Backrooms

Back in da room But for real, this movie is REALLY a thinker. Putting a disclaimer here that a lot of the following thoughts are me spitballing, and a LARGE chunk of it is influenced by how Hailey interpreted this movie. Captain Clark devouring Clark seems to be a metaphor that if you refuse to change and stay stagnant, your ego will ultimately consume you. Notice how Captain Clark appears when Clark decides that he doesn't want to change, and will just stay as he is and where he is. The references to loops this time really stuck out. The mentions had me thinking about loops in memories, thoughts, habits, and thinking overall. The Backrooms seem to personify these loops through imperfect memories, recreating places, people, and ultimately taking in our negative aspects too. Some imagery that caught my eye this viewing was crop top employee's guts being dragged by Captain Clark as the camera makes it down to the lower level. Super gory and makes me squirm thinking about it. I also noticed that you can hear seagulls in the Async facility towards the end of the movie, are the seagulls seemingly funneling into a room Async has blocked off? Are they maybe holding them captive and sending them through different null zones to see where they end up, akin to how they have stockpiles of the caveman speakers to lure still life out? I don't know, and to be honest, it's really cool that I don't know! The movie gives you a lot to chew on -- what the Backrooms are, how they bring to life people's experiences/emotions and why. What they are? I interpreted the facility as an entity which imperfectly recreates places from a collective of people's memories. This is apparent in the recreations of places Clark has seen, especially his furniture store. At the end, it's seen with Mary's house, and the overall neighborhoods that we see throughout the movie. How they bring to life people's experiences/emotions? Seemingly through still life/creatures/people. We see an imperfect recreation of a guy in a Hawaiian outfit, and a seeming recreation of Clark's wife, Barbara. The other still life, I'm not so sure. Also notice, when Clark introduces this still life to Mary, he states that they don't feel fear. When Captain Clark enters, however, Barbara's still life runs away and screams in fear. It brings to question, what the FUCK is the life in the Backrooms? Why the Backrooms is creating all of this? I DON'T KNOW. To be honest, this is the coolest part about this movie. It presents information and background to what these people see and experience from the Backrooms, but no one can really explain it. It's like explaining a dog to someone who's never seen a dog before, then asking them to draw it. I hope that with Kane Parson's future Backrooms work, whether it be his web series or another movie/movies, that these questions are NEVER ANSWERED. How else are we supposed to generate discussion? It's so applicable to so many different things, and the theories and interpretations behind them are maybe the most interesting/fun part about this experience. I saw an interpretation that I thought was cool, in that the Backrooms are an observation/criticism of generative AI. Generative AI takes in what we tell it, and regurgitates it back imperfectly, often hallucinating or giving incorrect information. It also seems to exaggerate specific things, just as the Backrooms does, ESPECIALLY with negative emotions. Case in point Captain Clark: Why was he so violent? Did the Backrooms take in how Clark hurts people and personifies his negative ego, exaggerating it to the point of severe violence? All this being said, I think my rating on this movie stays the same. I really like the questions this movie opens up and how well it's shot and designed, but I was left wanting more out of our main cast. I actually wanted more scenes, more development, just more of everything. This might be a bit of a skill issue in that MAYBE I wanted just a bit more explained so I didn't feel so confused, but I have to give it credit - it made me FEEL something.