#horrors

"Backrooms Reality" (2026, USA, Canada)

I was really looking forward to this horror movie, but the marketing played a cruel trick on the film, it seems to me. But in any case, my expectations are my own problems.

What do we have?
A story about psychological traumas of varying degrees that drive people to madness. And all this in the liminal space of yellow corridors and other strange rooms.
The agents of the mysterious Async institute are more like functions that are supposed to create a stir and scare, but in reality they don't do anything useful.
I understood this film more as a drama taking place in an incredible place. One character shifts responsibility for his problems onto others and blames the world for everything. Another heroine suffers from savior syndrome and severe childhood trauma.

What did I want to get?
A sci-fi horror where the liminal space would be not so much a place for self-reflection as a source of various monsters and [even if it's not canon, I guess] the ability to get into other places [and not just return to point A].
I would like these yellow corridors to be active participants in the process, not just furniture.
And I wish the dramaturgy were a bit more interesting. Even if not in subtext and analysis of traumas, then at least in the number of events and twists. Why call Mark Duplass to show him in a couple of scenes? Wasteful.
I would be ready to watch a drama in the Backrooms if the drama there were more expressive, you know.

In short, a strange movie. Even if I had zero expectations [and I didn't dig into the background of this creepypasta], it feels like a lot is undercooked, leaving a strange feeling at the end. Not because of the open ending, but because it's a bit unclear what director Kane Parsons wanted to say [someone should help the guy with his debut]

Renata Reinsve is wonderful!

#reviews