WARNING! This article contains major SPOILERS for Apartment 7A!
This article contains mentions of suicide and sexual assault.
Arriving 56 years after the originalRosemary’s Babymovie, Paramount+’sApartment 7Afinally gives the full context to Terry Gionoffrio’s tragic death.Apartment 7Abegins a few months beforeRosemary’s Baby’s timeline, but rather than rehashing Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse’s experiences prior to moving into the Bramford, the prequel explores the sinister events from the perspective of Terry Gionoffrio. The character briefly appeared in the original 1968 movie when meeting Rosemary in the building’s laundry room, only forTerry to tragically fall to her death from Minnie and Roman Castevet’s apartment window shortly after.
The true context of Terry’s death was left vague before theend ofRosemary’s Baby, with there being a significant level of doubt regarding whether she actually killed herself or was murdered. The prequel movieApartment 7Aconcludes with Terry (Julia Garner) jumping to her death from the Castevets’ apartment,confirming that the character did, in fact, take her own life in the 1968 film. However,Apartment 7Areveals that Terry herself was originally the subject of the Castevets’ sinister Antichrist plot before Guy and Rosemary, adding another tragic layer to the character’s brutal death.
Terry Was Pregnant With The Antichrist & Killed Herself To Prevent Its Birth In Rosemary’s Baby
Terry Was Impregnated With Satan’s Son Before Rosemary
While Terry being subject to the Castevets’ dark plans was already widely speculated by viewers after thechillingRosemary’s Baby,Apartment 7Aoffers a more concrete answer. The prequel reveals that Minnie and Roman Castevet took Terry in and allowed her to live in one of their apartments after finding her unsettled and confused on the street outside the Bramford. As they would find out, Terry’s only living family was her brother in the Navy, with just a few dancer friends who might go looking for her if something happened. Therefore, Terry was the perfect subject for the Castevets’ coven.
Terry believed the baby was Alan’s until later discovering the truth about that night, but when she tried to get an abortion, the fetus prevented her from harming it.
One evening, Terry was drugged by Alan Marchand, a director living in the Bramford whose show she had been trying to audition for as a dancer prior to meeting the Castevets.That night, Alan, the Castevets, and their cult performed a ritual meeting as Satan raped and impregnated Terry, bringing into motion their plans to conceive the Antichrist. Terry believed the baby was Alan’s until later discovering the truth about that night, but when she tried to get an abortion, the fetus prevented her from harming it.
John Cassavetes
Scott Hume
After meeting a nun who prayed for the child to not be born,Terry made the terrifying decision to sacrifice herself in order to prevent the Antichrist’s birth. When Terry went up to the Castevets’ apartment and was introduced to the many cult members, she ended her life dancing across the room and out the window, leaping onto the street sidewalk below and being killed by the impact. Tragically, while Terry terminated the cult’s plans for herself, it wouldn’t stop the Castevets from bringing their sinister Antichrist plot to fruition with Rosemary Woodhouse soon after.
How The Truth About Terry’s Death Changes Her Conversation With Rosemary In The Original Movie
Rosemary & Terry’s Conversation Feels More Out Of Place
Though they’re the main characters ofRosemary’s Baby, Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse only briefly appear inApartment 7A, with neither having any speaking lines. Oddly,Apartment 7Aentirely skips over theRosemary’s Babyscene in which Terry and Rosemary meet in the Bramford’s laundry area. Instead, when Rosemary arrives with her laundry, Terry exits the room. While the prequel doesn’t include that scene, it does still exist within the story, asApartment 7Aends with Rosemary Woodhouse telling the police about having met Terry shortly before her death.
However, it makes sense that the prequel admitted that scene, as Terry’s demeanor and words don’t fit as well with the new context of her horrifying experiences with the Castevets. In the original film, Terry seems more naive when discussing her life at the Bramford, as she sings the Castevets’ praises for taking her in off the streets, innocently calls theCastevets’ tannis roota “good luck charm,” and is very friendly and bubbly with Rosemary while they do laundry together. This is amajor departure from the Terry introduced inApartment 7A, who is more skeptical, solitary, and aware of the darkness around her.
Rosemary’s Baby 2 Exists! What Happens In The Sequel
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In the context ofApartment 7A, the original scene between Terry andMia Farrow’sRosemary’s Babycharactermakes little sense. Ittakes some narrative stretches to explain Terry’s behavior in that scene if she was already pregnant with the Antichrist and skeptical of the Castevets. Terry could have praised the Castevets as a way to convince herself that nothing was wrong, and she might have seen Rosemary as a potential ally to help keep her safe within the Bramford. Still,Apartment 7A’s Terry never would have told Rosemary that the Castevets are “the most wonderful people in the world.”
Terry’s Death Debunks Major Minnie & Roman Theories from Rosemary’s Baby
Minnie & Roman Technically Didn’t Kill Terry In Rosemary’s Baby
Since Terry’s death was left quite ambiguous inRosemary’s Baby, acommon theory about her fate suggested that Roman and Minnie Castevet killed her. Those theories supposed that Terry may have threatened to expose the cult or tried to attack the Castevets after learning about their sinister plans for her, leaving them no choice but to kill her. However, the2024 horror moviereveals that the last thing the Castevets wanted at that time was for Terry to die: she was the vessel through which the Antichrist would be born, and they needed her safe to bear the child.
Terry dies just 15 minutes intoRosemary’s Baby, directly after her scene in which she meets Rosemary.
Even if Terry had survivedApartment 7A, it’s very possible that the Castevets or other members of their coven would have killed her. Terry was against their plans to bring about the Antichrist, and her connection to it likely would have driven her to try to kill the baby, destroy the cult, or attack the Castevets.Terry’s death was still a result of the Castevets’ cult assaulting her and using her body to conceive the Antichrist, with Terry sacrificing her life with the intention of saving the world from the birth of Satan’s son.
Apartment 7A
Cast
In this psychological thriller, a young woman is forced into a mysterious cult after moving into a seemingly ordinary apartment complex. As strange events occur there, she begins to question her sanity and the motives of her enigmatic neighbors.
Rosemary’s Baby
Directed by Roman Polanski and starring Mia Farrow, Rosemary’s Baby chronicles the chilling tale of Rosemary Woodhouse, the wife of an actor who, after finding out she is pregnant, begins to suspect that her unborn child is something far more sinister than a normal baby. John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, and Maurice Evans also star.
