Expectation is often the root of disappointment. And having gone into Backrooms with sky-high hopes, I can confirm the saying holds true. As the end credits rolled, there wasn’t a more disappointed viewer in the theatre than yours truly. The entire experience reminds of the fictional “Cinema of the Unsettling” championed by Gabe in the pop culture favourite series, The Office.
The internet has been abuzz about this sci-fi horror film directed by YouTuber Kane Parsons. Releasing around the same time as Obsession, another theatrical debut from a YouTube creator, conversations have centred on how a new generation of filmmakers is challenging traditional notions of filmmaking and budgets.
Well, Obsession was worth every penny. It spun a tale so twisted that it lingered long after the credits rolled, eventually becoming a cultural phenomenon.
Can Backrooms claim the same? I am afraid the answer is no.
The story follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a furniture store owner struggling through therapy as his marriage falls apart. One day, he discovers a mysterious portal hidden beneath his shop. On the other side lies a strange dimension made up of vast, endless rooms that grow unsettling the deeper one ventures. When an unknown entity kills two of Clark’s acquaintances during an exploration, the mystery only deepens. What it is forms the rest of the film.
The premise is intriguing, and to it’s credit, Backrooms avoids relying on cheap jump scares. The problem is that it rarely replaces them with anything equally compelling. The first half hour unfolds like a maze, but not in a way that evokes mystery or dread. Instead, it feels frustratingly disorienting. If anything, the material might have worked better as one of those immersive 4DX VR experiences in shopping malls, than as a feature-length film.
As a director, Parsons attempts to add emotional depth through Mary (Renate Reinsve), Clark’s psychiatrist, and her traumatic childhood. Yet these threads never fully come together. The film keeps hinting at layers beneath the surface, only to arrive at conclusions that feel underdeveloped. By the time Backrooms finally reveals its hand, one is left wondering whether there was much substance behind the mystery to begin with.
In hindsight, maybe one could interpret the Backrooms as a manifestation of the fears and memories that quietly shape us. Kane Parsons certainly seems interested in something deeper than monsters lurking in dark hallways. Yet for all it’s attempts, the film never manages to translate those ideas into engrossing cinema. A movie can be cryptic, but it cannot afford to be dull. Backrooms ends up being both.