APARTMENT 212 (2017)

Studio:       Gravitas Ventures
Director:    Haylar Garcia
Writer:       Kathryn Gould, Jim Brennan, Haylar Garcia
Producer:  Betsy Leighton, Stephan Shelanski, Richard Turner, Jim Brennan, Haylar Garcia, Michael Haskins
Stars:     Penelope Mitchell, Sally Kirkland, Chris Johnson, Kyle Gass, Han Soto, Graham Emmons, Susan Bellone, Elisa Vasquez

Review Score:

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Summary:

A young woman fleeing from an abusive relationship becomes cursed by a mysterious creature that bites her while she sleeps.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Kleptomaniac Stella Bakanowski takes an ornate jewelry box adorned with a curious creature from an unattended antiques store. Unbeknownst to Stella, the shop’s owner lies dead in a back room from small bite wounds all over his body.

To escape her abusive ex-husband Boyd McFarland, Jennifer Conrad moves into her own Denver apartment. Jennifer makes friends with her downstairs neighbor Terry Lumley, who introduces Jennifer to irritable building manager Claudette Grim.

Boyd leaves a hateful voicemail for Jennifer. Sounds of Stella sobbing from the apartment next door keep Jennifer up at night.

Jennifer is quickly dismissed from a job interview for her lack of references and experience. On her way out of the building, Jennifer runs into her old high school friend Brenda Medina. Brenda offers Jennifer a job, but explains that Jennifer will have to wait until after Brenda returns from a business trip for an informal interview.

Terry gifts Jennifer with a turtle named Tina. Stella’s sobbing continues to keep Jennifer from sleeping. Jennifer eventually meets Stella, who has unsightly bite wounds all over her face.

Woken by Stella’s sobbing once again, Jennifer goes to knock on Stella’s door. Stella’s body suddenly bursts through the window from having committed suicide.

Detective Maddock interviews Jennifer about Stella. Jennifer learns she is unable to return to her unit while Stella’s apartment is fumigated.

Jennifer meets a haggard diner waitress with the same name. Forced to spend the night in her car, Jennifer dreams of a life that only leads to repeated failures.

Jennifer finds Terry, who also works as the building’s handyman, disposing of Stella’s belongings in a dumpster. Jennifer retrieves the curious jewelry box and takes it home.

Jennifer begins finding small bite wounds all over her body. She also spots Boyd’s truck speeding away from her apartment building.

Having found her through a parking ticket she received during her job interview, Boyd, who works as a sheriff’s deputy, intrudes on Jennifer in her apartment. Boyd leaves when Terry interrupts him in the act of threatening Jennifer.

Jennifer visits Terry afterward. They discuss her relationship with Boyd as well as Terry’s similar family history.

With her bite wounds worsening, Jennifer implores Claudette to call an exterminator. However, the exterminator finds no evidence of bugs in Jennifer’s apartment. Claudette concludes Jennifer is a meth addict who probably associates with the building’s resident stoner Fuzzy.

Jennifer goes to her long awaited job interview with Brenda’s boss James Tran. Presuming from Jennifer’s appearance that she is a drug addict, James and Brenda quickly dismiss Jennifer.

Jennifer seeks medical help at a clinic. A doctor explains that she doesn’t know what caused Jennifer’s unusual wounds, but says they look like bite marks caused by teeth.

Jennifer breaks into Stella’s place to search for clues. Terry finds Jennifer examining strange drawings on the wall. Jennifer claims that Stella shot herself because something was eating her and she knew it would never stop. Whatever it was is now eating Jennifer. Terry gives Stella’s keys to Jennifer and allows her to continue investigating the apartment.

Jennifer returns to Boyd’s trailer. After a painful flashback and another confrontation with Boyd, Jennifer takes back a sign hanging on the trailer door.

Claudette insults Jennifer when she returns home. Jennifer tells Claudette that her ex-husband is filling Claudette’s head with lies to continue setting up Jennifer for failure.

Jennifer uses Stella’s keys to unlock the mysterious jewelry box. Inside, she finds a small journal identifying the mythological creature as Jedak.

The creature on the box suddenly takes physical form and attacks Jennifer in the dark. The jedak follows Jennifer back to her apartment where its attacks continue.

Terry comes to investigate the commotion. The jedak attacks Terry as well as Jennifer’s turtle.

Jennifer fights back against the creature and eventually captures it. Jennifer tries killing the jedak in a microwave oven, but it breaks through the door.

Jennifer recaptures the creature. With her determination strengthened, Jennifer assertively tells the jedak that she will never quit fighting it. The creature seemingly surrenders by returning to its inanimate form.

Terry recovers to help Jennifer clean up her apartment afterward. Jennifer pleads with Boyd to take her back, which he smugly agrees to do. However, Jennifer actually tricks Boyd into taking the jewelry box back to his trailer with him.

