Movie Review: Backrooms

At just 20-years-old, Kane Parsons has become A24s youngest director with his feature film, Backrooms, starring two academy award nominees: Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. This opportunity was given to Parsons after he gained success from his YouTube short film, The Backrooms (found footage) that he released in 2022 at age 16. The film is based on an image posted on the internet that quickly gained a fanbase creating stories for it as an internet Creepypasta. Parson’s interpretation of the well-known image is just one of many, but he is one of the people who dared to bring his vision to life in the YouTube short before getting the opportunity for the feature length film.

The film centres around a furniture store owner, Clark (Ejiofor), as he navigates his life post break up from a long-term relationship as well his work. After electrical difficulty at the store (which it is revealed, he is living in) he finds a door way into what he originally believed to simply be a whole other part of the store but what he finds is an endless labyrinth of yellow walls, carpet and lights well known from the original ‘Backrooms’ image. As Clark explores the place, he finds he may not be the only person who has found the entrance, and he also may not be alone in there. Alongside Clark, there is his therapist Mary (Reinsve) who finds her way into the backrooms after searching for Clark due to her worries about his wellbeing after their discussion surrounding the place he has found.

The set consisted of thousands of square feet built specially for the film replicating the image that inspired Parsons and many others’ ideas of the backrooms and what may be lurking within them. The intricate details of the set like strange slopes, random doors, and unusually placed walls all helped to contribute to the eerie nature of the place in which the characters find themselves within. Working in collaboration with the set design is the expert cinematography choices, wide shots helped to contribute to the distortion characters like Mary experience while in the backrooms. 

The cinematography creates an atmosphere of unease and demonstrates the uncanny nature of what the backrooms really are. Also assisting the cinematography and set design in forming the distinct feeling of the environment is the score that is expertly composed by Kane Parsons and Edo Van Breemen. There is no denying these technical elements together nail down the anxiety meant to be ignited in the audience as well as demonstrating the fear of the characters.

The performances from the film’s leads are nothing short of incredible. The two characters work with each other to create conversations about loneliness and the routines and patterns of a person’s day to day life in a way that is probably an unfamiliar positioning on the matter to most. 

While the characters present thisconcept clearly, there is something that feels perhaps unfinished in them. The narrative, at times, conveys a similar feeling as if there is something missing in the middle. We get little glimpses into the past of our main characters and plenty of discussion surrounding how Clark ended up where he is at the start of the film yet there is still something that feels lacking within him and Mary. This led to some things within the story perhaps feeling incomplete or at the very least underdeveloped. Even with this fact, the film still has the exact effect it needs on audiences by generating a personal fear for most just while maybe leaving them with more unanswered questions than is originally intended.

For a wide audience Backrooms elicits the exact reactions it attempts to, discomfort and anxiety. 

The film's unsettling nature is completely undeniable and its final image is incredibly unsettling and one that is likely to linger with audiences even after the credits roll. If you’re looking for a film where you can really get lost in the atmosphere and space it creates, Kane Parson’s Backrooms is exactly the story for you.

I would rate this 3.5 stars. 

Written by, Laura Wood