Warning! This post contains spoilers for Apartment 7A.
In its opening moments,Rosemary’s Baby’s prequel,Apartment 7A, almost comes off as a remake of a 14-year-old Natalie Portman movie, which helped her win an Academy Award in the Best Actress category. Loosely based on the characters and story beats set by Ira Levin’sRosemary’s Babyand its 1968 movie adaptation,Apartment 7Afollows the story of a young woman named Terry. Viewers who have watchedRosemary’s Babywill remember that Terry was only a minor character in the classic horror film who died in its opening arc.
By making Terry its main character,Apartment 7Anot only resolves some underlying mysteries fromRosemary’s Babybut also presents an original take on the 1968 film’s narrative. AlthoughApartment 7Aborrows many story elements fromRosemary’s Babyand draws subtle connections to the parent film, it stands on its own as an original movie. Interestingly, however, despite its originality, it is hard not to notice how it initially seems similar to an acclaimedNatalie Portman horror movie.
Apartment 7A’s Story Setup Is Reminiscent Of Black Swan
Terry’s Opening Arc Reminds One Of Nina’s From Black Swan
InApartment 7A’s opening arc, Julia Garner’s Terryis introduced as a dancer who hopes to see herself in the spotlight someday. As the film’s opening sequence suggests, she also seems to be on the right path toward achieving her dreams. However, her dreams shatter when she breaks her ankle, and the injury holds her back from pursuing her passion. While she struggles to land her next dancing gig, her obsession with material success drives her. This obsession eventually convinces her to — figuratively speaking — make a deal with the devil, leading to terrifying consequences.
Black Swan Ending Explained: Why Nina Hurt Herself & Did She Die?
Black Swan’s open-ended conclusion regarding the fate of Natalie Portman’s Nina still holds up and has questions today.
Black Swanpresents a similar narrative in which Natalie Portman’s Nina Sayers gets so consumed with her obsession to land the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake that it skews her sense of reality. As she strives for perfection, she struggles with her identity and goes to extreme lengths to achieve her dream. In theDarren Aronofsky movie’s dramatic climax, Nina finally gets what she wants, but at a hefty cost.Both Nina and Terry go through haunting transformationsduring their journeys. However, Terry’s story takes a different turn halfway throughApartment 7A.
Emulating Black Swan’s Formula Could Have Made Apartment 7A Better
Even thoughApartment 7Ais a decent extension ofRosemary’s Baby’s universe, it has not garnered favorable reviews from critics. The primary reason behind its underwhelming critical reception is thatit seems too similar to its parent film. Not to mention, viewers who have seenRosemary’s Babywould also findTerry’s fate towards the end ofApartment 7Apredictable.Apartment 7Acould have easily avoided these pitfalls by riffing more on its similarities withBlack Swan.
TheRosemary’s Babyprequel could have drawn parallels between the self-destructive nature of Terry’s pregnancy and her obsession with stardom, which would have made it thematically different from its parent film.
Just likeBlack Swanshows how Nina gradually walks down a self-destructive path to achieve success,Apartment 7Acould have captured something similar with Terry’s characterization. TheRosemary’s Babyprequel could have drawn parallels between the self-destructive nature of Terry’s pregnancy and her obsession with stardom, which would have made it thematically different from its parent film. Terry’s final arc inApartment 7Aalso could have been about her reaching the epitome of fame and material success but falling from grace before she can truly embrace it.
Apartment 7A Fails To Go The Distance With Its Black Swan Story Parallels
It Only Sticks To The Parallels In Its Opening Arc
Unfortunately, despite initially promising to be an intricate exploration of an artist’s obsession with her craft,Apartment 7Adrops the storyline and falls into familiar horror territory. With a talented actress like Julia Garner as its lead,Apartment 7Acould have been a far better film if it had stuck to portraying how far Terry was willing to go to achieve her dreams. Unfortunately, it strays from delving deeper into its most interesting story beat.
40%
Running Time
104 minutes
Movies likeBlack Swan,The Wrestler, andWhiplash, which walk through the harrowing journeys of characters consumed with their obsessions, are both scary and gripping.Apartment 7Acould have been the same. However, it plays it safe by following the framework set byRosemary’s Baby.
Apartment 7A
In this psychological thriller, a young woman is forced into a mysterious cult after moving into a seemingly ordinary apartment complex. As strange events occur there, she begins to question her sanity and the motives of her enigmatic neighbors.
Rosemary’s Baby
Directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow, Rosemary’s Baby chronicles the chilling tale of Rosemary Woodhouse, the wife of an actor who, after finding out she is pregnant, begins to suspect that her unborn child is something far more sinister than a normal baby. John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, and Maurice Evans also star.
Black Swan
In Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan, talented ballet dancer Nina Sayers struggles with her mental health while preparing for her performance in a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Natalie Portman earned a Best Actress Oscar in the lead role, and the cast made up of Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder received high praise from critics and audiences.
