Backrooms lands in theaters with Kane Parsons at the helm, a 20-year-old director whose debut is being shepherded to audiences by producers James Wan and Osgood Perkins. The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass, and the project grows from Parsons’s viral YouTube concept into a full-blown, hallucinatory horror experience.
Momentum around the film centers on its distinctive voice and its appetite for lingering in an eerie, otherworldly space rather than chasing loud shocks. After rumors about Parsons’s age swirled online, Duplass publicly defended the filmmaker, insisting Parsons was fully in charge on set.
Audiences should expect an atmosphere-driven ride, with critics noting that the movie’s surreal setup can feel uneven as it probes its own premise, yet it remains a provocative entry in the genre.
What critics are saying
- Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter praises the film’s early, unsettling moments but says the longer journey through the Backrooms sometimes lacks meaningful answers, drifting toward randomness.
- Nick Schager of The Daily Beast compares Backrooms to a Lynchian descent, valuing mood over jump scares and calling it a waking nightmare that occasionally overexplains yet maintains a hypnotic spell.
- YouTube reviewer Jeremy Jahns commends the found footage vibe and the film’s humor, noting moments that land despite a runtime that sometimes sags in the final stretch.
- Jake Coyle of the Associated Press argues the backstory holds more intrigue than the execution, finding the maze-like setting difficult to translate into the lead character’s inner state.
- Empire’s Jamie Graham labels the movie a surreal, art-horror piece that isn’t for everyone but invites abundant interpretation and ongoing debate among viewers who crave something offbeat.
As release week unfolds, Rotten Tomatoes reports a solid score and industry expectations point to a strong opening that could stand as A24’s biggest debut to date.
Source: Original article
