The A24 Backrooms movie is a chilling and eerie film, directed by Kane Parsons. The origin behind the movie is based on a photo that was released online in 2019, which showed an empty room, but quickly went viral. The room seemed familiar to most, like they had dreamt it before. To sum up, the “backrooms” are a never ending space, filled with rooms and people. Both the rooms, and people found in the backrooms, are a distortion of reality.
In the film, the backrooms were characterized with fluorescent lights with a damp vibe to the carpeting and walls. The backrooms also present feelings of nostalgia in an unsettling isolation. The main character, Clark, owns a furniture store. Due to the unfortunate circumstances he experienced during the movie, he moves into his store. Eventually, lights from the backrooms seep into the store, which leads Clark into the backrooms. After his discovery he invites his co-workers to help explore the new space. As the movie progresses, the distorted figures are found, and they hunt the characters that continue to explore the backrooms.
Many fans enjoyed the story line of the backrooms, leading many to watch the movie the day it was released. Over 1 million people watched the movie, yet a lot of viewers were dissatisfied. Complaints included that the movie ended too abruptly, as well as some saying the plot wasn’t portrayed the way they wanted, or expected, it to be. Rotten Tomatoes critic, Caralynn Matassa, agreed, saying “The set-up, camera work, and set design offer up a ton of promise. The actual execution, though, is where Backrooms fails to live up to the perhaps inherently unreachable hype.”
Overall, the backrooms is an interesting concept, but reading the mythology that came from its initial popularity, for many, was seemingly more engaging than the movie itself.
