Although not advertised as such, the iconic horror classic Rosemary’s Baby is getting a prequel film this fall. Apartment 7A is heading straight to streamer Paramount+ just in time for Halloween. This time, there’s no Rosemary Woodhouse staying at the infamous Dakota apartments in New York, with the story instead centering on a minor character from the original film, Terry Gionoffrio, now played by Julia Garner. Oscar-winner Diane Wiest and Kevin McNally now portray the creepy old couple from Rosemary’s Baby, the Castevets. You can check out the unsettling new trailer for Apartment 7A right here.
The film takes place in 1965, presumable at least a few months before the events of Rosemary’s Baby. Judging from the trailer, both Diane Wiest and Kevin McNally do an eerily spot-on impression of Minnie and Roman Castavet, the elderly couple from Roman Polanski’s original 1968 film. Dianne Weist especially does a perfect imitation of actress Ruth Gordon, who won an Oscar for the role of the nosey neighbor who (surprise!) actually worshipped the Devil and was trying to bring about the Antichrist. It’s great to see Diane Wiest in a horror film again, some 35 years after her role as the lovable mom in The Lost Boys.
Natalie Erika James is the director for Apartment 7A, from a screenplay she co-wrote with Christian White and Skylar James. Hopefully, this will be as good as some other recent prequels to iconic horror films we’ve seen recently. Films we first assumed were nothing more than just cash grabs. Among them is The First Omen, released earlier this year, which was actually quite good. Who saw that coming? Everyone was surprised at how good that ended up. Apartment 7A is premiering first at Fantastic Fest later this fall, before its debut on Paramount+ on September 27 and, if the trailer is any indication, it will be scarily good.
