APARTMENT 7A — SHOCKTOBER!

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Co-writer/director Natalie Erika James ("Relic") delivers a fierce pro-abortion horror prequel to "Rosemary's Baby" that twists a cinematic knife into the MAGA conspirators that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Julia Garner is exquisite as Terry Gionoffrio, a Broadway dancer whose career is put on a long hold after an accident while performing.

An offer to live in the Gothic Bramford building (actually the Dakota), promises a new lease on life for Terry if a date with the Devil doesn't derail everything.

Digs at the patriarchal practices of cruel Broadway directors who take advantage of their position to demean and humiliate auditioning actors, provides a potent rebuke.

Beautiful set and costume designs add texture to "Apartment 7A" as a sharp horror movie that will have you squirming in your seat.

Here is a great excuse to go back and watch Polanski's original film, after seeing "Apartment 7A."

Nightmares may follow. Abortion isn't the worst thing in the world.

Rated R. 104 mins.

FEUD: CAPOTE VS. THE SWANS

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Truman Capote gets a proper roasting in this television series adaptation of Laurence Leamer's book "Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era."

Mired in the cruelty of its real-life characters, the series starts off bumpy. If you can make it past the first three episodes, you'll likely make it to the end, but it won't be a pleasant experience.

Nonetheless, Tom Hollander gives a tour de force portrayal of Truman Capote, whose once vaunted reputation the author dismantled with a vengeance as a result of his alcoholism, drug use, and insatiable narcissism. 

Ever the social butterfly/interloper, Truman Capote famously boxed outside of his weight class when he bit the hands that fed him by publishing an excerpt from his unfinished novel, "Answered Prayers" in Esquire Magazine.

The chapter, entitled "La Côte Basque, 1965," included rumors and lies about the society women whose trust Capote had forced upon them, if not earned. Love is a cold glass of water in these Carnegie Hill social circles.

Naomi Watts give a reliably solid performance as Babe Paley, Capote's favorite "swan."

"Feud: Capote vs. The Swans" shares a simile with the recent Bratpack movie "Brats," inasmuch as the Swans' reaction to a nasty take-down magazine article only exacerbated their problems.

The story reflects epochal social changes that hang the inflexible out to dry. Knowing the rules of the game will only get you so far, regardless of your social standing.

Truman Capote was in inveterate back-stabber, with the audacity to return to the scene of his crime. Needless to say, it didn't prove to be a sustainable practice. Truman Capote died at the age of 59.

Footnote: the filmmakers' decision to not include Capote's pet cats as an integral part of his domestic life, does a disservice to Capote and to the audience

Not Rated. Eight Episodes.

WORKING GIRLS — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

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Lizzie Borden's third film, behind "Regrouping" (1979) and "Born In Flames" (1983), is a perfect chamber-piece of neo-realist social satire.

The film's feminist trappings of an '80s era Manhattan brothel provides the frame for a piercing commentary on the effects of American capitalism on women.

"Working Girls" could easily be adapted to be a modernday Broadway play.

It would be a sensation for its timeless qualities of social, sexual, and economic truth.

Molly (Louise Smith), a professional photographer, lives with her lesbian girlfriend when she isn't working as a sex worker in a Manhattan brothel run by a domineering madam.

"Have you ever heard of surplus value?"

That theme line shoots like a sharp political dart when a character speaks it.

“All workers create more value at work than they receive in wages. The extra surplus value goes into the boss’s pocket as profit.”

Surplus value is "the surplus produced over and above what is required to survive, which is translated into profit in capitalism. Since the capitalist pays a laborer for his/her labor, the capitalist claims to own the means of production, the worker's labor-power, and even the product that is thus produced."

Female hands hold cups of coffee, count money, and remove cum-filled condoms.

Everyone chisels; there is no place to hide.

Not Rated. 93 mins.