Apartment 212 is a new horror film from co-writer and director Haylar Garcia, who did An American Terror (2014), the film inspired from a 1975 film starring Karen Black called Trilogy of Terror, by director Dan Curtis quite clearly fans likely to seem a bit of homage. One needs to note that the title had a significant change as it was originally known as Gnaw, however the possible for the reasoning was at least three other horror flicks had similar names. Nevertheless, Garcia combines a creature feature movie along with spousal abuse and other worldly curses, released by Gravitas Ventures and waiting for your discovery at the next yard sale.

Jennifer Conrad (Penelope Mitchell (The Curse of Downers Grove (2015)) a woman with limited resources and knowledge, suffering from physical and mental abuse from her husband police officer Boyd (Chris Johnson (47 Meters Down (2017)). Boyd, constantly demeans her, convincingly telling stories and falsehoods about Jen. She leaves and takes up residence in an apartment complex, finding out quickly that starting over is much harder than any tv-movie of the week could show. The friendly maintenance man Terry (Kyle Gass, who steals the scenes he appears in) is very helpful to anyone in the complex. Soon enough the drama turns into a horror tale with a sculpted creature on a wooden box given to Jen and the weird things start finally. Jen tries to find a job in the corporate world but failing miserably and shows a lacking life skills such as unhooking a trailer from her car and require to travel everywhere with it. By chance, a meeting with a former high school friend promises a gig at an office just return in two weeks, we all know how that’s a future problem, she’ll need to scratch. Boyd continues to bother her and incorporates the apartment complex’s building manager Claudette into the web of mistrusts. Some might recognize the actress who portrays Claudette, it’s Oscar Nominee, Golden Globe Winner Sally Kirkland (Jack the Reaper (2011)). Mitchell portrays her character very well, pulling at the heartstrings of viewers to care about her, and her sad pitiful life. The second half of film ratchets things up quite a bit, thankfully, a tad too quick in some areas and turns the movie into an itchy fest for the viewers.

Screenwriters Jim Brennan and Kathryn Gould assist Garacia and create a witty fun dialogue heavy script with enduring and matter-of-fact moments conveying Jen’s troubled past and plight in life, while injecting a comical line to break the tension. However, not all works in the main filming such as the constant dissolving shots, showing a lack of transition smoothness between the scenes. At one moment, the film seems as if it’s two movies that came together the first half a drama with horror elements and then a terror ride of face pacing, and limited creature shots, resulting with a full-on explosion of quality cinematography.

The movie deals some good fun in the creature feature department as well a bit of creep out factor for the non-horror fans. Although, an interesting aspect those who know of both Mitchell and Garcia might notice the upward trend of their individual talents, a maturing quality, sometimes in cinema individuals level off, ‘plateauing’ neither of them does that, the rest of cast follows in suit, thankfully. Therefore, if you seek something different not a bad choice for a one-time view.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5641542/

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IMDb Rating: 5.5/10

Baron’s Rating: 5.5/10