‘Apartment 212’ (2018) Movie Review

New beginnings are rarely ever easy. They pull us in new directions, stretch us out of our comfort zones, force us to confront our fears and completely redefine our way of thinking and living. Finding a new place to live, taking on a new career path, ending a harmful relationship or starting a new one, changes can be thrilling, daunting and even scary, but often necessary. They test us to be our best, either to rise and soar above or hit rock-bottom with some painful failures and disappointments. Sometimes, as in Haylar Garcia’s skin-crawling new film Apartment 212, new beginnings can quite literally eat you alive.

So begins the story of Jennifer Conrad (Penelope Mitchell), a simple, small town girl looking to make a fresh start for herself, leaving behind her humble waitressing job and shitty abusive ex-boyfriend. Her new apartment building seems quaint enough at first, full of quirky but lovable characters of all sorts…. all except for her next door neighbor, Stella (Susan Bellone: Bully Girls 2013). Stella is a bit of a mystery, definitely a loner who keeps mostly to herself. Whether it’s the painful looking sores covering her body, or her sticky-fingered klepto tendencies, she leads a very sad and withdrawn life. Every night, the sounds of her weeping drift through the paper thin walls separating them, keeping poor Jennifer awake every night.

Desperate for a good night’s sleep, Jennifer decides to reach out to Stella, but this act of kindness and concern quickly comes to an abrupt, screeching halt when the woman hits her breaking point in an explosive, shattering end, leaving the entire apartment complex, including Jennifer, shaken and stunned. But there’s no rest for the weary, as now whatever drove Stella to the brink of madness seems to have targeted Jennifer as its next victim. Tormented into the wee hours of the morning and waking each new, sleep-deprived day covered in painful and itchy sores, Jennifer must hunt down what is slowly tearing her apart, piece by piece. Or will she be driven to the same madness that consumed Stella, one chunk at a time?

I absolutely loved this film. Writer and director Haylar Garcia (An American Terror 2014, Do It For Johnny 2007) has definitely given us a tasty treat to sink our horror-loving teeth into! Apartment 212 pushes all the right buttons that a great horror film should. The breathtaking Penelope Mitchell (Hemlock Grove, Curve) plays Jennifer to mesmerizing perfection. The cinematography, music and sound, the cleverly-written script, are all truly top notch.

While not particularly gory, the makeup is done extremely well. You’ll definitely have a serious case of the itchy-scratchies after this one, so keep the calamine handy. I always enjoy a good body horror flick, and while Apartment 212 certainly has those skin-crawling elements, this one digs deeper and fully subverted my expectations, but in a good way.

I can’t recommend Apartment 212 enough! Body horror fans should definitely give it a watch. As of this writing, the film is currently available on many major VOD platforms, including iTunes, and is eyeing up a May 15th release on DVD and Blu-ray through Gravitas Ventures. If you’re looking for a thoroughly great time, don’t pass up a night’s stay at Apartment 212!