Backrooms — A24’s latest hit film
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Backrooms follows a Struggling furniture shop owner called Clarke (Played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) who discovers a secret doorway to the backrooms in his store’s basement. After discovering this anomoly he recruits his assistant manager, Kat (Lukita Maxwell), and her boyfriend, Bobby (Finn Bennett), to help him film the Backrooms. What begins as a simple attempt to film evidence of the strange anomaly soon develops into something far more unsettling.
I remember when the backrooms were first brought to life. It was May 2019 on 4chan when an anonymous user sent in an image of the empty, maze-like, yellow-walled and fluorescent lighting space. That singular image sent the internet into a complete frenzy. Youtubers produced deep dives, web series, and conspiracy theories, game developers began creating their own interpretations and creating new levels, and even people on social media climbed onto the bandwagon, making short videos of these liminal spaces linked to childhood nostalgia and also adding a horror element. This, therefore, ended up creating an entire universe from a singular image.
Then came along Kane Parsons. An American Youtuber now turned film director, who has brought this original creepypasta to the box office and is also the youngest director to top the box office.
When I heard that Backrooms was going to be turned into an A24 film I was obviously excited. After spending countless hours watching deep dives and playing games on liminal spaces for years, I was eager to see how this concept would translate into a film. The trailer furthered my excitement, but the main thing playing on my mind is that the director, being born in 2005 and primarily known as a YouTuber, could successfully bring this vision to life.
Needless to say, I was not completely disappointed.
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The first thing I want to say is that the visuals of this film were absolutely insane. The eeriness of the first level of backrooms genuinely impressed me, capturing the terrifyingly lonely atmosphere that made the original image so memorable. I know that Parsons’ vision in this film was separated from the wiki lore of the backrooms and mainly followed his YouTube web series, and that really impressed me. It felt less than levels and more like Biomes. For example, the poolrooms and the infinite box hole towards the end when therapist Mary (Renate Reinsve) is escaping the entity of Captain Clarke.
Overall, the cinematography was visually stunning and left a lasting impression. Another thing I wanted to point out was the use of the 90s video camera quality in the opening scene and the scenes where Bobby is filming the backrooms. It definitely made the film fit its time period, but it also really reminded me of the 4chan original image’s quality. I’m not sure if that was intentional, but it really stood out to me.
The use of audio was also extremely strong. Hearing the original fuzz of the Backrooms sound made my ears perk up very quickly. I know it’s a very small detail, but it also demonstrated that Parson really knew what he was doing when making this film and bringing it back to what it originally was. The score constantly reinforced the feeling of isolation and unease, which really helped the audience feel immersed within the film.
I was completely on the edge of my seat throughout the first hour. I absolutely live for horror films, but overall, I did not find this as scary as people were making it out to be. In my opinion, it was more immersive and thriller-like. I enjoyed the enigmas that the movie offered us in the first hour, but beyond that, I was slowly starting to lose interest, unfortunately.
That’s not me saying that the rest of the film was bad. There are still memorable moments with the visuals and moments of genuine tension. Ejiofor delivers such an amazing performance of Clarke, portraying a man whose obsession is now gradually consuming him. But unfortunately, a lot of things went unanswered for me, which I know is the entire point of the film and the concept of the Backrooms, but I felt that certain parts could’ve been explained more.
I really want to give my flowers to Renate Reinsve. I really enjoyed how mysterious her character was and how deep her backstory looked. I also enjoyed seeing her character break out of the ‘Therapist’ persona when it came to Clarke during his breaking point of spending so much time within the backrooms. I really hope that if there is a sequel, it explores more of her as a person and more of her backstory. I also believe that the opening scene, watching the recovered footage from Naren Warne was probably one of the best opening scenes for an A24 film I have seen in a long time.
I have to commend Kane Parsons for what he has achieved. Using one of the internet’s most original and enigmatic creepypastas into a feature film is no easy task, and for much of its runtime, Backrooms succeeds in capturing the strange atmosphere that made the original concept such a household name. While the film doesn’t entirely stick the landing, it proves that Parsons is a filmmaker with immense potential and a unique visual style, and for whatever’s next for him, whether that be a sequel for Backrooms or exploring something completely different, I’ll be looking forward to what’s next.
Backrooms may not be the terrifying nightmare some viewers are expecting, but as a visually stunning and surprisingly ambitious adaptation of one of the internet’s most famous horror concepts, it is well worth experiencing.
