“Backrooms,” the feature film debut from 20 year old wunderkind Kane Parsons, is a master class in enigmatic world-building even if the psychologically and intellectually rich material never fully pays off its dread-inducing setups.
Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is the owner of a struggling furniture store who meets regularly with Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), a therapist who is helping him grapple with his failed marriage, his failed architectural career and his unending feeling of being alone.
Living in the furniture store while his ex-wife lives in their home, Clark goes downstairs to investigate the fuse box after unexplainable power issues throughout the store keep recurring at night. After shutting off power throughout the store, Clark notices a seam of light shining through what should be a solid wall. Drawn forward, Clark steps straight through the wall and into the deceptively banal maze that is the backrooms.
What are the backrooms, aside from the film’s greatest creative strength? On its surface, the backrooms are the dullest version of a dated office space – gray carpet, harsh fluorescent lighting, depressing yellow paint. And yet this mundanity belies a deeper mystery, as some rooms are filled with furniture stacked high in front of doorways, stop signs and other commonplace artifacts strewn about, and, occasionally, sounds suggesting that someone or something else lurks in this labyrinthine space.
By grounding the story in the therapy sessions between Clark and Mary, the film adds a psychological complexity to the backrooms, establishing them as a horror landscape reflection of the derealization they struggle with in their ordinary lives. The malaise that renders the real world boring is instead pushed to frightening extremes in the backrooms.
The viewer remains in emotional lockstep with the characters as they uncover more about this mysterious space. We learn as they learn, wonder as they wonder and grow afraid right alongside them as they proceed, with rooms connected and designed in ways that make no logical sense.
One of the more relatable elements of the film is how varied the character reactions are to discovering this inexplicable place. Clark is curious, his two employees are excited and terrified in equal measure, and Mary is suspicious but determined. While the space itself is the centerpiece of the story, “Backrooms” is elevated by Ejiofor and Reinsve in the lead roles, adding gravitas, dimensionality and humanity to the otherwise emotionally detached goings-on.
Much has been made of director Parsons’ age. Perhaps the most surprising element of his youthful direction is how mature he is in his approach to complex psychology and how restrained he is in unveiling his world without relying on cheap thrills to keep the audience engaged.
While Parsons dedicates so much creative energy to the setup, the comparative lack of satisfying payoff is disappointing. The concept of the backrooms as a liminal space, an inescapable, horrific and endless loop is intellectually frightening, but the scares provided by the film feel underwhelming in comparison. There are so many moments in which Parsons built up dread masterfully and I was left deflated, anticipating a knockout punch of a scare that just never came.
As an exercise in unique horror world-building and atmosphere, “Backrooms” succeeds immensely. Parsons proves that horror does not have to be confined to heavily shadowed nooks and crannies, but can also flourish in the most humdrum, everyday settings that look oh-so-close to what we expect yet leave us feeling inexplicably uneasy.
A version of this review was posted at Curt On The Movies.
“Backrooms” Rated R for language and some violent content/bloody images. Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes Directed by Kane Parsons. Written by Will Soodik. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell. Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller.
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