Apartment 7A (2024)

Hindsight truly becomes 20/20 once one has sat through a movie like "Apartment 7A". Reeling from the tedium this movie brings to the table, you think about how much better "Rosemary's Baby" was in every single way, and recognise that a prequel set in the same apartment building, which has the same villains (this time played by Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally), and more-or-less the same plot, was doomed to failure. Everything in this movie is a shoddy substitute for something that was better in Roman Polanski's seminal classic, right down to main character Terry Gionoffrio (played by Julia Garner with a listlessness that can only be forgiven by Twitter hype merchants), who wants to be a big-time dancer but is hampered by injury and lack of opportunities until she moves into the same building as a kind elderly couple, beginning an uptick in luck that's blighted just a bit by an unwanted pregnancy.

You know where this is going, and it takes a dull route. Sure, we get people referencing interesting stuff that happened prior to the events of this movie, but the best writer-director Natalie Erika James and co-writers Christian White and Skylar James are willing to offer up are shopworn scares and moments of painfully downplayed menace. Like I already said, we know where this is going, so why not have fun with it? It's not like these filmmakers have Polanski's knack for suspense, so maybe go nuts a bit!

This is a boring movie with nothing going for it outside of its cinematography, and no reason to exist. Again, "Rosemary's Baby" is so much better. And if you want something that echoes that movie, give "American Horror Story: Delicate" a shot. That series at least had personality, a great leading actress, and a sense of what's actually horrific about pregnancy, fame and ambition. "Apartment 7A", on the other hand, is one of 2024's worst movies, made doubly terrible by having the audacity to associate itself with a classic.

Cuckoo (2024)

After moving to the German Alps with her blended family, troubled Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) soon learns her picturesque surroundings hide frightening, twisted secrets involving a seemingly murderous woman in Tilman Singer's "Cuckoo". Helped along by Hunter Schafer's powerhouse lead performance (assisted by Dan Stevens' wonderfully weird supporting turn as hotelier Herr Konig), the movie generally relies on mood and mystery, with a few strong moments of horror sprinkled throughout to make up for its slacker stretches, ultimately being worthwhile despite some frustrating developments in the resolution of a "mystery" it gives away just a little too early. Personally, I'd have liked to see it flaunt more overtly horror elements rather than take the (admittedly endearingly freaky) thriller route it settles on, but that's just me. What's truly great about this film is the performances of its cast - especially Schafer and Stevens - and it'd take a lot more flaws to make me dislike a movie where the acting goes this hard.