Warning! This post contains spoilers for Apartment 7A.
In its opening moments, 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's Rosemary's Baby and its 1968 movie adaptation, Apartment 7A follows the story of a young woman named Terry. Viewers who have watched Rosemary's Baby will 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 7A not only resolves some underlying mysteries from Rosemary's Baby but also presents an original take on the 1968 film's narrative. Although Apartment 7A borrows many story elements from Rosemary's Baby and 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 acclaimed Natalie 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
In Apartment 7A's opening arc, Julia Garner's Terry is 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 ion. 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 Swan presents 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 the Darren Aronofsky movie's dramatic climax, Nina finally gets what she wants, but at a hefty cost. Both Nina and Terry go through haunting transformations during their journeys. However, Terry's story takes a different turn halfway through Apartment 7A.
Emulating Black Swan's Formula Could Have Made Apartment 7A Better
Apartment 7A Would Have Been Less Predictable & More Layered If It Had Copied Black Swan
Even though Apartment 7A is a decent extension of Rosemary's Baby's universe, it has not garnered favorable reviews from critics. The primary reason behind its underwhelming critical reception is that it seems too similar to its parent film. Not to mention, viewers who have seen Rosemary's Baby would also find Terry's fate towards the end of Apartment 7A predictable. Apartment 7A could have easily avoided these pitfalls by riffing more on its similarities with Black Swan.
The Rosemary's Baby prequel 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 like Black Swan shows how Nina gradually walks down a self-destructive path to achieve success, Apartment 7A could have captured something similar with Terry's characterization. The Rosemary's Baby prequel 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 in Apartment 7A also 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 7A drops the storyline and falls into familiar horror territory. With a talented actress like Julia Garner as its lead, Apartment 7A could 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.
Apartment 7A Key Facts Breakdown |
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Directed By |
Natalie Erika James |
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Score |
40% |
Story By |
Skylar James |
Running Time |
104 minutes |
Movies like Black Swan, The Wrestler, and Whiplash, which walk through the harrowing journeys of characters consumed with their obsessions, are both scary and gripping. Apartment 7A could have been the same. However, it plays it safe by following the framework set by Rosemary's Baby.
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5/10In 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.
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8/10Directed 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.
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8/10In 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.
