Val is (no longer) UMass Suffering

THE MAIN ATTRACTION

To be fully honest, Kane Parson's interpretation of the Backrooms is the only version I know the details of, and it was pretty cool to see that reflected in the film. It doesn't seem like there was any executive meddling with the general appearance and behavior of the Backrooms, and I was happy to see returning things like the sun painting and caveman cutout. Overall, very cool (and frightening) to see a digital dreamscape (nightmarescape?) on the big screen and with real materials instead of just polygons.

THE CHARACTERS

I'm not too sure what to say about the characters. In regards to Kat and Bobby, I was interested in their casual cameraman/only sane group member dynamic that's usually in found footage, but there wasn't much development due to how quickly they got killed. I found myself sympathizing with Clark at the start, but after both roleplay scenes I was looking forward to his comeuppance. That being said, I was intrigued by his attitude towards the Backrooms (my interpretation being comfort in its lack of change) and I feel that he's one of the best flawed protagonists I've seen in a film lately.

As for our other protagonist, Mary, she has an interesting dynamic that exists in other forms throughout the film - as Clark's therapist, she tries to help him with his isolation problem only to discover that he doesn't want to change; Mary herself is shown to still be dealing with her traumatic childhood and the same isolation that Clark is experiencing. I honestly felt pretty bad for her, as she shows genuine concern for Clark throughout the film and all she gets is the revelation that he's beyond helping and more trauma on top of what she already had.

Oh yeah, and the Still Lifes were fucking terrifying. I was already scared before the movie since Pirate Clark's actor, Robert Bobroczkyi, played a creature in Alien: Romulus, and he was just as terrifying in this one. I just hope he doesn't get typecast in future films.

THE SIGHTS & SOUNDS

If my analysis of the characters was bad, it's probably because I was trying to catch as many neat things with the visuals and audio as possible. There were some wonky shots here and there (mostly in the chase sequences IMO), but the cinematography throughout the film is otherwise excellent. One of the traits the original series has is that many of the shots are made to be as tense as possible, and I feel this translated extremely well to the movie. I also noticed a lot of shots tended to have the characters in central focus, which is good if you want the viewer to fret over something coming from around a corner.

On the topic of the series, the sound design is mostly buzzing interspersed with either ambient sounds or running and screaming. There's a good mix of this throughout the movie's soundtrack, and I was pleasantly surprised whenever I recognized some audio from the series (and other sources as detailed further below). However, I did see the version with the post-credits scene, and I have to say that the audio mixing in that was the worst thing I've heard in my whole life. Gotta love noise sensitivity!

BITS & PIECES

Minor stuff I noticed in the movie, which I will list.

A lamp in the entry furniture pile that just so happens to be the same exact make and model as the lamp in my living room. That's fun considering what's in the movie.

The caveman cutout's audio is actually greetings in 55 languages that were recorded as part of the Voyager program's Golden Records.

Everyone Knows That (the song that was lost media before being found in 2024) playing faintly in a scene with Mary. This one in particular had me jump in my seat. Same goes for one of the Everywhere At The End of Time tracks.

The Neverending Story playing on TV just before the ad for Captain Clark's Ottoman Empire.

During the found footage chase sequence, one of the rooms Bobby runs through is extremely similar to the room seen in the original photo that inspired the Backrooms.

FINAL THOUGHTS

1. The audio mixing in the after credits was so bad i have no clue what kane was thinking

2. Pretty much all of my theories were proven correct, especially the one about the backrooms being a broken reflection of the real world that’s constantly changing.

3. The still-lives are so much of a better monster than the lifeform/bacteria, despite how iconic the lifeform is. They so much of a better reflection of the backrooms compared to the bacteria, because they reflect the concept of the Backrooms far more accurately (and are way fucking conceptually scarier than any “skinstealer” or “partygoer”.)

4. I did not expect the movie to go in the direction it did, Clark’s death was a shock to me. I didn’t expect Clark to end up becoming an antagonist, but I think it was wonderful. I found myself hating Clark, but understanding him far more than I wish I did. He was a broken man, who refused to accept responsibility for anything he did, which is why the backrooms called to him so deeply. In there, he didn’t have to face the real world, or change, and that’s why I felt he was so pathetically tragic.

5. As a continuation of that, I now feel like still-lives are behavioral reflections of one’s self, too, and that’s why Captain Clark was so violent compared to the other ones we meet, because Clark deep down seems to be a very violent and destructive man, even if he doesn’t want to be. But even if he doesn’t want to be like that, he still refuses to change, which is the whole reason that he ends up where he does.

6. Async is now much more fascinating to me now that we know they aren’t a “Research Inc”, and were just… an MRI company before this. I find myself wanting to know way more about them now, because I want to know how they found the Backrooms, and why Ivan Back made the Threshold. Plus, they honestly feel less evil than I expected the big powerful company trope to be.