Sumith Prasad
Paramount+’s psychological horror film ‘Apartment 7A’ ends with shocking developments, one after the other, concerning Theresa “Terry” Gionoffrio’s fate. The theater actress’ efforts to abort her baby to save her acting career end when supernatural occurrences scare her. As she delves deep into the mysteries behind her pregnancy, she discovers the existence of a group that has been preying on vulnerable women like her. Natalie Erika James’ prequel to Roman Polanski’s influential work ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ concludes with Terry taking matters into her own hands, only for the film to solve a mystery that was left unanswered for more than half a century! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Apartment 7A Plot Synopsis
Set in New York City, ‘Apartment 7A’ begins with Theresa “Terry” Gionoffrio sustaining a leg injury during the rehearsal of a production that makes her infamous as the “girl who fell.” After recovering from the same, she tries to secure a role in the famed playwright Alan Marchand’s new work, ‘The Pale Crook.’ The dramatist and his associates humiliate her, only for her to walk away from the audition. Still, she sets out to meet the playwright by appearing unannounced at his apartment complex called the Bramford. Since she hasn’t made an appointment, the doorman asks her to leave. Meanwhile, she vomits in front of Roman and Margaux “Minnie” Castevet. They take her in and let her sleep in their apartment.
After Terry wakes up, Roman and Minnie offer her one of their apartments in the same complex for free of charge. Believing that they are trying to battle their loneliness by helping a damsel in distress, she accepts the offer and moves into their place. After the move, she goes to Marchand’s apartment for a gathering. Since Roman and Minnie have other plans, the playwright and the actress are alone in the place, and soon, the latter gets dizzy. During her sleep, she dreams of getting tied down on a small bed and nearly raped by a creature that resembles the Pale Crook, the protagonist of his play. The next morning, Marchand implies that they had slept together the previous night.
Since Marchand offers Terry a role in his production, she decides to forget the nonconsensual sex. However, her life turns upside down when she discovers that she is pregnant. While the actress considers abortion, Roman and Minnie propose looking after the baby since they couldn’t conceive one themselves. In return, they offer her significant roles in theatre, including the lead in ‘The Pale Crook.’ Around the same time, her next-door neighbor, Lily Gardenia, tries to kill her. The old woman then ends up in a coma. The mysterious occurrences that happen around her make Terry immensely curious.
Terry tries to find out what happened to the former tenant of her apartment, only for her to learn that she was an actress as well. She even discovers a secret door in her apartment that leads her to books associated with Satanism. Her concern becomes fear for her life when she fails to abort her baby. Seeking answers, the actress goes to a church and learns from a nun that the former tenant was preyed on by the Satanists living in her apartment complex. She accidentally confronts Marchand, who admits that she was indeed raped. Terry then kills him, believing he is the one who impregnated her without her consent.
Apartment 7A Ending: Who Impregnates Terry? Why?
Roman Castevet impregnates Terry. After Alan Marchand drugs her, she is taken to a Satanic ritual venue within the Bramford, where she is raped and impregnated by the old man. Roman is the fake identity of Steven Marcato, the son of Adrian Marcato, the painter who created the artworks the playwright admires. More than an artist, Adrian was a Satan worshipper who was killed for his unholy, alternative beliefs. Steven Marcato, to escape from the notoriety his father had garnered, changed his identity to “Roman Castevet,” an anagram of his original name. He then became the head of the Satanic coven his father formed.
The foundational belief of the coven is that Satan/Devil will conceive the Antichrist to save the world from the believers of Jesus Christ. To welcome the son of Satan, the coven needs a human vessel. The members of the cult had been looking for a woman who could conceive the Antichrist by giving up her body to the Devil. That was why their attention turned to Joan Cebulski, the former tenant of Terry’s apartment. However, she couldn’t fulfill the promise because of her Christian beliefs. Then Roman and Minnie’s sights fall on the theatre actress, who is vulnerable and alone to stand up for herself. By offering her an apartment and career advancement, they lure her into their trap.
Since Roman is the son of the coven’s founder, he represents Satan himself to his followers. They accept the Pale Crook as the personification of the Devil, which explains why he wears the same mask and costume while raping and impregnating Terry. He forces himself on her not as Roman or Steven but as the physical body of Satan himself. The unborn baby in her belly belongs to the Devil, and that’s why she cannot kill her fetus with a knife. For Roman, the unborn child is much more than the Antichrist. He wants to exact vengeance on the same world that killed his father, Adrian, by unleashing the Devil’s son.
