BACKROOMS REVIEW | Film Threat

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:02]Let's talk about back rooms. And I want to let you know right off the bat, I'm reviewing this as someone who doesn't know the lore, has never played the game. I'm a fan of horror films. And what drew me to this movie was that wild trailer, the subtle tra the the marketing campaign for this movie is chef's kiss topnotch uh filled with where I want to know what the heck are these fantastical MC Cherike images of storage rooms in the basement of a retail outlet. What is this all about? The campaign for the marketing we need to talk about before we get to the movie was so good because it told you nothing.

[00:00:56]Didn't tell you what the character story was. didn't really give you an idea of what what this was about other than these stark images of a a a seemingly endless storage room to nowhere that is explored by a cast of characters frightened by what they what they see in this catacomb.

[00:01:23]Well, I'll just say this is like this is like you ever go to IKEA and you can't find the exit?

[00:01:32]>> Yeah, >> that's what someone decided to make a movie about. Cuz I love IKEA. It's these fake setups of fake bedrooms and fake kitchens and fake living rooms and you can't get out. You follow a path and you feel like you're getting somewhere. Then you end up at IKEA in an area where it's a warehouse and even that like where where do I go? Where are the cashiers?

[00:01:59]Let me get out of here before I get some meatballs. Someone decided that uh that would make a good movie. Now, I know that this is based on creepy pasta and images and a game, and I'll just say right off the bat, you do not need any knowledge of the game or the the the memes or lore that accompany back rooms to enjoy this movie. I was riveted.

[00:02:28]I was riveted. Uh the director, Kane Parsons, has done videos for years about this concept. Uh it stars uh Chiwitel EG4 who plays a guy who runs this retail store that sells discount furniture and he he dresses as a pirate in these cheap local television ads and the camera crew the camera crew that makes these ads they have a video camera that they'll they'll go around and they're they're filming Chiwel E4 for I'll have to get his name in a second.

[00:03:07]>> It's Clark.

[00:03:08]>> It's Clark. Uh and there's this young couple that record the videos and follow him.

[00:03:18]Uh and it starts first of all his his Clark is struggling. He goes to see a therapist over the you know his alcoholism.

[00:03:29]He's he's still deal, you know, dealing with being an alcoholic. Also, you know, his marriage ending and all the troubles there and all of that kind of ties into this these these uh each of the characters in this movie is dealing with a trauma that is revealed somehow manifested in these catacombs. Uh Clark goes discovers these endless back rooms in this retail furniture store and begins to explore them and then enlist the aid after he nearly gets completely lost going crazy. He enlists the aid of a young couple who've made these commercials. Come with me like you're not going to believe this. to document what they're seeing and then the way in which the the build of tension that this movie so so expertly reveals through the music which is not just I would describe it as music but ambient tones it's not just music it's this ambient tone and dread I I really don't want to get into any spoilers in the second half. Um, I'll say that I felt the movie was maybe 15 minutes longer than it should have been, but I was riveted. I saw it with a packed audience. You could hear a pin drop in the theater.

[00:05:09]What I do like about the movie, once you get into Mark Duplass's character, he plays a guy named Phil.

[00:05:18]And Bill may have some reason for being involved, which uh in a in a very smart way, this movie this movie avoids providing answers. You just need to accept what you're seeing in front of you. You can draw theories.

[00:05:44]And after I saw the film, I had, you know, I talked to my daughter was there.

[00:05:49]So my daughter, a lot of other people, they knew the lore. They enjoyed the movie even more than I did. But I felt like I didn't need it. Like the movie, the movie gave it to me. What I needed to know or not know actually helped with the payoff. I mean this is like along with obsession there is now a wave of original horror that I think is is really making waves.

[00:06:16]I um and oddly I got this after the film. They gave gave us these little surveys and like you just use this QR code here. I'll put myself full screen.

[00:06:29]They give you a QR code. you go and answer questions and there are a lot of questions that I think are revealing uh a lot of the questions are spoilers so answer the survey after you see the movie but in answering the survey it revealed kind of what they're int they're going to make this a franchise they may do prequels sequels midquels they are looking for this to be big and based on how hard it was to get tickets uh I I think this is going to be huge. I I'm enthusiastic because part of what film threat does part of our mission is we discover we like to in this case we're not involved but we end up having the joy of discovering young new filmmakers their first movies which are raw often flawed but like a bird with a broken wing we want to heal them and and >> make them soar and fly >> stronger. Yes.

