I wasn’t aware of the initial creepypasta photo or viral web series that inspired Kane Parsons’ singularly unsettling BACKROOMS but it somehow seems strangely familiar to me anyway. I feel like I actually know and have experienced such liminal spaces in dreams my whole life. Most my dreams are about cat wrangling for sure, but on many occasions I’m just a poor sap trying to find his way home from a maze like mall/hotel/airport. It didn’t help my psyche that after viewing BACKROOMS at my local AMC, I exited into Philly’s barely functioning “Fashion District” mall. Once the greatest mall known to man (SUNCOAST VIDEO, FYE, KAYBEE TOYS, etc), it’s now a confusing maze of escalators that go nowhere, ramps that hit walls, food courts serving things I’ve never heard of, broken elevators, and restricted doorways. It even has the nerve to connect to a subway, a train station and many an office building presumably filled with people pushing papers and whatnot. It’s not a great vibe and I took it as a mocking, personal attack when I heard Madonna’s “This Used to Be My Playground” piping throughout the joint. It was a little too on the nose.
Our labyrinthine tale concerns a would be architect (nice touch) named Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofoor) who works at an insane pirate themed furniture store that proudly boasts of its selection of ottomans. Not surprising, he has a shrink and her name is Mary Kline (eerie Renate Reinsve). The two often role play the fateful night Clark’s wife (understandably) skedaddled. Mary’s not exactly the picture of mental health either as she was raised by a mother who had agoraphobia so bad she covered the windows with newspaper and blocked the front door with (thematically fitting) furniture. Making things all the more stressful is that this all takes place in the nineties, insuring everything is aesthetically questionable to say the least. It’s all so ugly it goes full circle to become pretty damn hip. One day poor Clark discovers that his store’s basement has the peculiar feature of an inter dimensional doorway into an impossible area where time seems to be crashing into itself and forming bizarre anomalies one of which is a predatory monster portrayed by the guy (Robert Bobroczkyi) who played the offspring in ALIEN: ROMULUS. Mary is skeptical at first but a series of seriously trippy occurrences will make her far less so.
BACKROOMS is not a movie one easily deciphers or forgets. It’s nearly hypnotic and like author Mark Z. Danielewski’s THE HOUSE OF LEAVES it is built to eschew expectations or familiar rules (on a few occasions I was also reminded of 2002’s SKINAMARINK in that it seems almost more of an art installation (or even the "Mirror, Father, Mirror" video from GHOST WORLD (2022)) than your standard movie). For some reason while viewing I thought the heart of the film was Clark trying to get over the demise of his marriage but I guess it’s more about dealing with how that relationship shattered all of his life dreams and left him a mutation of his former self with only ugly and useless splintered memories to show for it (or maybe that’s projection). I couldn’t help yearning for a more emotionally upbeat conclusion but realistically that would go against the entire endeavor (In other words, this is no CUBE (’97) or ESCAPE ROOM (2019) it's much more complicated and almost like jumping into a M.C. Escher print). Blatant bummer or not, BACKROOMS absolutely delivers on sights and sounds you’ve never experienced before, more than a few seriously nightmarish visuals, a good jolt or two and a lot to process and think about once it’s done. I guess my lone takeaway advise is don’t go see it in a space (mental or physical) that the film mirrors like I did. The result is truly unnerving.
"an insane pirate themed furniture store" If , for nothing else, I'd go see it just for that. Yaaaarrrr!
Hmmm. I'll check it out.
I have been to that AMC theater. I think I was there in 2020 and saw The Invisible Man. I think that the theater was pretty new but it was kind of a ghost town even then.
Speaking of dream rooms…
Evil means a lot of different things to people, but to me it is a room. The Wood Paneled Room. It appeared somewhat randomly in houses that I used to dream about. It is always accessed the same way – when one passes through the front door, there will be a door immediately to the left the opens into a staircase that goes up several steps and then takes a right turn with more steps leading to a door that feels like it is on a floor somewhere between the second and third. The door is a cheap hollow wooden door, never locked.
The room itself is maybe 10×10, probably a little smaller. No windows. The walls are covered in cheap 1970s wood paneling. No furniture. Bare wood floor. The light comes from a single bulb in a round leaded glass fixture in the middle of the ceiling.
Upon entering the room, I am overcome with dread and terror. If someone enters with me, they become a beacon of evil intent. Often the light will turn a greenish color as my terror intensifies (the color green in my dreams has been associated with nightmares for my whole life). The malice contained within the room is crushing. Satan himself would bail.