In one of the earlier scenes, Roman and Minnie tell Terry that they cannot conceive. It’s possible that the wife is not healthy enough to bear a child or the husband does not want to sacrifice his beloved to Satan. Regardless of the reason, they see the actress as a mere toy or vessel, as they once saw Joan.
Why Does Terry Kill Herself? What Happens to Her Baby?
After realizing that she is not in a position to give birth to a child, Terry sets out to abort her unborn baby twice. An Asian woman’s effort to free the actress from the fetus ends tragically. Then, she tries to kill the baby on her own, only to fail. When she cannot slay her child, Terry realizes that dark forces are at play. The helplessness she experiences after getting defeated by a malevolent entity leads her to a gathering of the coven members. She then pretends to join the cult before dancing for their entertainment. However, her last dance ends with her jumping from a window to kill herself.
Terry embraces death over a life tied to the Satanists because of her self-respect. She is vulnerable, helpless, and hopeless in a cruel word, but she is adamant about respecting herself. The actress can tolerate rock bottom but cannot accept humiliation and self-degradation. That’s why she stands up for herself and decides against acting like a pig when Alan Marchand demands the same in return for a role. Even though she is struggling, it is not a reason for her to let others walk over her. When Terry realizes that she is locked up in the Bramford, the den of the Satanists led by Roman and Minnie, she chooses freedom and control of her life, even if it means killing herself, over imprisonment.
Terry does not wish to become a toy in the hands of the Satanists who force her to do everything they want. The prospect of living with her rapist must have further troubled her. Even though the old husband and wife offer her freedom after she delivers the baby, she does not have any reason to believe them. After learning what happened to Joan Cebulski, Terry must have realized that the Satanists might even kill her after they get her child. The last thing she wants is for the same people who destroyed her life to benefit from her death or misfortune. Thus, she kills herself and her baby so that the members of the cult cannot use and throw her.
It is surprising that Terry can kill herself and consequently kill her baby but cannot eliminate only the latter. Considering the Antichrist’s dependency on the mother, the only way to kill him can be to sever the ties between him and the woman, which happens only through her death. Even before Terry, Lily Gardenia realizes that the actress’ death is inevitable. The old woman who ends up in a coma is seemingly a former member of the coven. After finding the practices and rituals of the cult unacceptable, Gardenia must have realized that she could not cooperate with the group’s actions and crimes. By killing Terry, the old woman must have hoped to retaliate against the coven, only to fail.
Is the Pale Crook Real or Terry’s Imagination?
Considering the supernatural occurrences that happen around Terry, the presence of the Satanic force cannot be ruled out. There is no logical way of explaining her injury healing overnight or her failure to slay her child with a knife. That does not mean the evil force presents itself as the Pale Crook before her. The only time she sees the mysterious entity before getting pregnant is when she is drugged by Alan Marchand and raped by Roman Castevet. The drug’s effect must have made her perceive the old man’s Pale Crook costume as a surreal manifestation of Satan.
Soon after that fateful night, Terry becomes pregnant and consults Dr. Abraham Sapirstein, the coven’s member. He must have prescribed her more drugs to alter her reality. Furthermore, the actress constantly consumes a pill, which can be a strong painkiller. The tablet must be serving as a drug to her system, immensely affecting her sense of reality. The panic she experiences after realizing that a Satanic cult has trapped her may have unsettled her more, causing intrusive thoughts. A combination of these factors can be the reason why she sees the Pale Crook around her.
If the Pale Crook is really an existing manifestation of Satan, Rosemary Woodhouse must have encountered the same in ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ which never happens. Therefore, the eerie figure is most likely a creation of her mind, drawing inspiration from Roman’s costume when she was traumatized.
Why Do Roman and Minnie Smile?
After Terry kills herself, Roman and Minnie seemingly leave the building through a different exit and walk to the front door of the apartment complex. Before reaching the dead body, they smile, especially when they should be sad or unsettled because of the potential Antichrist’s death. The reason behind their smile is the woman and man who talk to an officer standing near Terry’s dead body. They are none other than Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse, the protagonists of ‘Rosemary’s Baby.’ From the theatre actress’ conversation with the nun, we know that the apartment complex is the den of the Satanists. They must have screened every person who wants to move into the place.
If that’s the case, Rosemary and Guy move to the complex after the husband joins the coven. That means Roman and Minnie are familiar with Rosemary’s wish to have children. When they see the young couple, they realize that there’s no need to be hopeless about Terry’s death, specifically since they have a woman who actually wants to be a mother, unlike the actress. Since Guy is already one among them, they don’t even need to worry about keeping their eyes on Rosemary when her husband can do the same for them. Roman and Minnie smile because they have a plan in place to welcome the Antichrist despite Terry and her baby’s death.
