I'd like to say it takes a lot to get me to go to the theater nowadays, but after thinking about it for a minute, it honestly doesn't take too much. That's not a commentary on how easy it is to get me to pay money for a ticket, but more about just how bad Hollywood has gotten at the movie business.
But A24, a studio known for low-budget, often thought-provoking movies that usually lean into the horror genre, seems to be catching onto something that major Hollywood studios haven't, and it's the fact that less is oftentimes more.
That can certainly be said for the film I recently went to the theaters to see. The film wasn't a grand spectacle. There wasn't a whole lot of CGI. The film had two recognizable actors in it, one of whom wasn't a major actor, but both nailed their roles so well that I forgot they were recognizable at all.
But most of all, they went into this film with respect, not just for the source material, but for the audience as well.
"Backrooms" is one of the better movies I've seen over the past few years. I can tell you now that it's not going to be a movie for everyone. Horror movies rarely are for starters, but the film is based in the "analog horror" genre that I've come to know and love, and it's a genre that some just don't vibe with.
Read: What Analog Horror Tells Us About the Future of Entertainment
Analog horror is a kind of scary art that doesn't often rely on jump scares. There are definitely monsters in the closet, or tapping just outside your window, or watching you from the dark, but what the genre often does more than not is create a sense of dread and unease that makes jump scares feel immature and ridiculous. Whereas horror is often pretty formulaic, analog horror uses the mundane to unsettle. The lights don't even have to be off for analog horror monsters to work. The dark is often just icing on a cake.
"The Backrooms," an analog horror series by YouTuber Kane Parsons (aka Kane Pixels), embodies this genre better than most others. Parsons doesn't rely on darkness to unsettle you. His tool is a well-lit series of rooms that look like an office from the mid-80s. The walls are a sort of pale yellow, the floor is a standard light beige carpet, and everything is lit with fluorescent overheads. The space, called "The Backrooms," doesn't make any sense despite its appearance.
The liminal space that comprises it has no rhyme or reason. Doors that open to nothing. Stairs that go nowhere. Hallways that lead to smaller hallways. Rooms with holes in the middle that drop into infinity. Objects like stop signs and other random objects are planted in bizarre locations.
The Backrooms feels like it's the monster. To be sure, things are lurking in the backrooms that are hostile and deadly, but it's the setting that is the real horror. It's a monster that is trying to remember the things that it interacts with, but like our own memories, it tends to lose track of the details. The Backrooms remembers and remembers and remembers, until what it remembers is a bizarre, malformed version of what it started with. This can include random objects like chairs, rooms, pictures, and even people.
It's this setting where the "Backrooms" film takes place.
Set in the early 90s, the film follows two characters. There's Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a divorcee who lives in his failing furniture store. He has sessions with a therapist named Mary (Renate Reinsve), who clearly has her own issues with a traumatic past.
One day, Clark discovers the doorway in the basement of his furniture store that leads to the backrooms after being plagued by bizarre electricity issues, which result in an obsessive fascination with the place. His explorations broaden and deepen, and soon, everyone in his life becomes drawn into the realm of The Backrooms, including Mary.
The film is absolutely spectacular. I would say my only complaint is that it takes a minute to really get going, but thinking about it, establishing the psychological condition of both Clark and Mary is integral to the story, and it's done so well. There's not a lot of fat in this movie. Everything is important, and that reflects Parsons' style of storytelling. Anything you see that seems unimportant may very well be a massive clue that gives you answers to questions you will obviously have.
Parsons, like many of the best analog horror creators, is a master at giving you questions about "Backrooms" to ponder, which is a talent in and of itself. Many filmmakers nowadays do too much to help you understand, or pay off mysteries far too soon. Parsons treats you like an adult and lets you manage your level of engagement while making it entertaining, no matter where you land.
In terms of the "horror" aspect, you'll spend a lot more time in the realm of psychological horror than creature horror. The Backrooms clearly does things to people. Some may consider it a suffocating place of madness, others might find it strangely alluring and beautiful, and some may find themselves corrupted by its draw, like Gollum to the One Ring. Again, there are creatures, but they're not nearly as interesting as the setting, and Parsons seems to understand this. He uses them more like tools to give you more questions than the central antagonists.
You will not come out of this movie fully understanding everything you just saw, but you will likely walk away satisfied, which is impressive if you ask me. The film is well paced, well acted, well designed, and most of all, it's interesting. I want to know more. I want to dive deeper. I feel like a person who's actually seen a real-life Backrooms.
The mystery is so expertly handled that I'm glued to Parsons' YouTube channel, waiting for more, and to be honest, that's not something Hollywood has been able to do to me for years.
I definitely recommend the film if you're into a mix of horror and mystery, or even just a good thriller.
