Backrooms

“The Devil’s in the details.” Going in completely cold and coming out on the other end perplexed but in a good way. Don’t think the story is nearly as absent as what I’m seeing detractors say but I will concede that it certainly comes second to the film’s real goal which is just to drown you in this super isolated atmosphere. Lurking around in these oppressive, vast, empty spaces never did fully lose its effect on me. I’m just claustrophobic and anxious enough to where Kane Parsons (whose age makes me realize I’m such a fucking chud) ran circles around me in terms of his scoring and his framing. The biggest praise I can hand this thing is that I do think production designer Danny Vermette should basically have his name engraved on that Best Production Oscar trophy, unreal how this thing looks and feels. You really do feel like this place is such a rabbit hole that just goes deeper and deeper, to such a degree that escape feels impossible. I admire a horror film that understands restraint and I was just itching with curiosity by the time it reveals all its cards. Drags on longer than it should and I do think the character work isn’t as strong as it could be but, to be brutally honest, I kind of just expect that a lot of the time with the genre. But the world it sets up and throws you into genuinely creeped me the hell out. That thrumming, pounding score that ramps up when things are teetering on the edge of getting nuts was electric in my ears. Really scratched an itch in the back of my brain, the one that is scared of tight spaces and heights and the feeling that you’re not actually alone, even when you can’t see another soul. If nothing else, I thought it was an incredibly interesting experiment. It’s been a very horror dominated month and I do think there is an obvious modern masterpiece to have come out along the way. Backrooms isn’t it. But I do think it promises that Parsons has a bright future ahead of him. Whatever issues I do have with it, find myself keeping in mind that he’s not even a legal drinking age and he’s playing around with a concept he’s apparently already dabbled with for some time. But he still managed to direct the fuck out of this and show a total control of style and mood. His trajectory can only be upward from here. Would very much love to see him tackle something that’s totally out of his wheelhouse. The end result can go either way but I do find myself kind of admiring when a horror film noticeably has no idea how to explain the lore so it never really even bothers. Just throw me headfirst into the deep water and see what happens. Came out of this honestly thinking about what it all means and piecing together whatever makes the most sense to me, rather than having everything spoon fed to me with the subtlety of a sledgehammer (hello, Black Phone 2). I understand that’s not going to be the singular experience. I find it refreshing, others will probably be irritated beyond belief. I found myself riding with it the whole way, even though it’s got some very obvious imperfections. I’ll tell you this much, my therapist and I are gonna have a real awkward talk next time I see her. If I ever find a pocket dimension in my studio apartment, she better believe me right off the rip faster than this guy’s did. The one big thing I would level against this whole thing: I hope somewhere Tobe Hooper’s ghost is chilling with a smug grin on his face. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is pretty provably the greatest American horror film of all time. Everything that’s come since has been eating off of its table for the last fifty years. Whether any of them even come close to it, though, is a completely different story. “Do you ever feel like you’re living behind glass?”