Backrooms

by Remington Gonser

Photo: A24

Director: Kane Parsons
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve & Mark Duplass
Rated: R (language and some bloody/violent content)
Runtime: 1 hour & 50 minutes 

Even now, I sit here tumbling thoughts over one another. Like the backrooms themselves, this piece of internet horror media has changed shapes time and time again. What is the through-line that makes the Backrooms so interesting, and can you contain that same level of unknown dread in a film?

“Backrooms” finds a unique way to pin a story to an ever-changing entity. Allowing creator and film director Kane Parsons to extend his take on the Backrooms into a film is a fantastic idea. Having pre-existing “lore” to reflect on is a great source for clues and information on the Backrooms that longtime fans will find themselves pointing out throughout the film. It’s also a simplistic enough take that people who’ve never heard of the Backrooms can enjoy the film for its anxiety-inducing mysteries.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve do such a good job in this film. I love this concept that these two are so much like the Backrooms themselves. They’re both alone - empty - but also not fully true reflections of themselves. Clark (Ejiofor) is alone and shares his past with his therapist, Mary (Reinsve), but we catch hints that he might not be telling us everything. Mary is shown to look like someone who has her life together from the outside. Steady job, publishing books, broadcasting commercials about her book, hosting parties - Mary seems put together. But we also see her real life and her past. Despite everything, she is still alone. Even as a child, she was alone. Even when we see the reflection of her in the backroom, she is still alone. 

Clark and Mary are played so well - they really feel like two people pushed to the edge of their wits. A lot of the supporting cast are also so interesting because they feel like legitimate people for what little screen time they have. They feel fleshed out as soon as you meet them.

The music gets a whole paragraph of its own. I love this broken tech sound. I love the deep warbling of machinery that has run too long. The sound of a toy’s batteries running out. These uncanny noises that set the hairs up on the back of your neck. This film uses its music so smartly. We get music with a slight lift to instill a sense of exploration, but we can also shift to a droning pulse of noise that makes the viewer feel as if there’s something just beyond the halls… waiting. I’ve also been in a huge Boards of Canada kick as of late, and hearing “The Word Becomes Flesh” during the credits was such a nice cherry on top for this film. 

Parsons killed it with this film. I think it captures the essence of what makes the Backrooms great with the limited time it had. It’s just a dip into the water, but it’s enough to make you seek more.