'Backrooms' Review: A liminal horror concept so massive it completely swallows its own narrative

When I first heard of Backrooms, I was intrigued. I didn’t even know it was based on an existing web series from the director. And after seeing the movie, I can say that the notion of the backrooms is something I really dig. What came immediately to mind regarding the setting is how it works like a mix between the Upside Down from Stranger Things and the winding halls and rooms of Severance. It looks like the latter, but has the underlying feeling of the former, especially with the entrance being a hidden portal. There are a lot of strange, absorbing ideas in this concept to be interested in. Unfortunately, that’s all this movie really is, though: a good concept. Backrooms tries–and boy does it try–to be really weird, vibey, and atmospheric, but none of that does any good when the movie’s story and level of substance leave me with lots of questions and feeling more confused than in any way satisfied.

It should be said that I was still interested the whole way through Backrooms nonetheless, and a large part of that credit should go to its sense of direction. There was a very clear goal behind the film and what Kane Parsons wanted to accomplish, and it had everything to do with ambiance. Once you enter the backrooms, you are always curious to see what’s around each corner. This ties into the set design; almost every room offers a new object of interest, vibe, or tone shift. One room can have a set of chairs and tables clipping into the walls and floor, another completely jam-packed with couches, and even one with a never-ending chasm. The variety never dries up, all the way to the very end.

It only gets better when the horror elements are combined with this brimming template. The sense of unknown does a lot for Backrooms, at least for a little while, during the time you’re not quite sure what is going on. This changes later on, but for the better portion of the film, the not knowing was the great part of the movie. The found footage segments that are mixed in only elevate this whole experience, and prevent things from getting too repetitive, with the wandering around and all. Honestly, I could have taken the whole film as found footage because it was that engaging.

Now, the mysterious tone of Backrooms is evident from the start and naturally raises many interesting curiosities. All of the above praise heightens those feelings, but they can’t carry the whole movie. At a certain point, something needs to happen, whether that be a big reveal, revelation, or plot twist, and Backrooms understands that. It may take a while to get there, but it gets there regardless. What ensues from that point onwards I can only describe as super duper weird. In fact, that’s the only thought that persisted in my mind the rest of the night after seeing Backrooms. Weird. Just weird.

The problem isn’t that it feels like an X-Files episode, although that’s also the case, and you can take that positively or negatively depending on the kind of person you are. The problem, instead, is that none of it makes any sense. Backrooms tries to explain itself, and it at least explains what the backrooms are to some extent. But everything else? Psh. Hell, I don’t even think Kane Parsons knows for sure. Because of this, the story takes a huge nosedive, and it was really only carried by vibes and mystery up to that point anyways. Everything is rushed, underdeveloped, or left with no resolution, and did I mention weird already? Because it was weird.

It’s a bummer because I really wanted to like Backrooms. That said, it’s not like I regret seeing it. It went by very quickly, and I appreciated the artistic vision of it. I just wish that there were a concrete story attached to it, or if the characters were more fleshed out. With the direction the film decided to go in, not having these key components really hurt it. I would still say Backrooms is worth a watch because of the creative bounds it makes; just go in with more of an expectation that this is more about the engrossing journey than not only the destination, but just about everything else as well.