Inexperienced

The direction is outstanding. So many jokes and dramatic moments work so much better with the angles chosen or the emphasis of simple things like the light of a desk lamp or stopping to look out a window. The single location is never too cramped (at least more than I think the films wants you to feel) and you see so much of this apartment in so many different ways. It really becomes its own character in a way.

The film knows just the right moment to reveal more about these characters and what lies they’ve been telling each other. There were so many moments my theatre audibly reacted to because they didn’t know what people were going to say. Even if you can guess the conclusion or the major plot beats you never know quite how they’ll get there or how someone will react. It almost feels like you’re there at that dinner party learning with them and reacting to every comment.

Everyone here has so many issues, some more than others, but they all feel genuine and real. You feel how frustrated Angela is that Joe wants to wallow in misery. You understand how Joe became so angry and resentful to everything in his life. Even Pina and Hawk quickly demonstrate their own relationship isn’t perfect (and I got annoyed along with her every time Hawk tried to “help” her speak). But they all bounce off each other very well. You can pick up so much of these characters lives and attitudes from every piece of dialogue and it never feels unnatural.

Again, it’s just really funny, There’s some truly great bits of comedic timing and it balances its changes in tone so well. The performances from everyone are perfect.

Kara's character arc is without a doubt the best part of the film. Millie does fantastic here. That scene where she's screaming in anguish about everything she has suffered is great, and I liked learning each step of her own personal journey. She captures a real sense of sincerity in her character's development that David's Superman also does. But it feels very disconnected from the rest of the movie. All these scenes are sprinkled in between when I think the movie would benefit from slowing down a bit more to see Kara have the time to explore her fears and doubts.

Ruthye is probably the most disappointing character here. Even ignoring the changes from the book this film is based on, she feels almost forgotten about by the narrative. I didn't need her to be a killing machine like X-23 from Logan but she seems to have little to contribute to her own story. From the first scene, she's being kidnapped, saved, or ignored, not being given the limelight except for a few sections at the end and occasionally bonding with Kara. I remember being really annoyed seeing Ruthye take care of her sickness from the green sun, only for her to be kidnapped the instant she steps away. Maybe this constant sidelining was the point? But considering the main conflict of this film is Ruthye recovering from her own trauma and letting go of revenge, I never felt like the film gave her enough to work with.

A lot about this film feels very haphazard. The needle drops, the conflicting tone, the dull color scheme, Kara constantly needing to be drained or weakened in every fight, Lobo popping in and out and distracting from the main story, Krem being a tyrannical and superpowered child sex trafficker while still remaining a very flat and boring antagonist; it always feels like something is holding this film back from being truly great.

Something that struck me is the apathy everybody shows these boys during the film. The exorcist who is cursing these kids is evil for sure (and I really wish the film had more time to explore his story). But the movie really dives into how evil and prejudice come from everywhere to tear its victims apart.

Naim’s mom is awful, almost hilariously so. She never supports him or is there for him. She acts like his sexuality is his issue to resolve and any pain he feels is something he just has to accept, all while pretending this is her way of protecting him. But that’s true of all the parents here. They force their children to repress their feelings, submit them to horrific abuse and torture, and keep continuing these treatments despite how much damage it causes. They’d rather risk killing their children over accepting their identity.

That hate and indifference is present throughout. Hunter’s sister blames them instead of her parents or the healer and rounds up a bunch of bullies to assault them, no one reaches out to help Naim during the last chase even though he’s obviously distressed, the police out Naim’s relationship with Ryan to his mom. The exorcists seem to have made their ritual almost a routine, and everyone just accepts what is happening without changing anything. It’s all just a cycle of prejudice where none of these boys will ever find any help at home. The entity itself seems to be a manifestation of the fears these boys have of each other based on their town’s bigotry. But even the fake Ryan manages to show a little humanity when he hesitates to kill Naim, before it reverts back to the monster the community has painted the real Ryan as.

I initially thought the ending was maybe a little too simple, but I’ve come around to it based on what it means for Naim and Ryan. Even ignoring the symbolism of the entity, the whole reason this conflict starts is because he weaponizes the town’s homophobia in the same manner. The film is about Naim’s acceptance and finding the willpower to leave in spite of the entity and his past haunting him. They both needed to learn not only that they loved each more than they feared themselves, but that they loved themselves enough to embrace their identity and leave the town behind. It’s a beautiful note to end the movie on, and I think choosing to end on them leaving, rather than confronting the healers or something grander, actually works to make the film’s message stronger.

He struggles to contribute to his friend group, always on the outside of conversations and at trivia night. There always seems to be a lot of emotional distance between himself and them in their interactions.

He’s so afraid of rejection and being honest that he can’t make a decision about anything. He can’t get Nikki a gift, he can’t tell her his feelings, he struggles to even talk to anyone about his cat. When people start confronting him about her he keeps choosing to act like nothing is going wrong. When Nikki wants to stay with him the first night and the demon begins to take over, he just goes with it and pretends she is okay.

He is afraid of reaching out for what he wants and seems very isolated. He doesn’t have any close family and it’s clear he doesn’t have much of a social life. People have gone into depth about how superficial his crush on Nikki is and how it represents just how little he really knows about his friends and loved ones. It’s like he’s always trying to shut himself out from showing any real vulnerability and earnestness. When Nikki says she’s going to leave town to be a writer, Bear acts like she’s abandoning him. When she asks him to kill her, his first thought is to ask what’s so bad about being with him.

He’s careless, and always shirks responsibility. He indirectly kills his cat and as the film goes on he constantly tells Nikki to act “normal”. He tries to alter the wish at first instead of cancelling it. He tells his friends to stop interfering and keeps arguing that Nikki truly loves him. Even at the end he still can’t go through with downing the pills.

All these basic issues, by themselves, are probably flaws a lot of people can relate to. A lot of people can struggle with anxiety, or fitting in, or reaching out to others. I think anyone who has crushed hard on someone else knows what it’s like to struggle with those feelings. I know quite a few people who have placed someone they like on a pedestal instead of an equal.

People have pointed it out already but one of the most important parts about Clark's backstory is that we never completely see what happened with his wife. Everything is about his perspective and what he feels. The only time we see anything close to it is what he sets up in the Backrooms.

At that point, it's obvious Clark is clinging to what he believes caused his life to go downhill. He's been preparing for who knows how long to redo this conversation, like he's been thinking about that day over and over, and trying to chase some form of catharsis by subjecting Mary to his temper tantrum. He barely acknowledges Kat’s death because he doesn’t have a reason to. He never cared about her beyond getting her and Bobby to film their failed expedition. Even now that she’s dead, he only defends himself by saying he tried to help her, even though he continued to ignore her concerns and kept digging deeper into the Backrooms. The whole film is Clark ignoring everyone else’s perspective to try to reinforce his own view.

The Backrooms is fantastic as a physical manifestation of this. Captain Clark becomes a monster. The other creatures are afraid of him. The kitchen is carefully set up to resemble his home and Mary is tied down to assure he remains in power. He keeps saying he understands this place even though a company that’s been studying it for decades still hasn’t. It’s all just an act to protect himself and still assert some control over this world because he’s too bitter and self defeating to do it in his own life.

Clark and hers confrontation is probably my favorite scene in the movie just for how much you can read into their own perspectives. You see how badly Clark needs someone to tell him he's right and how infuriated Mary is by how similar Clark's fear of his wife and retreat into alcoholism reflects her mom's agoraphobia. Him telling himself that he doesn't need to change- and Captain Clark succumbing to the same realization as he consumes himself- is a fantastic depiction of someone's own self destruction.