Backrooms

oof where do I even start. First with all the redeeming qualities: kinematografija je predivna i smatram da uopće ne trebam previše glazeati scene production jer je stvarno vrhunski. Neki kadrovi su veoma breath taking i mislim da je generalno veoma umjetnički lijep film te da su dobro prikazali te prve nivoe backroomsa. Glumci su dobri i glazba je nice (prepoznala sam A burning memory i to je stvarno bila genijalna scena gdje su to uveli). Also, some of the creatures depicted in the backrooms were very well made and I overall liked the story that explained their existence in there. However… The film is very disappointing. I feel like it completely missed the mark of what could have been an incredible ambient horror story. I am unsure whether my backrooms lore is rusty and how lore accurate the characters were, but I felt that the whole time they were focusing on the wrong components of what makes the backrooms so terrifying. And I feel like the biggest mistake they made (spoiler) is that there was a fixed way to exit the backrooms, where instead of the characters being trapped in the backrooms and having to find a way out, they were instead in there purely owing to their own curiosity to explore the space.  Another HUGE miss was the fact that all the backrooms world building happened off camera, wherein Clarke literally summarized the entirety of the backrooms levels in a few sentences, MEANWHILE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE KEY FOCUS. The film would’ve been soooo much better if they just focused on exploring the backrooms and getting to all those deeper levels, instead they focused on these characters and their traumas. The thing that ruined the film for me wholly was them literally showing you the backrooms entity/monster, I feel like if they stuck to a Blair witch type of presence it would’ve been way more effective in creating terror, instead this shit was just straight goofy. There likely is some deeper message about habits and fear of change, of nostalgia and wanting to go back to a place that no longer exists. In that, the film could be looked at as a beautiful allegory, however I generally do think the story and dialogue was very shallow and did not feel relatable or revolutionary in the slightest (since the characters were very superficial and replaceable). The film would’ve been better if it had a largely found footage approach or completely cut out all the unnecessary A24 psychiatry trauma bs. Overall, it’s a good horror film but it has nothing to do with the backrooms. The only thing that the young director brought forth from his generation was Among us references. The entire setup felt like a perfect pipeline for a sequel, which I have no doubt that they will pursue.