The room dreams always ended with me either just waking up from fear or – and this is actually kind of nice – a friend appears outside the door looking in and saying that it is just a room and it is time to leave. This does not remove the curse form the room, but it gives me the power to crawl out the door and shut it behind me.
I have not dreamt of it in some time. I don't know what it means, if anything. I do have a small worry that when I die some part of me will become trapped in that room forever. As such, I keep a vigil for it in my dreams where I am intent on a final showdown with whatever is in there.
I sometimes wonder why I have not seen the room in several years, look around at the world and think "maybe what was in there got out…".
I watched Backrooms this week, Unkle Lancifer, and loved it.
I think looking for a "meaning" to this movie might be too much, or it's an inkblot where you can create your own meaning.
Something I found interesting is that the entire film is practical effects, including the elaborate "backrooms" set, yet the backrooms have visual oddities that don't make visual or geometric sense – and they are the kind of anomalies you see in AI-generated art very often.
In the past couple of years, we've had Backrooms; Obsession; Talk to Me; Bring Her Back; Sinners; Weapons; Undertone; Predator: Badlands; The Ugly Stepsister; Meat Kills; Ready or Not 2; Companion; Dangerous Animals; VHS: Halloween and VHS: Beyond; Heart Eyes; The Long Walk; both 28 Years Later films; the Silent Night, Deadly Night remake (it's really good!); and, heck, I even liked Primate. Horror fans are not suffering for lack of the good stuff right now.
Not horror at all – but I watched Spielberg's latest, Disclosure Day, yesterday, and really enjoyed it.
SDC – I am still haunted by Bring Her Back. The core concept is terrifying to me as a parent because it made me wonder what I might do in Laura's place. The film lets us know that this ritual actually works – just do X and Y and Z and you bring her back. X is awful, Y is terrible and Z is insanely evil, but it works. There is every indication that Laura was a normal, loving person who was simply driven mad with grief. She is in a place where no one wants to be and I found it hard to actually condemn her. Part of that is surely on the portrayal by Sally Hawkins but there is just this fundamental thing about the concept that I can't shake. What would I do…..
Also, I saw Weapons in the theater and was frustrated with parts of it but I have watched it a couple of times since and I am liking it more and more. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I did not fully appreciate what I was seeing the first time.
And the first two 28 Years Later films – I had very low expectations going in and was so pleased to get two films that delved into the other side of the apocalypse, films that are gory and fun but with a glimmer of a better future.
Adding to your list of the current horror feast – Alien Earth. After the terrible to mediocre recent theatrical releases of the past several years, I thought that the franchise was pretty much dead. Then this TV series gives us episodes that stand in favorable comparison to first films.
Bdwilcox,
LOl it has to be seen to believed. The fact that they are boasting about ottomans (ottomen?lol) reminded me of the “Stool” song from WAITING FOR GUFFMAN. BACKROOMS is such a strange combo of bone dry seriousness and complete wackiness.
Chuckles,
"I have not dreamt of it in some time. I don't know what it means, if anything. I do have a small worry that when I die some part of me will become trapped in that room forever. “
This sentence put a chill down my spine. I would love to see a movie like what you’ve described it sounds terrifying. Wood paneling is right up there with creepy wallpaper for me. I have a friend who embraces her wood paneling and will not remove it to be more modern and I support that decision. Wood paneling and bicentennial wallpaper were the background of my childhood.
Also yep, I remember Invisible Man being last movie before the pandemic (the Lodge was around that time too. At that point I was going to the Riverview but it didn’t survive pandemic so now it’s fashion district. Fashion district is a great theater (tho they have so many emergency evacuations) with really kind staff but oh boy that mall is a shadow of its former self. The arcade that’s next to the theater is pretty cool tho.
SDC,
You’re right it’s probably better to just dive in and feel the strangeness rather than trying to interpret everything but it’s just got so many weird quirks to chew. I’ve def recommended it to the folks I know will dig that experience.
I forgot to mention in the review how it resembled a M.C Escher work at times! (OK i just added that). Actually that was the scariest part for me!
And yep we’ve really been eating well as horror fans lately ! Great list of titles.
Chuckles,
BRING HER BACK was so excellent and incredible performances but it left me feeling soooooo Bad, The tone of it was almost too much for me. It just makes me so sad. I love WEAPONS and each viewing I love it more. Maybe because the ending is so cathartic and by the end of the film there is some justice. I could probably deal with BRING HER BACK better in a different era but the way the world is now I can only take so much at this age. That movie really drags you through an emotional nightmare.
Also sorry for my spelling errors in review I just caught another! Dang it!
Oh man, how I miss Suncoast Video!