Out of all of the “Creepy Pasta” horror that has emerged out of the internet, I believe the Backrooms is the most disturbing. Being mostly void of monsters, or should I say entities, much of its horror relies on its minimalistic concept. Being stuck in a never ending maze of similar looking rooms where everything is just off to make your survival instincts kick in and the only thing you hear are the fluorescent hums of the lighting and your own footsteps. Though the monsters will keep you on your toes, the horror of a never ending maze of the same room is terrifying. And who else is better to bring it to life than 20-year-old Kane Parsons who brought the Backrooms to life with his YouTube short films back in 2022.
Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor, The Martian) is the depressed and alcoholic owner of Clark’s Furniture, a failing furniture store in San Jose. After investigating why his lights keep flickering he stumbles upon a strange doorway that appears in the basement of his furniture showroom. That doorway leads him to never ending rooms of yellow wallpaper, yellow carpet, and yellow fluorescent lighting.
Kane Parsons is one of the many YouTuber-turned filmmakers that we have seen rise over the past couple of years. However, unlike his counterparts who scraped together a few million dollars and had their film’s premiere at festivals in hope of getting distribution. Parson immediately receives around $10 million from A24 to make this film. With immediate studio backing with distribution secured without filming a single frame of footage, it would be a lot of pressure to put on a first time filmmaker who is not even 20-years-old. Yet, Parsons handles this pressure with immense ease as the Backrooms is a stellar directorial debut.
Parsons masterfully captures the deeply unsettling horror of liminal spaces. Through the use of wide-angle lenses, sprawling sets, immersive sound design, and a minimalistic score during the film’s quieter moments, he fully immerses the audience in the nightmare that is the Backrooms. When the film shifts further into found-footage horror, the style that initially made Parsons stand out on YouTube, he is completely in his element. Delivering some of the strongest found-footage horror sequences the genre has seen in years. Add in two excellent performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, and the film becomes an unforgettable horror experience.
However, Backrooms stumbles in its screenplay. While I appreciated the film’s attempt to explain the mythology behind the Backrooms and what exactly this place is doing. The execution doesn’t always come together as clearly as it should. This is best seen in the final act as it reveals the monster and turns into an extended chase sequence. The mysterious and the atmosphere of the Backrooms was lost during these sequences and it never fully recovered.
Even with its narrative shortcomings, Backrooms is still an incredibly impressive debut from Kane Parsons. Few first-time filmmakers, let alone one this young, are able to craft horror with this level of atmosphere and technical confidence. While the script occasionally gets in the way of the film’s strongest qualities, Parsons proves himself to be a filmmaker with a distinct visual voice and a clear understanding of what makes liminal horror unsettling. If this is what he is capable of at the very beginning of his career, it will be fascinating to see what he does next.
My Rating: B
Backrooms is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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