'Apartment 7A' - What if Rosemary's Baby had a less problematic director?

Josh
Jun 25, 2025
4 min read

Updated: Aug 17, 2025

Natalie Erika James (2024)

Hail Satan

Last year, we got The First Omen. A surprise hit that acts as a soft reboot to the classic 1976 Omen horror series. A movie that took the concepts and aura from its source material and did something new with it. Despite having a few memberberries and a Marvel-like stinger at the end. But it was a fresh take that didn't fully regurgitate what we've already seen. Apartment 7A, being a soft reboot prequel to one of the best horror movies of all time, directed by one of the biggest degenerates of all time, Rosemary's Baby (1968), started with potential but whittled down into a safe, expected remake. Down to our lead getting a shorter haircut.

*Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest - Apartment 7A, courtesy of Paramount+*

Starring Julia Garner as Terry, an aspiring New York dancer who suffers a career-damaging fall, who gets swept up into the care of Minnie (Dianne Wiest) and Roman (Kevin McNally) Castevet after failing a degrading audition from musical director and now neighbour Alan (Jim Sturgess). Who is set up by the Castevets for evening drinks, is impregnated by a demon. In which she thinks it was a dream about her night with Alan. Which one can see the demon as unwanted sexual advances from Alan. And it was this sequence that set up the potential for the rest of the film. The sequence is done as a stage performance with quick changes, moving sets and sparkly costumes. I was ready for something akin to Black Swan (2010) meets Rosemary's Baby. Yet this one sequence sucked all known creativity from the movie, as the rest plays out like a typical remake. Although less interesting as we miss one crucial element that keeps the original as engaging as it is. Gaslighting.

It has the unique spin of having Terry be a single mother with dreams she can see slipping away. Which could've been an interesting angle to explore. Especially looking at the demon child as a metaphor of an unwanted pregnancy from a man who had control over the life she wanted. But rather, it takes something more akin to Guy (John Cassavetes) from the original. Where a struggling star takes a deal to deliver the Devil's child, they get what they want. So the idea of having to battle a birth against future ambition is wiped out as we see competition around her fall with little to no friction to her future goals. So, if the solo parent idea is out, then what about the psychological torment of birthing the Antichrist? In Rosemary's Baby, you could argue right up until the end that Rosemary (Mia Farrow) is being hysterical. The pressures and fears of the unknowns around motherhood are sending her into a spiral, while her husband and neighbours aren’t giving in to her fears. Neglecting her well-being. It’s what makes the movie so effective because you flip-flop between being on her side and thinking that she’s insane. Up until the amazing end of seeing all her fears of motherhood come to reality. Without that second perspective, we've got something that's just one note. We’re just waiting for the moment she gives birth to a demon baby. Not asking the question, is she going to give birth to a demon baby? Which is hammered home even more as we keep seeing visions of the demon that had impregnated her. Which are thrown in for a cheap jumpscare.

*Julia Garner - Apartment 7A, courtesy of Paramount+*

Within the second half, the only chunk I found to hold any form of creativity behind it was the ending. Being a prequel, there are very limited options on what will happen with your main character. More often than not, the easiest option is to have your character die. Or hide out in the woods for a Priest to name-drop the main character in the original film. Although it was predictable how the final scene would end, I liked the build-up to it. That one last performance with Julia Garner carrying the scene with all her charisma. With the scene circling right back to where she started, in the street in the gutter where the Castevets found her. All to an earworm song by The Ronettes, which is annoying as I just got Chapel of Love out of my head after watching Full Metal Jacket. Even being a film surrounded by the show tunes of Broadway, New York, none of the music stood out as intriguing. It did, of course, incorporate Rosemary's lullaby, but only at the end, which I still remember all these years later. However, it felt more cheap, if anything, and let the movie down, as I was instantly reminded of a better version of what I had just sat through.

Speaking of being reminded of a better version of something. Dianne Wiest's performance of Minnie was distracting. It was a performance that reminded me of the opposite reaction to Carl Lumbly and Alexandra Essoe from Doctor Sleep (2019). Who weren’t so much doing an impression but managed to bring the vibe of those performances to a new movie. It was subtle, where you can picture the original actors with the tone and cadence of their speech. Dianne Wiest, on the other hand, felt like he was doing an over-the-top impression of Rush Gordon. Boarding on comedy at times but leaning towards grading by the end. Honestly, it was bordering on parody with how over the top it got at points.

I would rarely recommend remakes over the original, and Apartment 7A is no exception. It took a plunge at the beginning to be something creative and take turns to focus on something more contemporary as a single mother. Yet it feels as though the studio didn't care for a new take on the premise, so it had to revert to what we know. Maybe it has something to do with the success or non-success of the TV series? I don't know, I didn't see it.