Internet Janitor
It’s like describing a dog to someone who’s never seen a dog, and then asking them to draw it…
This analogy from the movie is the one which sticks with me the most. I could not spoil Backrooms if I tried hard because, to be honest, what I think is going on is going to be different from yours, and I feel, despite that, we’re both right. I know for me, it represents the twisted distortion of memory over time and very much that of grief. May we never find ourselves, clipping out of our reality and into the backrooms.
Our tale begins with a broken-down man (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who starred in Serenity and Doctor Strange) who seemingly lives in his failing furniture store. His psychiatrist (played by Renate Reinsve) is trying to help him, but this world and his store are crumbling. The lights flicker at night, randomly, as if they have a mind of their own. Then one night, he spots what looks like a seam in the wall with light spilling. He reaches out a hand that passes from his store directly into the back room.
At first, it looks like some kind of storage. Bland yellow walls, piles of furniture and oddly sized partitions everywhere. Anyone who has worked in your typical, bland and lifeless office cubicle farm will know what I mean. But it’s still off, and like the dog, a copy of something the artist has never seen.
Astoundingly, the film is co-written and directed by Kane Parsons, who was just nineteen years old when the film began production. If that is not inspirational, then I don’t know what is. The concept of the Backrooms came from a thread on the site 4Chan (I do not recommend visiting the site) with a simple, yet chilling quote and a picture of a desolate-looking cubicle farm. Clearly, he knows what he’s doing as this looks like a very expensive film. While the set was apparently large, whatever special effects they used are 100% confincing. I believe it was critical to ensure that the backrooms looked like a real place. Living and breathing. If it were to look like a set or special effects, the entire experience would be lost. With this and Obession (2026) from Currey Barker, the world of cinema belongs to horror and young filmmakers from YouTube.
The backrooms, at least for now and perhaps I don’t want a sequel, what you want them to be. Just don’t get lost in there.
And to finish up, I’ll leave you with a snippet of a quote from the film:
“We all have our loops. Our habits. Behaviours that keep us walking in circles. Reaching for the same solutions over and over again. Thinking each time will take you somewhere new, but they don’t.”