Backrooms is a solid slow-burn horror movie. It isn’t great, and I would argue it falls into some of the trappings of a debut feature film. The thinly veiled metaphors on mental health and trauma, as well as the general characterization, character dynamics, and exposition, can fall flat. Plus, there isn’t much subtlety in the examination of the themes tied to those characters. However, even if you aren’t a rabid fan of the source material, you’ll find plenty to enjoy. Especially in how well this movie is crafted. How well it thrives on its exploration of liminal space, its atmosphere, and its scares. Plus, for me, how much the film leaves things ambiguous.
The younger film student in me is seething, knowing that Kane Parsons directed this movie and that he recently graduated from high school. It’s not only impressive but remarkable how unique and bold his vision and voice are in this film. And his particular vision of the Backrooms feels fully realized here. Which can be traced to the world he’s created in these series of YouTube videos he’s made.
In the first video, it’s in the found-footage style. A guy with a lo-res camera is just dropped into these endless rooms, where each new thing is more confusing and strange than the last as he wanders on. Things look normal, but not quite normal. There’s just something off about what you’re looking at, and the farther this person wanders in, the less the surroundings make sense in your brain. Rooms with this drab yellow layout, the near-constant 60 Hz buzz, and the eerie and claustrophobic nature of the locations really lend themselves to a feeling of unease. All of that is adapted to the screen to great effect.
(Review Continued Below…👇🏽)
5 months agotheb.f.p
The movie's found-footage segments are my favorite. But as for how the atmosphere is generally captured, it is almost perfectly translated to the screen. The production design in this alone is remarkable. It may just be the best of the year so far, with how much attention to detail it is, despite how seemingly off-kilter and misplaced everything is. It’s also quite eerie with how it’s presented in the 1:85:1 aspect ratio. Parsons really lets the viewer soak in the Backrooms setting. Sometimes a character will just be wandering around the area for long stretches of time. And the cinematography leans into negative space, center framing, and the general camerawork during those scenes. While some may find these scenes to drag, I didn’t. I found them to be quite fascinating and effective. The movie could have spent another hour in the Backrooms, and I would have been fine with it, which leads me to the film’s second act.
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