One of the taglines for this film: The More You Look, The More You Find. When a portal to a hidden world is discovered in the basement of a furniture store showroom by the manager/owner, he promptly enlists the help of his assistant manager and her wannabe filmmaker boyfriend to help him document its exploration. After the three of them have gone missing, the therapist of the manager/owner takes it upon herself to venture into the unknown place beyond reality to rescue him.
Backrooms is the newest entry in the liminal horror subgenre that feels like a fever dream that escalates into a full blown nightmare that is thought provoking in a good way as it ramps up the audience’s sense of dread in a fully lit open space with the buzz of fluorescent lights being used to ratchet up the tension. Kane Parsons brings his directing expertise from publishing viral content of YouTube as Kane Pixels to great effect here as he expands on his version of this particular creepy-pasta horror story. Will Soodik’s script is able to build on uneasy elements Parsons’ version of this modern urban legend brought to light while making it relatable to different generations of viewers by populating the story with realistically flawed characters. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve give performances that remind you why they are both Academy Award nominated talent in a way that keeps you invested in their journeys both inside and outside of the other dimension but the acting by Lukita Maxwell and Finn Bennett do a good job of grounding the experience while making the horrific parts that involve their characters feel like a loss of a potential future. This is a motion picture that is able to make you feel claustrophobic and agoraphobic at the same time with scares that creep up on you as questions are answered in a manner that leads to more questions. This is the kind of imaginative horror that starts a franchise of sequels, prequels and spin-offs. I rate this cinematic experience a rating of 4 out of 5.
