Backrooms

by Mike McGranaghan

This will be remembered as the year YouTube filmmakers broke through into movie theaters in a big way. Markiplier’s Iron Lung was a box office hit and Curry Barker’s Obsession has proven to be a phenomenon. Now comes Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons. He takes the “liminal horror” concept popularized by the likes of Skinamarink and Exit 8 and elevates it to a new level.

Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a failed architect who runs a furniture store in 1990. He receives treatment from a therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve). She tries to help him untangle his troubled mind. One evening after the store is closed, Clark discovers a wall in the basement that he can walk through. It leads to an endless series of rooms that look like abandoned office space. They are filled with weirdly stacked furniture, have objects partially protruding from the walls and floors, and seemingly turn in on themselves. Yellow wallpaper is everywhere, as are staircases and tunnels. No matter how much of it Clark walks through, there’s always more. When he disappears in there, Mary plays detective and goes in search of him.

Liminal horror takes place in (or makes use of) empty locations that have a creepy, off-kilter vibe. Backrooms has incredible production design. The rooms initially start off looking merely vacant, as though a company moved out and left all their junk behind. As the story progresses, their bizarre quality grows. Doors appear where doors shouldn’t be, and objects inside the rooms seem increasingly sinister. This is in addition to the banging and muffled voices that can be heard. The film creates a realm that is fascinating to look at. Visually, it gets under your skin.

How scary it is will depend upon your personality. If you’re the type of person who can get lost in their own head, is prone to racing anxious thoughts, or feels uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings, the film will have you on edge throughout. If not, you’ll probably be asking what’s so scary about a bunch of empty rooms and discarded furniture. At least until the plot hits its peak, that is. A section during the third act goes to extremely freaky places that are unsettling in their implications.

The actors do a lot of heavy lifting, creating characters who are able to stand out amid the chilling atmosphere. Ejiofor plays Clark as a deeply bitter man just barely holding himself together, then evolves him in an interesting manner after being in the backrooms for a while. Reinsve gives Mary a slightly icy therapeutic exterior during the first half; during the second, she reveals the therapist’s own emotional damage with great power. Both stars meld their performances to the movie’s themes, allowing those themes to ring meaningfully. Parsons and writer Will Soodik are grappling with significant ideas, so all the liminal horror adds up to something.

Backrooms suggests that Kane Parsons has what it takes to continue big-screen work. He sets an eerie tone and has the patience to let things unfold naturally for maximum impact. Smartly, he also avoids the temptation to fully explain the rooms, instead holding on to an air of mystery. Without a doubt, this is an original, haunting horror movie with a unique kick. Spending two hours in this world was a disquieting treat.