Johnson Thomas
Film: Backrooms
Plagues the mind
Cast: Renate Reinsve as Mary, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, Mark Duplass as Phil, Finn Bennett as Bobby, Lukita Maxwell as Kat, Avan Jogia as Naren Warne
Director: Kane Parsons
Writer: Will Soodik, Kane Parsons
Rating: * * *
Runtime: 110 m
Nineteen-year-old, Kane Parsons, creator of the viral web series of the same name, hits gold with this unusual horror story with the strangest of inclinations. Here people find themselves in a strange imaginal space consisting of pale yellow walls and fluorescent lighting - spaces which swallow you whole and leave an intriguing mystery behind.
Backrooms is based on an urban legend known as “creepypasta” (web speak) spawned by a photo someone posted of a strange, empty room with yellow carpet and walls without windows. Parsons, when only sixteen years of age, expanded on that idea with a short film and now at 19 yrs he has translated the same idea into a feature which has found buyers and is scoring big at the International Box Office.
The film opens in the early 1990s. We see that a person with a camcorder exploring the Backrooms, is pursued by a barely seen entity. The narrative then switches to Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a divorced alcoholic who runs a sparsely frequented furniture store "Captain Clark's Ottoman Empire" in northern California with two employees, Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and Bobby (Finn Bennett). Clark has been living in the store. He is also shown visiting a therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve) to help him deal with his divorce.
While in the store he discovers strange electrical fluctuations and decides to investigate the cause. While trying to discover the source he finds his way into the Backrooms through a wall in the store’s basement. He explores the empty haunting space for a bit then runs back when he hears some terrifying sounds. He then takes the help of his employees to record what he has seen. All three end up disappearing into the never-ending void. His therapist Mary then goes to the store to check on him and encounters the backrooms herself.
The camera takes you deep into the labyrinthine windowless, endless series of backrooms where time seems to stand still and context appears to evaporate into nothingness. The strange extra-dimensional space with maze-like shifting architecture becomes truly creepy and plagues your mind, generating nightmarish scenarios. While watching the film the audience also begins to feel trapped in an endless world of unremarkable rooms that keep expanding and contracting as you go in deeper. You get the sense that the outside world has ceased to exist.
Parsons uses the camera and huge sets to generate suspense and create tension. The light and shadow play adds ominousness to the setup. While keeping the storyline minimal what Parson’s does is allow the audience vulnerability to suggestiveness go rabid. Every viewer will probably be imagining his or her own nightmarish scenario while watching the film.
Technically the film is impeccable. The Sound Design & Score adds dread and threat in equal measure. The Cinematography by Jeremy Cox makes those empty backrooms spaces look mysterious and haunting. The Editing by Greg Ng is smart, disallowing the repetitive nature of the visuals from becoming boring and tedious. The performances are also solid. Chiwetel Ejiofor lends intensity and pathos to Clark while Renate Reinsve as Dr. Mary serves up a much needed reality check.
This is by no means a generic horror thriller. Backrooms, as an intriguing science fiction horror thriller, delves into trauma and therapy, using streams of memories of Clark’s and Mary’s pasts while linking them with the extradimensional space. It plagues on distorted memories to generate horror in the present. The film is highly suggestive and evocative and can creep you out provided you are one of those easily suggestible types.
Johnsont307@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment