Rosemary’s Baby, I am sure the Castevet name seems very familiar. Diane West plays Minnie and she is so awesome. She comes across as likable, passive aggressive, pushy, mean, and even downright scary all at once.
The Slow Pace and Performances
They give Terry a place to stay, this along with a headlining part in a stage show and her life is finally going where she always wanted it to go. Of course, as this is a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby, this apartment building is home to a satanic cult that is looking for someone to birth the devil’s son.
If I am being honest, Apartment 7A is a very slow paced movie and there are quite a few times where not much is going on. I would not say that the movie ever gets boring and thanks to the fantastic performances, you stay invested. It is a bit of a weird one as I was aware that the movie was quite slow and not a great deal was happening, but I never lost interest and needed to know how this ended, but that is part of the movie’s biggest problem.
A Familiar Ending
As I said at the start, this is very much a retread of Rosemary’s Baby and if you have seen that movie, there is only one logical way that Apartment 7A can come to an end. I think if you have not seen that movie, this is probably worth a whole point extra. I feel if they had managed to keep the fact that this was in fact a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby a secret, kind of like what Split did in keeping the fact it was a sequel to Unbreakable. It would have been a much better movie for it.
