Backrooms
★★★ 1/2
Before hearing about Backrooms, and ultimately the success it found, I had absolutely no idea what the Backrooms meme was or the history behind it. I still wouldn't call myself an expert on the mythology, and honestly you'd probably learn more from a quick Google search than from me, but I immediately fell in love with the core concept: an endless, evolving maze of liminal spaces where you're never quite sure what's waiting around the next corner.
I'm not really a haunted house guy and never have been. But I am fascinated by haunted houses because of the imagination behind them. The best ones aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest jump scares—they're the ones that make you dread what's around the next corner. I remember going through one haunted house years ago where our group was ushered into a room with eight different doors. We had to choose which one to walk through, and that simple choice was somehow the scariest part of the entire experience. I remember thinking, This is brilliant. That's exactly the feeling Backrooms captures.
The film is set in what appears to be the early 1990s and follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the owner of a pirate-themed furniture store that hilariously never seems to have a single customer. One day, he stumbles upon a mysterious passage hidden within the store—a portal into another dimension of endless yellow hallways and impossible architecture. Fascinated by what he's discovered, he eventually brings his therapist, Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve) into the mystery.
What impressed me most, though, was the imagination on display. The production design is phenomenal. Every hallway, room, staircase and forgotten corner feels meticulously crafted to make you feel lost and uneasy. I know this is first and foremost a horror movie, but I genuinely hope it gets recognized for its production design come awards season because the world-building is extraordinary.
The film is directed by Kane Parsons, whose age has understandably become part of the conversation surrounding the movie. Parsons is only 20 years old, making this an astonishing feature debut, yet there's never a moment where the film feels like the work of an inexperienced filmmaker. It's remarkably assured and fits comfortably alongside much more seasoned horror directors.
You can also tell Parsons has studied horror. I found myself thinking about The Blair Witch Project during some of the found-footage sequences, while other moments evoked the grimy unease of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Yet despite those influences, Backrooms still manages to carve out an identity all its own.
Ejiofor certainly elevates the gravitas of the concept and genre. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him emote madness before, and he gives a solid performance. Reinsve continues to impress me as well. After The Worst Person in the World and Sentimental Value (which was one of my favorites from this past awards season), it was fun seeing her step into a horror film. You can occasionally hear hints of her Norwegian accent slipping through, but she's such a compelling screen presence that it never distracts. We also get a welcome supporting turn from Mark Duplass, an actor I've always enjoyed, whose understated performance fits the film perfectly.
Where the film lost me a bit was in its final act. As often happens with horror movies built around an irresistible premise, the story eventually has to explain itself. The deeper it ventured into its mythology, the more unhinged things became, and by the end it drifted into territory that felt a little too silly for me. I could tell it was reaching for something psychologically profound, and I'd honestly love to hear a psychologist unpack everything it's trying to say, but the narrative never quite sticks the landing.
Still, I admire this movie far more than I criticize it. Originality goes a long way with me, and Backrooms is overflowing with creativity. Even if every story beat doesn't work, it's a film I won't soon forget. I imagine, like most successful horror properties, there will inevitably be sequels and spin-offs, but I doubt any of them will recapture the freshness and mystery of discovering these endless yellow hallways for the first time (but not for many of the Gen-Z generation who have dissected this concept through message threads and YouTube).
Backrooms isn't the best film of the year, but it's certainly one of the most memorable. If you're drawn to horror that's fueled as much by imagination and atmosphere as by scares, it's absolutely worth seeking out.
