A failing furniture store owner and aspiring architect Clarke is trying to work on himself in therapy when he stumbles upon a hidden portal to a labyrinthian series of rooms. These “backrooms” have an uncanny nature about them. They don’t seem to have any logical floor plans, scale, or use case. They are like a memory of a room, and not a room itself. As Clarke explores deeper he is confronted with a danger within that might consume him if he stays too long.

Backrooms as a concept started as a creepy and tongue in cheek 4chan comment and them was adapted and thrived on youtube as a series of shorts. Now the creator of that series helms a hollywood movie starring oscar nominated actors.

It accomplishes a great feat in bringing a very specific flavor of horror to the masses. Liminal horror. the unsettling feeling of the spaces between spaces.

whereas most horror would focus on the scary, or horrifying, or dread. The word the exemplifies Backrooms is uncanny. It’s the feeling of something being just off enough to capture your attention.

The plot and the characters seem like secondary concerns compared to maintaining the weirdness of the production design, but are just complex enough to give the audience something to latch onto.

The personality flaws and trauma of the protagonists seem like a key to unlocking the secrets of the backrooms. But by the end of the movie, it’s just as ambiguous and dreamlike as the beginning.

It’s hard to list out what works so well in the movie, but I found it uniquely enjoyable and disturbing.

10/10