Backrooms: An inspiration for young independent filmmakers

If you had unrestricted internet access at a young age, scouring the endless depths of YouTube for something new to watch, you may have stumbled upon a series of haunting ‘found footage’ videos. One minute we are in the world we know, and suddenly the camera falls through the fabrics of reality into endless yellow rooms and hallways.

Backrooms director Kane Parsons started his career making this mini horror series, inspired by a mysterious image of a furniture store that was under renovation in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His grainy found footage followed the unfortunate souls that found themselves in these liminal spaces, delving into the government conspiracy behind these boundless hallways.

This year, we have seen a rise in online content creators taking on the challenge of filmmaking and directing, with the overwhelming success of Iron Lung, created by Markiplier (Mark Fishbach), and the recent success of Obsession from Curry Barker, which has not only placed a rightful spotlight on the horror franchise, but equally on independently produced projects.

Parsons is now becoming the face of hope for younger generations and their dreams of breaking into the film industry

Parsons is now not only the A24’s youngest director, but his film Backrooms is now the highest grossing film that the production company has ever released, with Flixtracker stating that it made “$118 million worldwide during its debut weekend”. Parsons is now becoming the face of hope for younger generations and their dreams of breaking into the film industry.

The film follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), owner of Captain Clark’s Ottoman Empire, a failing furniture store. With his broken marriage and crushed dreams of being an architect, Clark finds himself seeking therapy from Mary (Renate Reinsve). The never-ending humdrum of bills, electric problems and loneliness has Clark drinking his sorrows away, until he stumbles upon a hidden doorway behind one of the walls of his store.

His budding curiosity and fascination with this mysterious new place only lead to further chaos as he convinces two employees to follow him into the world beyond the door to record their findings. The ensuing events lead therapist Mary to investigate the store, where she finds herself wandering the seemingly empty hallways of the Complex (the backrooms) and back into the horrors of her own repressed memories and anxieties.

The film truly draws out the fear of a place stuck between reality and the figments of memory distorted by recollection, becoming a corrupted subversion of nostalgia

The film is true to its YouTube origins with a spectacular blend of found footage and a various points of view, including the character of Phil (Mark Duplass) the mysterious scientist working for the Async Research Institute. The eerie flickering between the main storylines of Mary and Clark amongst the wider arc of government control makes for a claustrophobic watch in all the best ways. With references to the origins of the backrooms and its various levels, such as the swimming pools which we get glimpses of, as well as the infamous winding, yellow wallpapered rooms filled with an assortment of various detritus, the film truly draws out the fear of a place stuck between reality and the figments of memory distorted by recollection, becoming a corrupted subversion of nostalgia.

The simplicity of the set, and even the limited use of cast, with Clark and Mary dominating the main narrative, creates tension with its scarcity. I would say that some of the best horror is created from a barren set, allowing for horrors unimaginable to run rampant in our imaginations. The film’s use of silence, of nothing but empty rooms and hallways to create an overwhelming sense of doom, is truly remarkable and only emphasises that fear can stem from the absence of matter.

The Complex becomes a place built on the worst, hidden parts of humanity … not just an environment, but a living entity itself

It is intriguing what the backrooms and its entities have become a cultural symbol of. Instead of a mindless use of the monstrous, the living embodiment of the Complex and its inhabitants seem to mimic and pick up the imperfections of their mirrored reality. We are shown at the beginning of the film that elements of Clark’s store are scattered throughout the rooms, such as the furniture or banners. The Complex becomes a place built on the worst, hidden parts of humanity, encroaching on its more animalistic side. This makes the liminal space not just an environment, but a living entity itself.

It is always a good marker of horror when the film not only evokes fear, but when the fear is drawn from somewhere deeper, in this case repressed trauma, the human condition, and the horror that comes from a lawless place which leaves these emotions unchecked.

Image: Courtesy of A24

Speculation towards the film’s ‘entities’ and what they would look like is at the forefront of the building terror. Those familiar with Parsons’ work will already be aware of the existence of alternative life within the backrooms.

Parsons does an excellent job in the film at pacing the exposition of life within this quiet space, with our first contact being that of a researcher who befalls an unpleasant end at the hand of an entity that remains hidden from the camera.

Backrooms is a testament to what indie production and young creators are capable of

Parsons takes on a more twisted, abstract approach to the creatures and their origins, with entities mirroring the image of people. These entities, or the ‘Still Life’ are manifested through the warped reconstruction of what enters the backrooms, becoming a horrifying parallel to reality. We see this through the eventual discovery of the main entity that has haunted the narrative from the beginning, which we find as a mangled, warped image of Clark’s persona, Captain Clark, his anger and trauma visualised and embodied through this monster.

Overall, Backrooms is a testament to what indie production and young creators are capable of, with the film outperforming some of the higher-budget films at the box office such as Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. As Mensxp writes, Backrooms is set to be the highest-grossing A24 release ever, as it is projected to overtake Marty Supreme’s “$191 million global haul” despite being on a lower budget. With Backrooms, it is clear to see that the film industry is slowly expanding and evolving to allow for the younger generation of filmmakers to experiment and succeed on the big screen.

★★★★½