It should probably be noted that as of writing this article, I have not yet seen Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma or Mārama and I’m positive they would end up somewhere on this list bumping out Backrooms. Clayface looks like it’s going to be good if Mike Flanagan is involved and Robert Eggers’ Werewulf is my most anticipated film of the year (any Eggers or Guillermo Del Toro always will be) and will probably shoot up to the 1 or 2 spot.

#10 – Backrooms

After discovering a strange, seemingly endless liminal space within his struggling furniture store, Clark becomes fascinated with the space and starts to explore it. Where did it come from? Does it ever end? What mysteries does it contain?

I went into Backrooms knowing almost nothing about it other than Chiwetel Ejiofor is the lead and I like him quite a bit. But, I won’t lie, I almost gave up on this one within the first 10 minutes because I’m not the biggest fan of found footage unless it’s done REALLY well. The only example I can think of that I actually loved being found footage is As Above, So Below. I found myself thinking “ugh, is this what it’s gonna be the whole time?” Thankfully, no, only the first ten-ish minutes are on that shaky camera. Once we reach the end of that initial sequence it becomes a normal film and switches back and forth from single shots to the handheld camera every now and then.

Thirty minutes in and I’m still struggling to get into it. There hasn’t been a whole lot that’s happened. An hour in it picks up and we see a little bit of our first glimpse of horror when Clark brings his employee and her boyfriend down into the backrooms. It becomes clear something or perhaps someone is down there with them.

Maybe I’m just not the target audience for this one. The effect of some of the characters going through the walls to the backrooms is also so cheesy. I don’t know if that was the intention? If it’s supposed to look bad on purpose? But, it took me out of it a bit.

Things really start to take a turn when Clark’s therapist enters the backrooms and we start to question if Clark has succumbed to the insanity of the environment, if the backrooms are a physical manifestation of the chaos of his mind.

When not in found footage mode, the colour grading in this film is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. One of my biggest gripes with the film industry now is that colour grading is normally dull and trashy. I yearn for the days of technicolor. There is a quality to Backrooms that feels nostalgic, like films from decades ago. Parsons has some beautifully framed shots throughout, but the only thing I’m taking away from this is the pretty aesthetic. Stylistically, I’d love to see Parsons do something else because I think he has a ton of potential to do something monumental.

Combining Kane Parsons’ strong aesthetics with the acting powerhouse that is Chiwetel Ejiofor is the thing that makes this film interesting. Chiwetel is able to build so much tension and go on a journey of discovery with little to no dialogue for a good chunk of the narrative. He’s so expressive.

For a young director’s debut film, this is solid and has a great cast, but overall falls flat of the hype. It needed editing and realistically probably could have been 20 to 30 minutes shorter. I really wanted to love this one, but didn’t. I think I might have enjoyed the Alyssa Edwards Backrooms memes more than the actual movie.