I was lucky enough to watch the pre-screening of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms last night, and as I sat in the theatre watching there were sounds that made me physically recoil. More especially the low, aggressive hum of industrial fluorescent lighting, buzzing with a sick, yellowish vibration that felt like it was drilling directly into my skull. The atmosphere felt heavy with dread and I don’t think I am going to have a quick recovery from this one. This isn’t your traditional horror. This is a horror that slowly sucks the life out of you and kinda watches to see how long your nerves can survive before they finally snap.
The reason this movie works, is because it comes from the understanding that real horror isn’t always about what jumps up when the lights go out or gruesome monsters. It’s about being trapped in a space that is totally familiar but drains you of your very essence. It’s crazy to think that the horror came from spaces that are quite ordinary, really. I mean who would have imagined that walls covered in yellow wallpaper, buzzing fluorescent lights, endless office corridors, stained carpets, and rooms that look half-finished and abandoned by reality itself could have you freaking out. Yet when you see it here, there is something that just feels off. Something that your brain struggles to comprehend.
The best way to describe it is that the movie pulls you directly into somebody else’s nightmare. The camera movements carry that same found-footage panic fans of the original internet phenomenon loved, but the film elevates it into something far more cinematic without losing the raw unease. You can’t help but feel trapped in a maze. Every corner feels like a peril even when nothing is standing there. But the best part is that this movie practically turns your own imagination against you. Now that’s what I call skill. Also from a visual perspective, Kane parsons somehow made the empty rooms feel alive.
The story follows Clark, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Clark is a failed architect who manages a depressing, cavernous discount furniture store. He’s sleeping in the store’s showroom displays because his life has fallen apart. He then discovers a porous, glitching “null zone” in the basement. And he accidentally steps through it. He finds himself in an endless labyrinth of sand-coloured carpets, damp wallpaper, and endless corridors. However this space feels decayed, lonely, and strangely infinite.
The deeper he moves, the more reality itself starts feeling unstable. Time feels warped and directions stop making sense. The architecture becomes almost hostile. It feels like something tried to recreate the world from memory and got human spaces horribly wrong. Mary (Renate Reinsve), Clark’s therapist, eventually follows him into the labyrinth.It is here that the movie shifts from a sci-fi curiosity into a deep psychological panic. You watch two incredibly talented actors slowly lose their grip on time, logic, and self-identity.
The sound design was incredible. The constant electrical hum, distant echoes, and muffled noises somewhere far away. They all pull you in to the extent that it starts to crawls under your skin. There were times when I caught myself holding my breath without even realising it. Damn, it gets you so emotionally involved and that is probably why BACKROOMS stays with you. Even on a bathroom break. Under all the surreal nightmare imagery sits a very human fear of isolation. Of being lost, and feeling disconnected from reality. The horrible sensation of calling out and all that comes back is silence. The film taps into anxieties people already carry around quietly in everyday life. And that is the reason why it works so well.
But this style of horror is for a selected few, not everybody will enjoy it, that’s for sure. If you are someone that needs constant action, endless exposition, or spoon-fed explanations, this movie will probably frustrate you. What I loved is that, BACKROOMS embraces ambiguity and leaves gaps. It wants you to sit inside discomfort instead of escaping it with easy answers. By the end, I felt mentally exhausted in the same way you feel after experiencing a deeply unsettling dream. The kind where you wake up relieved to be home… but still avoid looking down dark hallways for the rest of the night.
BACKROOMS doesn’t simply ask you to watch horror.
It asks you to get lost inside it.
