Fantastic Fest 2024 review: Apartment 7A delivers a devilish atmosphere, yet skips on the scares

At Fantastic Fest, I was fortunate enough to attend a screening of Apartment 7A, the official prequel to the classic 1968 horror film Rosemary's Baby. The filmmakers involved with the prequel said they wanted to expand the universe of the original and tell more stories about the Bramford apartment building where the original film takes place.

I was admittedly scratching my head at the thought of them building a cinematic universe from the original film. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the direction they took the story. I do feel that it's important to note that I haven’t actually seen the original Rosemary's Baby, so watching it with a fresh set of eyes and only knowing bits and pieces of the original story gave me a unique lens through which to watch the film.

Apartment 7A follows Terry (Julia Garner), a stage dancer who needs a place to stay after sustaining a severe injury. Terry eventually falls into the hands of an elderly couple happy to lend her a hand and set her up with an apartment at the Bramford. Terry then finds herself caught in a web of sinister occult occurrences and bloodshed. The film is directed by Natalie Erika James, written by Christian White, Skylar James, and Natalie Erika James, as well as produced by John Krasinski.

The film stars Julia Garner, Dianne Wiest, Kevin McNally, and Jim Sturgess, and the cast delivers serviceable performances overall, but the standout performance goes to Garner, who consistently bounces between the highs and lows of her aspirations to be a stage actress while feeling the dread of incoming evil that's getting closer and closer. Wiest is great as Minnie Castevet, one of Terry's neighbors, and she does a solid job swinging from sweet and caring to sinister and, at times, straight-up menacing.

Another aspect of the film I was surprised to enjoy was the writing. With the film being a prequel to a classic horror film, it's put in such a box story-wise, and I'm surprised the plot and its pacing were as decent as they were. The script also carries the same social commentary as the original, focusing on women's autonomy and pro-choice ethics. At the same time, however, Apartment 7A opens up new doors with its commentary via its main character and her struggle in show business, a line of work notorious for its complicated history with women's issues. This is especially notable with a certain character in the film who looks eerily like a young Roman Polanski.

The film also lives and breathes off its atmosphere, and while the film itself has an unfortunate lack of solid scares, the eerie setting doesn't fail to give off chills. From the apartment halls to the basement laundry room and even the makeup room and backstage of Terry's theater capture a solid atmosphere. But the movie hardly delivers on the scares, which is unfortunate given the potential, with its solid performances and atmosphere above. Struggles aside, Apartment 7A still kept my attention through its 1 hour and 44 minute runtime.

Overall, the film does better than expected, despite the shadow of the classic original hanging over it and keeping it in a narrative box. Through good performances and a great atmosphere, Apartment 7A makes for some easy spooky streaming, even if it could and should be doing more.

Apartment 7A is available to stream on Paramount+ now and also to purchase digitally.