Backrooms

Ben Pivoz
a few seconds ago
3 min read

Backrooms is a one-of-a-kind experience. It is a horror movie that is very difficult to describe. A man wanders into a series of rooms that defy all logic: the way they are shaped, the way they connect to each other, what they contain, etc. Nothing about this place makes sense, yet there it is just the same. What does it mean?

The directorial debut of Kane Parsons (based on his viral YouTube videos), it is really about what this place means in the context of the mental state of its characters. I am not quite sure how to classify this. Even calling it horror may irritate viewers expecting traditional genre gore and jump scares.

It is unsettling, disturbing, deeply weird, surreal and effective, even if I can’t always explain how it is those things. It is fascinating. The narrative is a bit shaky, but the aesthetic, visual style, production design, control of tone and performances are all top-notch. Parsons is only three weeks away from his 21^st birthday and he has already accomplished this. He has a hell of a career ahead of him.

Clark is unhappy. His wife recently left him after he sacrificed his architectural career for her to go back to school and he is living out of his furniture store. One night, while dealing with the finicky breaker box, he walks through a wall and finds a room that looks like his store, but kind of off. As he continues walking, exploring various rooms, what he sees shakes him to the very essence of his being.

Clark is a man who blames the world for his problems. Nothing is his fault. His decisions are always justified. His therapist, Mary, tries to convince him that he needs to change, though that idea makes him extremely uncomfortable. Mary has her own traumas, relating to her childhood. These feelings, these memories, become stronger once they end up in the backrooms.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, both excellent actors, are fantastic in their roles, elevating the material. Even in the moments where they are merely walking, mesmerized, yet fearful of what they may find, they do great work. They never try to take over the scene, letting the unnerving mysteriousness of the location be the focus.

In his first feature, Kane Parsons shows an incredible handling of style, mood and theme. This is both visceral and psychological. There is something in there; however, this isn’t a monster movie. What is scary is simply how wrong everything feels. It is a version of our reality recreated incorrectly.

The metaphor Clark uses is to describe a dog to someone who has never seen one, then ask them to draw it. While it could be close, the differences filled in by imagination will create a gap that is upsetting on an innate level. The backrooms are the furniture store as formed by someone (or something) with an imperfect understanding of what that is supposed to look like.

Backrooms (104 minutes, without the end credits) could be the start of something new for the genre. It is expected to be a huge opening weekend hit, despite having no mainstream stars, not being part of a big screen franchise and not being a traditional horror movie.

The concept, which began life as a message board post seven years ago, is obviously enough. Fans of Parsons’ web series want to see what he did with a real budget and sets. It will be interesting to see what multiplex audiences make of this. It is an experience that is hard to leave behind. Kane Parsons is the real deal.

4 out of 5

Cast:

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark

Renate Reinsve as Mary

Lukita Maxwell as Kat

Finn Bennett as Bobby

Mark Duplass as Phil

Directed by Kane Parsons

Written by Will Soodik