Backrooms

Parsons was a teenager when he came up with the short film that started the web series. And he directed this movie at only twenty years old. Making him the other part of the wave of Gen Z horror directors from YouTube getting to the top of the box office, along with Curry Barker’s Obsession. I don’t think Markiplier’s young enough to fit here. Parsons wins for most impressive in how young he got such a big debut. Although, Barker had the better movie, but that’s no knock on this one, because it’s also a very creepy horror film.

Anyway, A24 is the one who let him direct based off the success of his series, and hooked him up with Oscar nominated actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor. He plays the manager of a furniture store, who discovers a portal to another world in the basement of his store. And that world is a bunch of beige corridors. But it’s still fascinating enough for him to investigate. Until he gets too close to the dangers of it.

The location is the villain here. Boring hallways have never seemed so evil. Not just what you may find in there. The place itself feels dangerous. And it’s fully of creepy images that will get under your skin.

I’ve only seen a few episodes of the series, so I’m not fully up on the lore, at least until I finish. But it’s the mystery of this place that makes this movie. It told me some stuff that I hadn’t gotten to yet, but still not a whole lot. Yet enough.

The whole thing ends up being a symbol for Ejiofor giving up on his aspirations. And in that sense, I think it was an interesting metaphor.

There’s also a bunch of things at the end that would probably be best suited for those who have seen the whole series. If this was an original idea, it might be a little too much, but with the knowledge that there’s more records of the Backrooms than what we’ve seen, it makes more sense to point toward that. And it’s done in a way that never feels like anybody in the audience is missing anything.

This is a unique creepy movie. Even at such a young age, Parson knows how to scare people.

What does his future outside the Backrooms look like? I don’t know. But you can see that there might be potential here for him to have a good career outside of these yellow walls.

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