Apartment 7A-- My take on the Movie With Spoilers!
Plot: Before Rosemary, there was Terry Gionoffrio, who was a victim of Bramford's dark secret.
Quick Movie Review
Forget the harsh critical reviews of Apartment 7A.
The movie is well-made, does justice to the original Rosemary's Baby, and manages to invoke sympathy within you for the ill-fated character.
While the character of Terry plays a brief role in Rosemary's story, she still managed to make you feel sorry for the one character who was on the path to reform only to meet a tragic end.
Apartment 7A tells us exactly what Terry went through.
Of course, props to Julia Garner for effectively portraying such a complex character with such finesse that you are pulled into her journey. It doesn't matter that you know how the story is going to move forward, Julia Garner's performance will pull your focus and make you want her to survive her ordeal in spite of knowing just how things are going to turn out for it.
We all know that she dies as it was mentioned in Rosemary's Baby. But while her death was shown as suicide, in Apartment 7A we get to see that Terry was actually brave enough to end her life rather than give birth to evil and let the Castevets succeed in their ploy to bring the Antichrist into the world.
Apartment 7A impresses with a well-told story and incredible acting performances. It is the perfect movie to welcome the spooky season.
APARTMENT 7A Movie Plot
The movie opens with Terry backstage, getting ready to perform on stage as a dancer. Her friend Annie comes up to check up on her and asks if she is nervous. Terry shows her hands and replies that her nerves are steady.
She performs well on stage, but as she prepares to make a ballet leap, she ends up landing on her ankle and twisting it. As she falls, the curtains are closed, and she is taken to a hospital where surgery is performed on her.
Time passes, and Terry is seen walking down the street with a limp. She sees a man playing the trumpet and comments that he is getting better.
She attends several auditions but is always rejected. Annie is always by her side, even when Terry can't pay the rent. She comes across an audition for a play called the Pale Crook.
At the audition, she is humiliated for being the girl who fell and for hailing from a small town. She is told to perform the ballet leap that almost ruined her career. Though nervous, Terry performs it and lands well on her feet. But the casting directors ask her to perform the leap repeatedly. Terry is in obvious pain and in tears but doesn't give up.
One of them tells her it is enough. Terry wants to show that she can sing too but is dismissed cruelly. Alan Marchand, the man who composed the play, is also present. He asks her which farm and what animals her family had in Nebraska, and she replies, pigs.
Alan gets on stage and asks her if she can get on the floor and wiggle herself like a pig.
Terry answers that while she is desperate to do what it takes to jump-start her career, she will never humiliate herself.
Dejected, Terry sits outside, certain that she has been rejected. Annie tells Terry to consider going back home and coming back when she is ready. Terry says she is determined to see her name in big flashy lights.
Alan walks past, and she follows him outside all the way to the Bramford. Since she has taken too many painkillers, she is barely able to talk to the doorman and goes out to the street to puke.
An elderly couple, the Castevets, come to her aid. The woman is Minnie, and the man is Roman. They take Terry to their home and let her rest in their guest room.
Terry wakes up and is given breakfast by the Castevets. She declines the offer of bacon, saying it's hard for her to eat meat when she has seen how it is made. Minnie then gets Terry to dry the dishes and tells her how she knows she has the potential to be a star. Terry is modest, but Minnie tells her that she knows a star when she sees one.
Afterwards, the Castevets take her to Apartment 7G. They live in Apartment 7A, the movie title, remember?
Terry is impressed with the view and the apartment. The Castevets spring a surprise on her; they want her to have it. Terry tells them she can't afford it, but the Castevets want her to just have it until she gets back on her feet. It's an offer too good to be true, but the Castevets explain how they don't have kids of their own, which is why they have been helping people until they can make something of themselves. They have helped several people so far and are trying to get in good with the man upstairs.
Hopefully, they meant God and not Alan, who lives upstairs.
Terry packs her bad, and Annie tells her she has doubts about the couple, but Terry is determined to get a fresh start on her career, and moving out seems like a good step.
Terry moves in and is invited by Minnie for drinks. Terry thinks it is at her house, but it is actually at Alan's house.
Minnie and Roman don't show up, and Terry understands it's a setup for her benefit. Unfortunately, it is not.
Alan is his charming self and tells her that he is impressed with her ability to stand up for herself and respect herself. Terry is realistic, though, and asks whether the Castevets had to twist his arm to get him to hire her for his play. She also asks him if he expects her to act like a pig for him.
Alan agrees that he listened to Roman because he has deep pockets but that he does think she is talented. He hands her a drink, and she drinks it but immediately starts to feel it taking effect.
Alan helps her and takes her to another room that looks like it may be a secret tunnel or basement. Terry may be hallucinating because she sees herself being stripped to a sequin stage dress. Alan lifts her in a dance move before taking her inside a dark room and laying her on a platform. In a haze, Terry sees herself tied down and her legs spread apart. She then sees a glittery man loom over her.
