Apartment 7A

The creators of APARTMENT 7A have created an interesting prequel to the 1968 classic "Rosemary's Baby", but they've had a devil of a time convincing me why it needed to me made.

Let's conjure up what they did right. First, they've cast Julia Garner (Ozark, Wolfman) as Terry, a young woman from Nebraska newly arrived to conquer the Broadway stage.

Filled with talent, desire and a refusal to be intimidated by the veteran dancers, she earns infamy through a rehearsal accident that's a graphic as it is shocking.

Terry finds herself spiraling and at the gates of the Bramford, a massive luxury apartment building in the middle of Manhattan. Just as in the original film, it's actually The Dakota in NYC.

Two good Samaritans in the form of Minnie & Roman Castevet swoop in and offer Terry an apartment they own in the building.

Fans of Roman Polanski's brilliant original film probably already started smiling at the thought of Ruth Gordon's amazing, hilarious performance as Minnie. She won a Best Supporting Actress or her performance and earned it.

The reliably great Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters, The Birdcage) delivers an amazing tribute to Gordon, channeling her dark spirit through every laugh out loud, biting word of dialogue. She NAILS it beautifully.

Kevin McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean) takes over for the late Sidney Blackmer as Roman and serves up his own seductive brand of charm & conspiracy.

Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, Cloud Atlas) also lights it up as Broadway Director Alan Marchand, a cruel influence broker who answers to a lower power.

The film treads some interesting and captivating territory in Apartment 7A. Fans of Mia Farrow wandering around in that same apartment will likely, as I was, be intrigued...at first.

But the film falls short of ever being scary or truly suspenseful.

It's far too predictable in its second half to offer any surprises.

I guessed Terry's final scene well before it arrived.

The character of Terry actually appeared in "Rosemary's Baby" and that short scene and dialogue served as the major plot driver for this film. It starts to feel thin, fairly early on.

Garner is a solid core for the film. She's convincing as an innocent woman struggling with a taste of fame and the mysteries of the big city. Her slip into addiction and struggles with morality feel very real in Garner's hands, but the rest of the film (save Wiest) fails to rise up to meet her.

Stick through the start of the end titles for a mid-credits sequence that tries to serve up a clever hand off like "Rogue One" did to the original "Star Wars".

Sadly, it just reminded me of the superiority of Polanski's FAR superior film.

I end up where I began.

Why did this film need to be made? Does it offer anything truly new in perspective, scares or mystery?

Sadly, no.

But Wiest rises up like a dark Phoenix, throws the film on her back and makes it watchable.

If you're a fan of the original classic horror film, or Ira Levin's Rosemary novels, dig in. If not, just go watch the original again and revel in Farrow/Polanki/Gordon's jet black alchemy.

APARTMENT 7A should have stayed vacant, earning a C+.

Wiest gets an A+. She is fantastic.