Welcome to the Backrooms!

Ah, fluorescent lighting—aren’t we all just ecstatic to bask in its overwhelming glare? You know it’s bad when the lights feel more like a threat than a welcome invitation. It seems Kane Parsons, that whiz kid from YouTube turned BIG screen director, knows exactly what I’m talking about. With his film debut Backrooms for A24, this 20-year-old prodigy resurrects the ghost of late-‘90s office decor that feels both nostalgic and spine-tingling.

Lost in the Liminal

Picture this: endless, winding corridors sprinkled with just the right amount of existential dread. Backrooms spills over into the uncanny, striking a balance between the absurdity of Office Space and the surrealism of Brazil. It’s a purgatory that takes us straight into the void where all those forgotten cubicles go to die under the flickering lights. Honestly, how did nobody realize this was the perfect backdrop for a creepypasta?

The Heavy Load of Expectations

Now, I’ll admit that the eerie emptiness we got in Parsons’ YouTube shorts was brilliant in its bite-sized glory. But! In an hour-long feature? Not so much. While Parsons and writer Will Soodik toy with some intriguing ideas about these backrooms, they skim the surface without formulating a cohesive plot. It’s like promising a gourmet pizza but delivering just the crust—satisfying but still missing the good stuff!

Meet Clark: The Everyman

Let’s get to our main dude, Clark, played by the always charming Chiwetel Ejiofor. He’s a middle-aged divorcee just trying to navigate life in the ‘90s while the universe throws him into therapy sessions that are about as exciting as watching paint dry. He’s got a lot on his plate—mainly complaints about his ex and a pesky rodent problem at his furniture store, Cap’n Clark’s. You’d think he’d be thrilled with that ominous spot in the wall leading to the ‘bad place.’ Yet, oddly enough, he seems to take a liking to those gnarly backrooms. What’s a little monster in the shadows, right?

Down the Rabbit Hole

In Clark’s bizarre adventure, he takes his co-workers—Bobby and Kat—along for the ride with a trusty VHS camera like some sort of morbid film crew. And let me tell you, if the subconscious is a twisted labyrinth of angst and weirdness, Clark is diving headfirst into that rabbit hole. A little too on-the-nose there, right? It’s like he gets a free pass to creepyville, and who wouldn’t want that?

Mixed Signals and Monster Hiccups

As Clark meanders through this surreal landscape, we’re regularly fed therapy jargon about the human psyche looping in all directions. Sounds deep, right? Unfortunately, instead of blooming into a fully developed thesis, the film ends up racing in a confusing circle. Sure, it’s polished, but it feels more like a haunted house experience—with all the bells and whistles—than a fully-fledged narrative.

Deliver Us from Sequel Hell

As the finale rolls around, we get the classic horror movie blunder: showing the big scary monster. But wait! There’s a hint at a sequel, leaving us hanging like the last thread of an unspooled sweater. Call it cliché, but in the great game of horror, that’s a massive faux pas. Ejiofor does his best with the material, bringing a sense of quiet desperation to Clark. Renate Reinsve, on the other hand, shines in a less fleshed-out role as the therapist—let’s just say her character could use some more meat on those bones.

Final Thoughts

When it comes down to it, Backrooms is packed with potential! Parsons demonstrates he has a nifty eye for creating an eerie vibe and atmospheric gloom. But the film feels more like an awkward attempt to stretch out a concept rather than a fully formed feature. Let’s hope this talented director finds his footing for future projects, because he truly has something special in that quirky brain of his. So, folks, mark your calendars for Backrooms, opening Friday, May 29! Let’s see if this eerie escapade can capture the same buzz as its YouTube origins, or if it flounders in the fluorescent gloom.