Now this is what I’m fucking talking about.

I decided to go off the beaten path and visit a movie theater I’d never been to before to go see a film I’d been waiting for all year: Backrooms. Normally I would’ve gone to Metro 4 on State Street in Santa Barbara, but after my experience seeing Hokum there, I wanted to try my luck at a theater where the sound quality was better and the aspect ratios of the trailers fit the screen.

One thing I noticed is that there were a lot of people my age there, which was insanely nice. I’ve been trying to find friends my age, a tall order to fill when all the young people are priced out of living in Santa Barbara. As I saw more young people like me file into the rows, my excitement grew. People could sense it too.

Then the film started.

Backrooms has a unique history. It’s based off an Internet (primarily YouTube) phenomenon of the same name, based off a found footage style where an unseen character is chased through various uncanny liminal spaces by an unseen foe, mostly of a black shape. These liminal spaces can range from a grocery store, to an empty suburb, but most often you can find videos in an uncanny resemblance of an office building. In Backrooms, it’s a furniture store.

In 1990, furniture store owner Clark is down on his luck after separating from his wife and having to let go of his dream of becoming an architect. One night, he encounters a mysterious portal that allows him to enter into the titular rooms. He finds furniture from his store, but something is off about the place. Nevertheless, he finds himself drawn to them. Then he goes missing. His therapist, Mary Kline goes off to look for him.

You’d think it be difficult to adapt a YouTube series to the big screen, but Kane Parsons manages to do so. His iterations of the Backrooms on his YouTube channel are the most well-known, and he was the right person to direct this. Not only because he’s young enough to know how Internet-driven horror works (he’s 20, making him the youngest director to direct a film in A24’s history), but he also knows how to use atmosphere and paranoia to its advantage.

The key to understanding the Backrooms is that while there is an uncanny factor to your surroundings, it’s not just in the fact that there’s a monster in there (although that’s definitely a part of it). It’s also in how everything should feel similar, but just isn’t. Furniture is stacked on top of each other in unnatural ways. The “stop” in stop signs are written as “qoɈꙅ”. And more importantly, the geometry of the place just doesn’t make sense. It’s like if the Overlook Hotel never stopped going.

Even worse, there doesn’t seem to be a way out.

The key to understanding the Backrooms is that while it is uncanny, it’s not just because there’s a monster in there. It’s also in how everything should feel similar, but just isn’t.

Backrooms expands upon the lore established in Kane Parsons’ web series. Unlike Marvel movies or Star Wars these days, you don’t have to do cinematic homework in order to understand what’s happening. If you’ve never seen his channel, you don’t have to worry, because you’re in for a treat. If you have seen them, you’re in for an expansion of lore that makes what you’ve seen look faint by comparison. I would argue that after watching the film, the original series seems like a rough draft by comparison, although they’re still top notch.

The best parts of Backrooms are where Clark and his duo team of “researchers” record their findings of the Backrooms on a camcorder, bringing back the found footage perspective of Kane Parson’s web series, as well as movies like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. That’s where the creepiness of the film really shines. For a location that should seem nearly impossible to shoot, Parsons makes it come alive.

The chase sequences in this film don’t make you feel motion sick, but make you feel terrified of looking back. You don’t have to see what’s chasing you, because it’s already there. With new characters you’ve barely gotten to know, you get a sense like you’re a new kid in a group of friends who’s just realized they’ve made the biggest mistake of your life. You never should’ve gone along. You should’ve stayed home. But you know you might never go back.

Yet it’s also like the world outside is any better. One advantage this film has over the web series it is based on is that the characters in this have more dimension, much like the rooms themselves. Clark is sympathetic at the start, but he has his sharp edges that can come out at any moment. Mary is supposed to be a level-headed therapist, but the memories of her childhood keep bleeding into her everyday life. If anything, they were meant to be in the rooms.

Moreover, their daily lives are in a Santa Clara where things feel almost as artificial as the Backrooms. It makes California feel eerie and synthetic, almost aesthetically frozen in time. Even though it’s set in the 90s, you can imagine it taking place in the modern day.

When I think about this film, I keep going back to the audience reacting to it in the Camino Real cinema. From the opening scene, people were captivated. They were absolutely silent as Clark stalked the hallways, unsure of what they were about to see but desperate to learn more. When the chases started to happen, it was like a rollercoaster ride. If there was a collective goosebump, my theater felt in. When it ended, all everyone could talk about was the Backrooms. In some ways, we were there.

In some ways, we never left.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

• I wonder how the Backrooms smell.
• BTW, this movie wouldn’t exist without a random photo on 4chan. Truly the only thing of worth to have come out of that site.
• I guess I need to watch Obsession now.