I’ve heard some horror stories about the retail space, but this one might take the cake.
In “Backrooms,” a film inspired by online horror stories, Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Clark, a furniture store owner whose career as an architect was completely derailed. Clark is also coming off a difficult divorce, which he discusses regularly with his therapist, Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve).
His furniture business isn’t going well, either, as sales have dried up. His latest round of bad luck comes when the electricity at his store starts going haywire. While looking into the issue, though, he discovers a doorway to a sprawling, labyrinth-like alternate realm. He soon becomes obsessed with the space, to the concern of those around him.
“Backrooms,” the first feature film effort for director Kane Parsons, plays on some natural human fears. The film includes people getting lost, the claustrophobic feeling of having no way out, and the idea of being in deserted void of space with only your own company. That’s all good stuff for suspense in a movie.
Playing on those types of real fears through the supernatural makes the picture somewhat reminiscent of a “Twilight Zone” episode. Such a premise is fine as long as an extended narrative can be built around the concept for a feature-length cinematic experience.
With “Backrooms,” the effort from Parsons and writer Will Soodik is rather middling. The flick does begin with some good momentum. There’s a solid introduction to the characters, allowing the audience to get invested in who’s on screen, while also slowly but steadily introducing the Backrooms world.
Along with an opening scene giving the viewer an unsettling first look, the movie shows Clark exploring out of curiosity, and the vast, mundane and largely empty rooms he traverses put a viewer on edge. What the film does with that set-up, though, is hit and miss.
There are some good, creepy moments interestingly tied back to the characters and a few thrilling moments where protagonists are trying to survive in a frightening place. However, the film’s second act suffers from a rather stereotypical found footage horror approach that doesn’t make the best use of its premise.
There’s a sense Parsons and Soodik are going through the motions in its middle portion. On top of it feeling conventional, it works against a movie that could have used a tighter runtime, instead of nearing two hours.
Then, the film goes off the rails harshly in the third act. As the movie gets into its home stretch, there’s too much expository dialogue, the realm the characters are in loses a bit of its charm as it becomes crowded, and a being is introduced that looks more goofy than scary.
Fortunately, the film does greatly benefit from its two lead cast members. Having a pair of Academy Award nominees definitely helps things. Both Reinsve, who starred in last year’s phenomenal “Sentimental Value,” and Ejiofor, a veteran who’s always strong on screen, deliver solid performances, giving each character a great deal of conviction and genuineness.
“Backrooms” is, overall, an admirable effort from Parsons. It stands out visually with a notable identity, and the picture explores aspects of the human psyche related to loneliness and what people mentally hold on to through a horror lens. Parsons’ movie is also positively impacted by the lead performances.
Yet the film doesn’t stick the landing in the end. Its middle portion is disappointingly generic, while the third act doesn’t bring things together as well as one would hope. The picture’s story, themes and character arcs all simply conclude in clunky fashion. 2.75 out of 5.
Photos courtesy A24.
