Horror Hidden Inside Empty Spaces
I find empty spaces to be quite eerie really. In fact they seem more frightening than haunted houses, simply because of the silence that can be all consuming. But the endless silence wrapped in ugly yellow wallpaper and fluorescent lights……that’s on another level. This spooky atmosphere is exactly why Backrooms already feels different from most horror movies before it has even released.
Don’t expect anything loud or flashy because this horror is one that crawls under your skin in slow motion. The kind of dread where your brain starts filling in horror scenes the movie hasn’t even shown you yet. Backrooms started as an internet nightmare. A weird liminal-space image that looked like somebody’s abandoned office building after reality itself got fired. Then Kane Parsons took that creepy little concept and turned it into one of the internet’s most disturbing horror rabbit holes through his viral YouTube series. Now the same guy, at only 20 years old, is directing an actual A24 feature film. But who better to understand the internet than a millennial right!
Parson’s internet-born DNA is all over the trailer. The footage reveals camera movements that feel accidental. You see hallways that stretch for miles and the lighting looks sickly and artificial, like the breath has been sucked out of the world. It feels almost like a nightmare that grips you so tight that you just can’t shake.
What really stood out for me is how the trailer weaponises familiarity. Who would have thought that things we normally just pass by like office carpets, empty rooms and flickering fluorescent lights could feel so hostile and menacing. You know that feeling you get when you wake up at 3AM and your house feels slightly unfamiliar for no reason, Backrooms turns that tiny feeling into a full psychological horror. And thankfully, the movie doesn’t seem interested in over explaining everything. That’s important, because the moment horror starts explaining every mystery with diagrams and lore dumps, the fear evaporates. Kane Parsons has already hinted that the film will stay connected to the strange ambiguity of the original series instead of handing audiences neat answers.
Visually, this thing looks incredibly grimy. Extremely uncomfortable, like old VHS footage discovered in a flooded basement. I love that the trailer understands just how much the atmosphere adds to this. The environment feels so alive and hostile that it is electrifying. And with that going on, there is no need for creatures to bring on the scare. There’s also something oddly poetic about the fact that one of the year’s most anticipated horror films came from YouTube instead of the traditional studio machine. Kane Parsons represents this new generation of filmmakers who grew up editing videos on laptops instead of attending elite film schools. Now that’s what I call raw experimental energy. Most modern horror trailers feel like they’re trying to sell you a rollercoaster ride.
Watch Trailer Here
Backrooms feels like it’s trying to trap you somewhere you can never leave. And that’s infinitely more terrifying.
