Movies
[BD Review] ’24 Exposures’ Is A Fun, Bloody Riff On Exploitation
I haven’t seen all of Joe Swanberg’s films, but I’ve seen enough to know that he has a strong desire to expand the scope of his craft. As prolific as he is, sometimes churning out 3 or 4 films in a year, you’d think his pace wouldn’t allow him the pause required to evaluate his own work and course correct, but his visual growth as a filmmaker argues otherwise.
That’s not to say that 24 Exposures is an adrenaline soaked blockbuster destined to win over general audiences. It’s not. But it is engaging in a way that many of his early films aren’t and, along with Drinking Buddies, puts him on the map for me as a filmmaker whose work I’ll actively follow rather than passively encounter.
It also happens to be lurid, gory and at times pretty damn funny (in the driest manner possible). Adam Wingard (the director of You’re Next, The Guest and several installments of the V/H/S films) and Simon Barrett (writer of said films and installments) are paired up as a Walter Hill-esque odd couple in a way that serves as a great access point to the film for anyone familiar with their work. Wingard plays Billy, a photographer who specializes in erotic, blood soaked portraits who soon enough catches the attention of Barrett’s suicidal cop Michael Bamfeaux when one of the models he’s hired turns up dead.
One of the most interesting choices Swanberg makes is to go against type and allow Billy to be willing, enthusiastic even, about participating in the investigation. It’s a refreshing change of pace for this scenario and allows Barrett’s and Wingard’s chemistry together to become the focal point. While this is an occasional reminder that acting isn’t at the top of either of their resumes, they’re still able to get to the center of this dynamic. Billy operates on a gut-instinct level, never questioning his muse or the type of content it engenders. Michael, who has seen enough real-life horror to render him one of the most relentlessly depressed protagonists ever captured on film, can’t understand how Billy can so whimsically create facsimiles of disturbing events.
Another thing Billy doesn’t seem to question is how the women he interacts with will respond to his actions. In his world the lines between subject and girlfriend blend a bit too easily and in turn the women he’s involved with (played by Helen Rogers, Sophia Takal, and Caroline White) are reacting in ways he doesn’t even begin to anticipate. Perhaps because he’s not in the business of anticipating anything.
While all of these ingredients indicate a more explosive mixture than what 24 Exposures ultimately offers up, there’s still a lot of fun to be had. Swanberg turns in a film that is far less static than a lot of his prior work, wringing decent production value out of a minuscule budget. The film also ends on a surprisingly warm and compassionate note given the darkness that precedes it, which is also refreshing. As a rule, if you hate what most people consider to be mumblecore, this isn’t the movie for you. But if you’re open to this somewhat shambolic riff on noir, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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