Boyd is later seen finding a bite wound on his body. Meanwhile, Jennifer puts the sign from the trailer on her apartment door, where she continues living with her recovering turtle Tina.

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Review:

If “Gnaw” hadn’t changed its title to “Apartment 212,” I wouldn’t have looked at the address its leading lady types on her résumé, which actually lists her apartment as 205.  That’s obviously a “no big deal” disconnect between a prop and a door plate.  Oddly, it’s also inadvertently indicative of how Jennifer can’t get it together no matter how hard she tries.

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Jennifer moved to apartment 205/212 to escape the trailer of her abusive ex-husband Boyd.  She didn’t escape her hard luck or unfortunate upbringing though.  A parking ticket can be blamed on being unable to unhitch the trailer that hauled her belongings.  A blown job opportunity can be blamed on not knowing any better than to chew gum during her interview.

Jennifer means well, yet she fears she is doomed to spend her days slinging senior specials at a greasy spoon and nights taking the back of her beau’s hand.  Credit actress Penelope Mitchell with putting plentiful affability into a personality that could have been a white trash trope.  Instead, the optimism in her eyes and struggle to put strength in her stride sells Jennifer with charismatic sympathy almost impossible to dislike.

“Apartment 212’s” strongest attribute is its ability to create characterizations such as hers using details hidden in plain sight.  Jennifer’s aforementioned fight with a stubborn trailer hitch isn’t only a setup for another setback.  It’s a minor moment that says something major about being unaccustomed to newfound independence.  Jennifer regularly finds herself confronting the differences between the ideal in her mind’s eye and reality.  Every encounter erodes her spirit, whether the audience consciously sees past the surface experience or not.

It’s not incorrect to call how the movie handles these instances ‘impressive.’  “Apartment 212” has a soft touch that molds multidimensional characters out of subtle acting tics and casually conversational dialogue that isn’t disposable.

Had he more screen time, comedian Kyle Gass as Jennifer’s teddy bear neighbor Terry might pull further out in front in the likable persona race.  Frankly, whenever a notable name appears in an off-the-radar release, there’s a reasonable worry that s/he will recognize wading into dirty DTV waters and decide to phone it in from afar.  Gass doesn’t do that.  He embodies Terry’s charm without forcing comedy inorganically.  Gass exemplifies how everyone wrings remarkable mileage out of simple scene staging purely by treating their roles with respect.

“Apartment 212” gets off to a slow start, even in establishing exactly what its premise is.  Landing employment and avoiding Boyd slide down Jennifer’s list of ongoing problems when her neighbor Stella’s sobbing starts keeping her up at night.  Stella’s issues stem from an ornate jewelry box adorned with a curious creature she stole from an antiques store.  When tragedy befalls Stella, Jennifer ends up inheriting the box, as well as the curse that comes with it.

Jennifer’s sleepless nights become confounding mornings when she begins waking with worrisome wounds on her body.  A doctor doesn’t know what they are, but concludes they appear to be bites.  Just what Jennifer needs.  Another obstacle to putting her life in order.  Only this unexpected problem turns out to be the most challenging fear to face.

Predominantly because it features an invested cast of interestingly authentic personalities, “Apartment 212” comes close to crossing the finish line with a full recommendation.  It arrives at the tape out of breath somewhat, because its motif of overcoming abuse doesn’t efficiently gel with its parallel narrative.  That, and smaller details aren’t as buttoned up as bigger ones.

Inconsequential nitpicks include illusion breakers like Jennifer double-checking the address of her new building after already exiting the car, a common cinema cliché.  Where else might Jennifer think she was?  Jennifer also meets the apartment manager after already moving in.  Who gave her the key?  The only reason asides like these earn an eye is because most everything else unfolds so naturally, it’s jarring when something sticks out as contrived.

While the subject of Jennifer getting her groove back remains strongly scripted, like the turtle named after Tina Turner cleverly weaving into the theme, the film’s final third bobbles how to handle the creature feature element.  The mini-monster behind Jennifer’s bites appears to be a cousin of the goofy fly puppet that attacks Jody and Mike in “Phantasm” (review here).  Taking the little beastie seriously can’t be done when it looks like it came out of a trash bin behind the Chiodo Brothers’ studio.

An awkward stylistic shift occurs around the same spot.  “Apartment 212” plays one way for a solid hour only to rush its climax with an inconsistent editing rhythm and “Tales from the Darkside” tone mismatched to the seriousness of what motivates Jennifer in the first place.  The movie doesn’t veer off course entirely, although the bumpy detour reduces both speed and satisfaction.

“Apartment 212” still has a lot going for it as a fairly polished microbudget production.  A couple of pimples like shots temporarily falling out of focus don’t do enough damage to demand popping.  With better finesse on the finale, and applying a grip on the atmosphere as firm as its handle on characters, “Apartment 212” could have taken its ample appeal even further.

NOTE: There is a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene.

Review Score:  65

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