Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, Backrooms, bringing the popular quote to mind: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” An attempt to break free from circular behavioral patterns instead leads to a disturbing existential spiral, making for a meditative voyage through the uncanny.
An analog found footage cold open in 1990 gives an unsettling glimpse at the off-kilter dread that awaits wayward travelers before introducing Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a furniture store owner operating on a steady diet of rage and regret. So much so that he regularly sees Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve) to help him find a way out of his self-made life prison. Just as she coaches him to recognize his repeating patterns so he can then forge new pathways, his quirky furniture store presents him with the opportunity to do exactly that.
Late one night, Clark discovers he can slip through the basement walls, leading him to an expansive extension of the store he never knew existed.
The further he explores, though, the more peculiar things get.
There’s nothing subtle about the script that sees its two lead characters conversing over the looping patterns we can trap ourselves in before they find themselves stuck in a mundane cosmic purgatory that doubles as a metaphor for the labyrinthine human mind. It’s even reflected in background details, including The Neverending Story playing on a background television set. And like the mind, the mysterious furniture store backrooms present endless possibilities, forgotten and distorted memories, and a surreal setting with no borders or tether to physical reality.
Yet that lack of subtlety suits Kane Parsons’ debut well, considering how acutely his leads latch onto their characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. There’s an impressive confidence in the young filmmaker as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight.
More impressive is the way Parsons mines tension and rattles nerves from empty, brightly lit rooms adorned in yellow wallpaper. The vibes are seriously off in this place, but, like Clark, it’s impossible to look away even as the mundane rooms begin to distort into truly inspired nightmarish uses of uncanny valley.
The production design in Backrooms is as incredible as it is disturbing, and Parsons takes full advantage of the larger budget. As reality becomes more and more unstable, the more alive and intricate Parsons’ filmmaking becomes. Breathtaking transitions and camera trickery further disorients the sensory assault. It’s all so unnerving yet keeps you fully on the hook, made more engaging by cryptic storytelling and a general unpredictability.
But the Backrooms is a place with no easy explanation; this is the type of existential horror that operates at its best when intentionally vague. Screenwriter Will Soodik presents a more conventional third act that clashes with Parsons’ overarching cryptic vision, one that’s not visceral enough compared to the unnerving build-up. Not helping is the inscrutable coda teasing the obvious: we haven’t even begun to explore the Backrooms, really. That leaves one of its leads with an unfinished arc and a ton of unanswered questions, a move that feels deflating after such a strong front half.
Still, Kane Parsons’ strong eye for composition and visual storytelling marks him as a filmmaker to watch. It’s clear that the young filmmaker has a strong grasp of the mythology he’s building, even if he keeps that mostly close to the chest. Fans of the Backrooms web series will find plenty of Easter eggs and details to deconstruct and decipher, too.
Backrooms is at once complex and sparse, but never repetitive. It might be set in 1990, but it effectively captures modern anxieties and isolation in a way that frequently makes your skin crawl. While the journey ultimately loses steam by its cryptic end, Parsons’ visual representation of the human psyche disturbs like no other.
Backrooms is now playing in theaters from A24.
