Backrooms (2026) - Spoiler Free Review

Film Details

Director: Kane Parsons

Run Time: 1hr 45m

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Mark Duplass

Synopsis

Whilst undergoing therapy, workaholic Clark discovers an expansive hidden maze connected to the subfloor of his furniture store and slowly loses his grasp on reality.

My Review

I want to start by giving credit to director Kane Parsons, who at just 20 years old has created a hauntingly immersive film that explores his interpretation of the Backrooms lore. Even if the story is a little too abstract for your liking, you will find it hard to not, at the very least, walkway appreciating just how well made this film is!

The most striking feature of Backrooms is the set design, every minute detail contributing to the eerie atmosphere that creates such a poignant, anxiety inducing tension, the audience was fearful of every approaching corner or doorway! That feeling was exacerbated by the creative decision to regularly switch between a handheld ‘found footage’ approach and then a standard cinematic shot, which worked brilliantly at putting us in the characters shoes and feeling that fear firsthand. I thought the lead performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor was perfect, truly one of the most underrated actors in the business and he was incredibly important to the effectiveness of the aforementioned atmosphere. The pacing did begin to drop off towards the end of the film, any longer and it would have dragged quite significantly, but for the most part that sense of intrigue kept you glued to the screen!

Undoubtedly most people will walk away with unanswered questions, the film deliberately leaves the Backrooms open to interpretation and for some that may be off putting. Personally, I never thought the film was trying to be weird for the sake of it, which is what I struggled with for films such as Beau is Afraid and Kinds of Kindness. Despite its abstract and damn right strange nature, the plot was always moving forward in a logical direction, aligning nicely with the underlying themes of isolation and mental health. So definitely one to watch on the big screen if you can, but please, remember your cinema etiquette because many of the audience in my screening were awful, a cinema is not for talking!

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Thanks for reading.

Film Review Club