Terry screams. When she wakes up, Alan tells her that last night had gone well, but she doesn't remember any of it.
Terry is practising with the choir and has to ward off barbs from the lead, Vera, who remarks that Terry is dragging her feet.
Terry, who is still in too much pain because of her ankle, wonders for how long she will be able to perform.
She goes to the bathroom to weep and finds numerous bruises on her body. Terry realizes she may be violated but doesn't dwell too much because she can't remember. She returns to Bramford, and Minnie calls her to meet an older woman called Mrs Gardenia, who takes a look at Terry ankle and applies a green paste to it that she assures is just natural herbs. Terry is uncertain about using herbal remedies but doesn't want to hurt Minnie's feelings.
The next morning, however, Terry notices that her ankle is much better and she can dance well on it.
At the rehearsal, she performs well, and Vera is annoyed with her. She taunts her about sleeping her way into the production. Terry also gives back to her taunts.
Later, Terry feels sick and is shocked to learn that she is pregnant.
This is confirmed by Dr. Sapirstein, who is a friend of the Castevets.
Disturbed, Terry goes to see Minnie, but no one opens the door. She then heads to her apartment but finds it open.
Minnie and Roman are inside, well aware of her pregnancy. They congratulate her, but Terry tells them she isn't sure she will keep the baby. Minnie tells her not to even talk about it, and she is given a necklace to wear that has some herbs in it.
At the rehearsals, Vera plays a mean trick on Terry and has her sit down on ketchup and eggs. Terry manages to lay one comeback line, but Alan comes to her rescue. He helps wipe off the eggs and reveals that he, too, knows about her pregnancy and is so happy about it.
Terry is the only one not happy about it.
She begins to have hallucinations and is concerned about the previous tenant called Joan, who apparently left without a word in the middle of the night. Terry is no longer sure if that is what really happened.
She talks to the doorman about it, who explains that she did leave in the middle of the night and left her things behind. Terry sees it and finds a suitcase with a book about the devil.
At the rehearsal, Vera suddenly gets a fit where her ankle is twisted as well as the rest of her limbs. She is out of the show, and Terry is named the new lead.
Minnie grows a little aggressive and shows it while she is giving Terry a new haircut. She scratches her ear and mutters about Terry being ungrateful even after everything is handed to her on a silver platter. Terry admits that she has been selfish.
However, as Terry digs deeper into what happened to Joan, she finds strange happenings like a washing machine door opening on its own. She hallucinates her baby moving in her belly and has sharp pain in her belly.
She calls up Dr Sapirstein, who claims she may have hysteria, and that she should pack a bag and get herself admitted. Fearing for her safety and for the doctor telling Minnie about her hallucinations, she ends the call.
But minutes later, Minnie arrives with the excuse of having some extra food. Terry tells her she is not hungry even as Minnie barges in but is held back because of the door chain. When she leaves, Terry notices her smiling outside.
Desperate for help, Terry goes to the church to find out about the content in Joan's book. But she suffers severe pain when she enters the church. A nun comes to her aid and then tells her that the book belongs to a secret coven that stays in Bramford.
When Terry clutches her belly, the sister falls to her knees. She tells her that after Joan, they choose her.
Terry is horrified to discover that she is carrying the Antichrist.
APARTMENT 7A Ending Explained
Terry and Annie head to a small clinic to get an abortion. The doctor is pushed away roughly while she is conducting the procedure and is unable to move to the movie.
Terry realizes that she will not be able to get rid of the antichrist so easily. She thinks it is her fault that everything bad is happening happening to the people around her, especially Vera and the doctor, but Annie assures her it is not and that the Castevets are to blame.
She heads to the Bramford where she meets Alan, who confirms that she was chosen for this special role. Terry is so frustrated that she stabs Alan. He doesn't even react to his death in surprise. He simply allows himself to succumb to his death.
Terry tries to kill herself next, but the strange force doesn't allow her to.
Roman reveals himself to be the cult leader, and Minnie and him convince Terry to keep the baby because they will be taking care of it anyway. However, she can choose to join their cult.
Terry agrees.
In the next scene, Terry is drunk and prancing around in the party in front of all the residents of Bramford. Even the kind doorman was on it.
Terry says Hail Satan a couple of times and then embraces Minnie, saying that she is thankful to be given the role of a lifetime.
As she dances, she heads towards the window and then drops herself.
Terry dies after falling on a car.
The police gather, and we see a couple nearby who is obviously disturbed. Was it their car?
In the mid credits, we are shown that the couple is Rosemary and Guy, the lead couple of Rosemary's Baby. Minnie and Roman spot them and smile. They found their next victims.
My Take On The Movie
Apartment 7A is the perfect prequel to Rosemary's Baby and is a definite must-watch.
Don't believe the critics and watch this movie if only for Julia Garner's brave performance.
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