Backrooms

I just gotta say fair play to Kane Parsons, this feature length directional debut is almost as good as Bi Gan’s Kaili Blues! The Backrooms succeeds because it understands that the monster was never the point. The endless hallways, impossible architecture, and suffocating feeling of being somewhere that shouldn’t exist are far more unsettling than any creature lurking in the dark. What impressed me most was how seriously it treats its premise. It could have easily become a nostalgia-fuelled creepypasta adaptation, but instead it leans into the cosmic horror of being trapped in a place that doesn’t care whether you exist or not. Every frame feels wrong in a way that’s difficult to explain. The spaces are familiar enough to recognize yet alien enough to make your brain quietly panic. It’s the cinematic equivalent of remembering a dream you were never supposed to remember. 92/100