Backrooms
Rating: 2.5/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
While I may not have been very familiar with the lore or the background of this iconic CreepyPasta story, the Backrooms always interested me. I think there is a lot of potential to play around in this horror setting in a film, and going into Kane Parsons' directorial debut, I had a lot of hopes that this movie was going to deliver. Unfortunately, while the filmmaking elements and direction from Parsons is done quite well here, the story simply doesn't do anything interesting, making the film feel very bland and hard to sit through.
The film follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who is a down-on-his-luck furniture salesman who is dealing with this increasing amount of debt he has gotten himself in and dealing with his wife leaving him before the start of this movie. He has then since gone to a therapist named Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), hoping to figure out how he can move on with his life and become the best version of himself he can be. However, when he discovers a glowing light in the basement that seems out of the ordinary, he discovers a whole labyrinth of uncanny hallways and things that shouldn't be there. This terrifying location, known as the Backrooms, piques his interest and encourages him to keep going in and discovering new aspects about this unknown location. However, when he gets in a little too deep, he discovers he may not be able to make it out alive.
The concept of the Backrooms is very interesting to me. To have this liminal space that can genuinely be terrifying seems like the perfect idea for a feature length horror flick, it feels like they can't fail with this one. And, for the most part in terms of filmmaking, Parsons does a fantastic job crafting this film. The set design, the cinematography, and the performances here are all done well. I especially want to comment on how great the set design is; Parsons and the set designers do a wonderful job of immersing the audience into this world and the terrifying nature of the Backrooms. They're beautifully haunting, and contain the exact vibe I was looking for her.
At the same time, Reinsve and Ejiofor try their best on selling these characters and this plot to the audience. There is no doubt in my mind that both actors are great performers, and it is evident here. However, with that being said, I think there is simply not enough for either of them to really make their characters their own. While I do think they did great with what they are given, there is something about their characters and performances that make it feel like they are just going through the movements instead of really giving their all here.
Like I mentioned, I don't know a lot about the lore or history of the Backrooms. But, from going into this film blind and excited to learn more about this concept, the story didn't do it for me at all. In fact, I would say this film is superficially great; beautiful on the outside but horrible when you really get into it. The fact is, nothing really happens in this film. I felt the same exact way leaving the theater than I did going in. I'm not entirely sure what Will Soodik was trying to accomplish with the story, but it didn't work for me at all.
The movie moves at a very slow pace, and it's not even a great slow burn in my opinion. I know that is what they were going for, but the reveal simply didn't work for me and felt cheap compared to what they were trying to set up. I know I am going to hear a lot of criticism about this take, but the film had this chance to really sell me on this story and it simply didn't do it. It was boring and hard to sit through two-hours of this story, and I was expecting so much more.
Speaking a little on the characters here as well, they are not set up well at all. Clark and Mary seem like throwaway characters to just fit into this plot, and they don't have great development or reasoning behind their actions. I know this film was supposed to make the audience question what they are seeing, but the characters needed just a little more to make the audience like them or find them remotely relatable. I especially want to comment on Mary, as there are ideas present in the film to explain why she is the way she is, but they only hint at it instead of trying to give her a full-fledge character arc and history.
I sort of feel bad for Parsons as he did everything he needed to for this film, but the film is simply bogged down by a terribly-written story and characters that don't work. The visual effects, the set design, the performances for the most part, and Parsons' direction should have easily made this a great film, but I can't get over the fact about how poor this story is and how it simply could have been loads better. Maybe if there is a sequel, A24 will trust Parsons to craft the story as well because I do think the young director will go very far.
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