Backrooms

When I think of films that are odd or quirky, I immediately think of M. Night Shyamalan. His films are odd, however they are original. Well, with "Backrooms", we have a similar feel in that it is extremely original, but definitely quirky and obscure. With all the remakes, reboots, sequels and prequels out there, it is refreshing to see something this original. 

A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom where a therepist's, Dr. Mary Stein (Renate Reinsve) patient, Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown entity to save him. Clark owns and operates the furniture store and inadvertently stumbles across the 'door', so he calls on his assistant, Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and her boyfriend, Bobby (Finn Bennett), so he can video it, in order to research the phenomena, and soon everything goes awry.

Others to round out the cast are Mark Puplass as Phil, Avan Jogia as Naren Warne, Robert Bobroczkyi as Pirate Clark, Ember Ambrose as young Mary, Krista Kosonen as Nora, Philip Granger as Meterman and Katharine Isabelle as Robin. 

It was directed with such intensity and grit by Kane Parsons ("Backrooms TV series '22-'25). Obviously this filmmaker scored well with the series which allowed the feature film to be produced. His pacing was amazing as was his ability to grab his audience out of their theater seats and be pulled into this film. If you like his brand of direction, his "Backrooms Sequel" is coming , although production unknown. It was interestingly written by Will Soodik (TV), based on the series by Kane Parsons. As aforementioned, although this film is quite original which creates freshness, there were entirely too many questions and not enough answers to why was this 'backrooms' entranced off of a furniture store? Where did it come from?, Why was it in existence? What happened to some of the people that went in there, but have no idea was happened to them? Also why didn't Parsons write this since he has written some of the series along with his direction? The acting by Ejiorfor and Reinsve was gripping and very believable and this being a psychological horror flick allowed the audience to be captivated, but the writing needed polish.

I want to believe that a sequel is in the works, because this film needs one with all the questions that hopefully a sequel can answer. The claustrophobic photography by Jeremy Cox was stunning as it was effective. It certainly is a film that a good deal of psychologists could study to come up with their conclusions, but it might not be for the every day movie goer for its obscurity.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                       Rated: R                                        110mins.