A stellar cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value), a story based on a popular internet creepypasta and the youngest director in A24’s history bringing his original idea to life, Backrooms has garnered much excitement over the past few months. Becoming one of the founding pieces of ‘liminal space’ horror, the lore of the backrooms is simple – it’s an endless maze-like expanse of empty, fluorescent-lit office rooms, and if you no-clip’ (glitch in reality) out of reality, you’ll end up there. The feature film follows suit, as Ejiofor’s character Clark finds a strange doorway appear on the wall of his furniture showroom basement. Boasting effectively unsettling scares and strong performances from a committed cast, Backrooms brings the internet urban legend to the big screen in a satisfying way, despite the lack of intrigue within the narrative.
If you’re a fan of the Backrooms on a small screen, you’ll certainly enjoy the locations big screen debut – quite frankly, it’s never been creepier. With excellent use of empty space, everyday objects that have something slightly off about them and an endless sea of rooms that just seem to go on forever, there’s something quietly unsettling about the films location. Quite often within horror, less is more, and the team behind Backrooms understand this. Most of the horror comes from spotting something out of the corner of your eye, whether it be a strange movement or a face emerging from a pile of clothes. Each scare is perfectly crafted, with some being so subtle you may not have even spotted them the first time around. The production design here is stellar; no room is the same as the last, and even the wallpaper itself becomes a vessel for scares once you spend long enough trapped alongside the characters. It’s brought to life from the internet short flawlessly. There are lengthy stretches of the run-time solely featuring a character slowly wandering around the various rooms, with nothing going on in the way of dialogue or scares, that affect the pacing a little. As we have two characters that wind up in the backrooms on separate occasions, it also has a repetitive feel. However, this does not completely detract from the horror, and some viewers may be grateful for the pause.
Backrooms is at its most effective from a horror perspective when it enters found footage mode. These moments are sparse, but add a level of kinetic energy with its shaky cam that adds an extra layer to the film. The camera moving from left to right sends a shiver down your spine as you’re scared to see what may appear – there’s a sequence around the middle of the film that showcases some of the strongest found footage horror in recent memory. The 90’s setting is perfect for a movie such as this, as the lack of technology and analog vibe adds to the immersive feel. The score from Edo van Breeman is great, not only adding to the retro tone but heightening the horror tenfold. When all elements are spliced together, a very unsettling and unnerving film is born. Sure, there are a few jump scares and elements of horror imagery that lose their fear factor once they’re fully shown, but the majority of the horror lands well.
The dedicated cast really bring this story to life, showing commitment to the strangeness of it all that ultimately makes it work. In the lead role of Clark is Chiwetel Ejiofor, playing a character we quickly learn doesn’t have much of a life outside of his furniture store. Recently splitting from his wife and only having his work colleagues to interact with, he’s the perfect victim of the no-clip, a vulnerable individual needing something more. Starring opposite as his therapist Mary is Renate Reinsve, playing another character who hasn’t had an easy go of it. She may seem put together as she coaches others on how to live their lives, but her own brain is filtered with bad memories of a sheltered childhood with her mentally ill mother. The psychologist and patient dynamic between the pair is really interesting, and their dialogue-fuelled therapy sessions are almost as gripping as the horror sequences due to their excellent delivery. When it comes to the scares, both players are more than up to the task, showcasing a high level of fear factor and excellent emotion. Working well both separately and together, Reinsve and Ejiofor turn in fantastic work.
Any film that’s based on a short has viewers worried that the feature-length treatment may not be effective, especially when filmmaking teams are prone to adding in unnecessary plot points and themes to bulk it out when this is the case. Whilst Backrooms is an effective horror film with an intriguing plot, the weakest part does happen to be the narrative. Neither of our main characters are particularly fleshed out outside of their traumas, and any supporting character that is featured feels like they’ve only been included to spur the plot forward. The movie is more concerned with delivering psychological discourse than it is fleshing out the characters or explaining what the Backrooms really is, which may leave some viewers underwhelmed or even confused. We do get some sort of explanation during the final act, but this may not be enough for some, and comes a little too late. The attempts at story are on the weaker side, once again signifying that less is more. Viewers signed up for a journey through a liminal space – it didn’t need much else outside of that, as long as the scares were there.
Doubters of 20-year-old Kane Parsons’ ability to direct a feature film have certainly been proven wrong, as the level of filmmaking on display is great. With fantastic production design, expertly crafted horror and two noteworthy leading performances, it’s a triumph for Parsons and another win for A24. The narrative is quite weak and the slow approach is occasionally grating, but this doesn’t prevent Backrooms from being commendable and effectively eerie.