[00:07:32]>> Yeah. Fly stronger and bring attention to them. And I love seeing it that like so seeing this young talent create this intense psychological beyond psychological horror and the trauma of the uh two main characters. I only spoke about one Clark. Uh they have they do have payoffs.

[00:07:56]I don't want to say any more. It's really about the experience and knowing nothing, I loved it. And like I said, part of what we do at Film Thread is champion young upand cominging filmmakers in their early works. As a first feature, knocked it out of the park for me. Not to say it's not flawed.

[00:08:16]Like I said, could have been probably 15 minutes shorter, but wow. I I I really was blown away. and uh one of you know in my top horror films for the year. But Allan, what did you think?

[00:08:30]>> What did I think? Um so I did see Obsession and I felt the same way about this movie that I did with Obsession. I really love the first two acts. Uh the the mystery it builds, I mean, it really built it. It's the mystery itself is anxietyinducing and I felt very anxious.

[00:08:48]And then you get to this third act and so I've I don't know anything about the web series. don't know anything about the game. Uh to me that third act was like what the hell what the hell is going on? I mean it it to me it just felt like um I don't know. It just kind of felt like it came out of nowhere. Uh like there's a mystery that was introduced and is not being not being explained until the second movie or the next movie. Um because things happen, things happen that I don't understand why they happened.

[00:09:22]>> Uh I know they talk about, you know, this idea of these endless loops. You know, that this is an idea that's brought up right at the beginning of the movie, but you know, you're walking through these endless loops of of the hallway. And I know it has something to do with life and how we can get ourselves in endless loops just like exit 8.

[00:09:40]>> And um it's so yeah, it's just um like I said, I really did admire the first two acts. I mean, to me, that's the the reason to go go see it. Um, and I feel like if you know the web series and know the games, the the third act is going to be you're going to understand the third act better than I did walking away. I just walked away going, "This is weird.

[00:10:02]This is just a weird ending." Uh, and to Tom's comment, uh, I liked Exit 8 a lot better than this. Well, they're in certainly pulling from the same pool of like game inspired, you know, uh trapped in an environment. Um being trapped in life actually is is one of the running threads, being trapped in a loop of life, making the same bad decisions. So, um, look, in spite of you can you can point out flaws, the experience of watching this movie was it I just love that it captured this tension that was so like what is this and you know what I don't want things answered.

[00:10:49]I don't want it I mean things >> but I want to understand why certain things happen at at in the third act. I don't I don't want to doain because it just >> Hollywood >> Hollywood wants things explained.

[00:11:05]>> You know, everything I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the answers to everything on a silver platter.

[00:11:10]>> I'm not asking for answers. I'm answer I'm asking for a reason. Why Why do these things happen in the third in the third act? Because it just comes out. It feels like it comes out of nowhere. And so, so what happens in in that third act for me, it takes a sharp left turn. And I don't know why we made that sharp left turn. We just I just have to I I don't accept the fact that I have to just accept the fact that we took a left turn >> for the sake of taking a left turn. It's interesting in that uh survey that I told you about that we were handed. One of the questions was, "Do you want to see a sequel that continue the same characters or a sequel, another story that has different characters?" They're they are using this survey >> to craft the next movie.

[00:11:57]>> Find what people want. Do they want to see the character of Phil or the character of Clark return or just a different story alto together? So I look this we're going to see how this plays out. Obsession is going to be a hundred million original horror is here. You might want to apply that >> to other genres. You know, horror is doing well because original horror is being backed and produced and funded. Maybe how about some original science fiction? How about some original spectacle big budget Hollywood movie or original romantic comedy? just I think I think the thing is people want to see something when they go to the movies that they've never seen and and that's what they want whether it's horror or any genre. I think that this does an amazing job.

[00:13:04]So, I recommend it. Allan, what are your final thoughts?

[00:13:07]>> I do recommend it. Um, I think uh the first two acts, the the world building in this the these these hallways um I mean I'm just riveted in terms of, you know, walking down where you walk, where it leads, who's chasing you. Uh I I just I was so I was so connected with this movie, the first two acts. The same thing with Obsession. I I admired so much of those first two acts of of Obsession. just the um just the the filmmakers love of horror and understanding how film can be used to create horror >> especially in your mind >> and it's one of those I'll mention the movie what is it skinnarink that's an acquired taste another weird like sort of trapped in an environment and this this film does kind of owe a little bit to that movie that movie success it's reminiscent Nothing.