"The Backrooms" is the debut horror from A24 and the gifted twenty-year-old director Kane Parsons, grown out of the cult web series about yellow corridors. How well it all turned out — we figure out in the review.

A failed architect (constantly blaming his ex-wife for it) and owner of a small furniture shop, Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), desperately tries to save his dying business and periodically visits a psychologist with sad eyes — Mary (Renate Reinsve), who, in turn, could also use a session with a specialist. One day, Clark spends the night in his own store and discovers behind the wall strange, seemingly hastily abandoned office spaces painted in an unsettling yellow. Captivated by the discovery, Clark increasingly disappears into another dimension and soon vanishes there for good. Alarmed, Mary sets out to find him and also ends up trapped.

The new horror film from A24 about liminal spaces, "The Backrooms," can generally captivate if you enjoy low-budget, atmospheric walkthrough games through deserted, eerie corridors. But it's hardly a masterpiece, though it doesn't smell like a complete failure either (judging by the film's box office, fan base, and its amazing word-of-mouth).

A slightly overhyped horror in the form of a quest, which, however, is hard to call a horror. The most interesting thing here is how much strength the authors have for an almost two-hour run in a monotonous space that seems to come from the cinematic dreams of Michel Gondry. Spoiler: sometimes strength is lacking, but they seem to have managed to finish successfully.

Debut director Kane Parsons, who actually built the famous web series The Backrooms about the mysterious yellow room, caught the eye of A24, whose phenomenal knack for young talents has reached cosmic proportions. But not only for talents. The studio bosses quickly realized that the format of urban horror stories and urban folklore takes root well in the current period of collective trauma. Because haunted castles and dolls with knives are long in the past. Today, we are scared by sterile office spaces (or cozy-looking living rooms with soft light, as in the mystical "The Half of It"), and the darkness of basements seems far less ominous than this deathly even, artificial light coming from nowhere.

And then the trend created on this basis almost perfectly hit in 2026. Parsons, who got his hands on some budget, a decent screenwriter Will Suddick () and two award-winning actors from serious cinema: Oscar nominee for "12 Years a Slave" Chiwetel Ejiofor and recently Cannes-winning Renate Reinsve, got down to business briskly. Although, it seems, the entire shooting plan was already thought out in advance, given that Parsons had been closely watching the long-running web series and knew what and where to put.

on_looker

"The Violent End of Violent Feelings": Review of Season 3 of "Westworld"

Seven main reasons why the season succeeded and what you are missing if you haven't started watching the series about the future where humans and androids exist.

Open material

Hence this precision of movements, ominous close-ups, and sudden transitions to handheld camera, combined with the ability to work with color correction and lighting. Parsons literally delivers a conceptual foundation, and those who are at least somewhat familiar with the mythology of The Backrooms may feel a familiar shiver. But those hearing about it for the first time will most likely remain perplexed. After all, the film's plot is cheap, and the creators, as usual, did not bother to explain anything to the curious audience. Like, read it yourself. Dig into it.

Occasionally, Parsons switches to VHS footage, which ideally should bring it closer to the original on which "The Backrooms" is based, but the shaky image, frankly, only tires. Fortunately, the director doesn't overdo it. And when everything falls back into place, it becomes a bit boring, because the authors immediately start pulling at the strings of psychoanalysis, trying to make their creation deeper than it actually is, stubbornly turning its face to the already tiresome trend of "elevated horror."

Childhood traumas? Yes, we've been through that many times. Relationship crisis? Been there. Running in place, hoping for a successful future? Many have spoken about this long before "The Backrooms" appeared. The horror doesn't offer anything fundamentally new. And in the end, it only irritates with the slow and cautious movements of the characters through the yellow spaces and constant complaints about missed opportunities.

Therapy here again turns into a dramaturgical crutch, metaphorically put on Clark when he, limping awkwardly, advertises his lifeless business.

At some point, it all turns into an empty expectation that the authors will finally "bring it to life" and that around the next corner of the yellow wall, something truly exciting awaits us. But no. The most interesting from a horror perspective are the last 10-15 minutes of the film, when Reinsve's character goes on a frantic run through a cluttered space from a creepy wooden monster in the image of John Silver.

Here you can rejoice for the authors' imagination: the camera dashes, the light flickers, and the monster, assembled as if from office furniture debris, is truly frightening. Sometimes it becomes eerie. It's a pity that it takes too long to get there.