Backrooms plays a tricky game

Robin Holabird reviews Backrooms

The night before watching the movie Backrooms, I found myself trapped in one of those dreams where I never reached my destination—whatever that was. That dream turned into perfect preparation for Backrooms by making the story feel recognizably realistic. No matter that all the sets look like distorted yellow variations of a Salvador Dali painting or that characters individually go from aloof to histrionic or that no one seems to win. Those conundrums makes sense in dreams or alternative universes, or gamer situations where players keep going in their loopy worlds. Which does Backrooms play to? Ask its creator and director. Kane Parsons, who put together the initial Backrooms online media sensation, transforms his visual concepts into a feature film that emphasizes the process more than solution in the script he wrote with Will Soodik.  Parsons started his project as so-called “creepypasta”--internet based horror content in bits and pieces. In Parsons’ case, the creepiness comes with a mazelike series of rooms where people experience a familiar loop from the outside world as they try to get out. The feature film format enhances atmosphere by bringing in a top-notch cast headed by Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor of 12 Years a Slave and Renate Reinsve from Sentimental Values. Their skills elevate the mood, she as a counselor trying to help him change and let go of grudges negatively impacting his everyday life. The duo’s accidental journey into some other place puts a different spin on events—a loop that may never provide any full answers but offers enough tantalizing bits to encourage another ride to perhaps find that way out. In that sense, Backrooms feels like a bad dream—a well-made one.