Backrooms – Movie Reviews by Ry!

Backrooms – Mindful of Silence / An Office of Fear

Stories are moments that dance upon a crossroad of will and choice.  It is an ever-changing path of tales, something that becomes natural as it navigates the unknown.  In film, this feeling can be a start of an indelible escape, but it can also lead to the allure of the surreal.  That intrigue can lift a journey, but it can also leave you wondering its purpose.  In this review, I look at the latest horror to hit the big screen.  Through an intriguing concept, Backrooms is a journey of what it means to survive life … of another kind.

Through fate or just unexpected chance, two people will find that another world of silence might be … a worst reflection of what it means to live.  In film, the path of enjoyment becomes a matter of intrigue and likes.  Everyone has specific things that pull them into a journey, no matter if it’s an action-packed quest or the foolery of laughs.  You are pulled in by the foundation, but the bulk of the tale is what will lead to true fulfillment.  For horror, it is the topical notion of fear.  With this film, it pulls you in with raw intensity, but it does it without the typical clichés of the genre.  In the beginning, we are introduced to Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a furniture store owner who is struggling with personal issues in his life.  After a series of interactions with various individuals, including his therapist Mary (Renate Reinsve), he begins to witness strange power outages at his store.  Eventually, Clark discovers (through some convenience) a secret doorway to another dimension.  As he slowly navigates this empty office like space, the journey turns from somber to surreal as his fragile psyche starts to unravel between the notion of what is reality.  This is the point where the horror elements kick into high gear where atmosphere, score and ominous silence pull you into an intense like feeling.  The lack of explanation goes against traditional techniques, but it allows you to ‘live in’ the moment through a fear of the unknown.  Combined with claustrophobia, this creates a dynamic that lifts the experience of raw tension.  To see Clark become enamored by these ‘backrooms’ is both fascinating and terrifying, even when the focus shifts to the therapist, Mary. 

For the awe and allure of the first half, the second half shifts to building up the therapist and her own volatile past.  This subtle shift is somewhat jarring, but once Mary makes her way to the ‘backrooms’, the ominous feeling continues to build up that intensity.  As she navigates this place, her own enamor provides a contrasting compliment to Clark’s mental breakdown.  As the two cross paths, this leads into a third act of continued tension, but with a lackluster revelation.  This does lead to an anticlimactic situation, but the filmmakers end up in an epilogue that further discovery is needed for this other dimension.  Backrooms is another film that redefines what it means to be a horror film.  If you are a fan of creativity or bending genres, this is one for you.  For everyone else, I think this can be a fun time at the theaters.

Full Score – 3.5 out of 5 (Matinee)