I certainly went into Kane Parsons’ Backrooms a little bit dubious, partially because I had been hearing a lot of hype for it, before many people even had a chance to see it. Although I was aware of Parsons’ YouTube found-footage series from which his debut feature was derived, I decided not to go down that literal rabbit hole before watching the movie. That was intentional, mainly since I believe that Backrooms (like last week’s The Mandalorian and Grogu) should be something that works without knowing any of its origins or backstory.
For the most part, I was correct in the assumption that Parsons’ Backrooms feature would work as its own standalone story, as it follows Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Clark, owner of a furniture store who has been going through marital issues, as we learn through his therapy sessions with Renata Rensve’s Mary. Currently living at his store, Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Emporium, Clark begins to notice frequent power outages and other electrical issues. While trying to figure out what is going on, he discovers a false wall in the basement which leads to an expansive space full of rooms and tunnels and strange objects protruding from the floor. That’s pretty much the premise as we follow Clark walking around these “backrooms,” sometimes with others, and trying to figure out what these spaces represent.
As one might imagine, this is NOT “heightened horror,” since Backrooms represents what the kids these days are calling “liminal horror,” whatever that is. Frankly, I found that it got quite boring, despite Parsons having two terrific actors in Ejiofor and Rensve.
You can watch my video review above, but the long and short of it is that I found Backrooms to often be more confusing and confounding than actually scary, as Kane Parsons’ debut largely suffers from never fully explaining what we’re watching.
Rating: 6/10
Backrooms opens nationwide on Friday, May 29.
