Some might call it coincidence that in the same year, we’re getting another surprisingly successful horror outing based on a Youtube project. And some might just say it’s a natural development of media cross-pollination that always happens when something gets mainstream enough, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter—Kane Parson’s Backrooms already seems to have made its mark with a modest enough budget (lower costs leading to higher profit, who knew, Hollywood?). I never took more than a glimpse at the original video projects nor the web of spinoffs, so I’m judging this entirely on its own merits as I open the door on this one…
For such a young neophyte director, my first thought was that it’s pretty darn well shot and composed—ironically, for based on an idea around an entirely incomprehensible otherdimensional realm, there’s a solid sense of geography around the scenes. When most of your backgrounds are the same old yellow, that’s pretty important. You’ve got a few key locales nevertheless, like a furniture store (yes, it does make sense in context) so that when things inevitably get twisted, you might just be able to spot what’s up. Hell, there’s a few odd clues before that get recontextualized just by showing them in a different situation—giving the viewer just enough to piece things together, which I always appreciate.
Plot-wise, it’s the early 90s, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is a struggling store owner with marital and drinking issues, trying to find some direction in his life (well, how much he actually wants that is ambiguous…), with Renate Reinsve as the therapist soon to be dragged into all of this. While bumbling around in his basement, he finds a glitch in the fabric of reality that lets him into a dimension that seems to be a distorted copy of our own—pulling together elements of our reality but with no true understanding of them all.
It’s a theme that hits ever harder in this age of proliferating AI nonsense parasitizing and plagiarizing with all the understanding or actual comprehension of a brick. Our threat here isn’t necessarily actively malevolent—just mindless, and in some ways, that can be all the more terrifying and dangerous. There’s some neat visual metaphors that also express this, like one sequence comparing to a strip of film being endlessly copied and exposed.
Both Chiwetel and Renate carry things solidly, bringing long-term acting chops to sure up a newer director’s outing. All this being said, there are some nits to pick—there’s one plot and character development that feels slightly rushed through, and one creature design choice I’m no sure on. Still, despite some minor roughness on the edges, that still leaves it a surprisingly solid package.
So yeah, check it out—despite the high concept I think it’s actually pretty accessible and interesting even for non-horror fans. We can hope the concept doesn’t get diluted too much with pointless sequels as has happened to indie projects of this type busting onto the scene in the past—and with the topic here, wouldn’t that be the worst kind of irony…
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