Produced by A24 Films and directed by 20-year-old internet horror prodigy Kane Parsons, Backrooms adapts the viral Backrooms creepypasta, which Parsons first turned into a viral horror series as a teenager, becoming one of the internet’s most unsettling modern stories. The film follows a therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve), who enters into an endless maze of fluorescent-lit rooms after her patient, Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), falls through reality into the alternate dimension known as the Backrooms.
Much like the original YouTube shorts, Backrooms thrives on atmosphere, ambiguity and pure sensory dread. The sound design is exceptional, and the found footage elements never feel gimmicky. The cinematic slow pans through empty corridors create a constant feeling that something is lurking just outside the frame, pulling your eyes into every corner in search of the horror you know is coming. Parsons understands that mystery is far more effective than exposition, letting us discover the rules of this world through the characters themselves.
The film’s greatest strength is its visual confidence. The Backrooms themselves feel tactile, oppressive and fully realised, with the architecture being the main element of the horror. Parsons revealed that he built over 30,000 square feet of practical sets, large enough that cast and crew got lost while filming, and you can feel that physicality in every frame.
The performances also help ground the film amidst all the surreal horror. Chiwetel Ejiofor once again proves he deserves far more leading roles, while Renate Reinsve continues to cement herself as one of the strongest actresses of her generation. For someone making their feature debut at 20 years old, Kane Parsons has a remarkably confident grasp of tension and space, with the first hour proving genuinely nerve-wracking.
In a lot of ways, Backrooms reminded me of Barbarian, directed by Zach Cregger. Not because the films are similar, but because both films feel like the arrival of a major new voice in horror. Like Zach Cregger, Parsons has a clear visual identity and a real understanding of how to build dread. Both films are at their strongest when the horror remains partially obscured, and both lose a bit of their power once everything is fully revealed in the third act. In Backrooms, one particular character shift feels unearned and over-explained, undercutting some of the unsettling ambiguity that made the earlier sections so gripping.
Even then, Backrooms never feels generic. There is personality and quality in every frame. While the emotional payoff doesn’t entirely land, this is still an immersive, memorable and hugely impressive debut from a filmmaker who feels destined to become one of horror’s defining voices.
★★★ 1/2
In cinemas from May 29th / Renate Reinsve, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Duplass, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia/ Dir: Kane Parsons / A24
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