Levels and Levels: Why We Lose Ourselves in the Backrooms

A24’s newest hit Backrooms is yet another hit (see: our article on The Drama) with an $81 million opening weekend that smashed the hell outta expectations and has become the studio’s biggest opening yet. Written by Will Soodik and directed by Kane Parsons, the movie is based on Parsons’ webseries that was itself inspired by the “Backrooms” creepypasta.

So, what’s to make of this incredible success story, apart from people really love a creepypasta?

Trick question! Sure, it was technically a built-in IP, and yes, my screening featured more 9th graders than I’ve seen in a minute, but honestly, that is not why this movie has done so well. It’s also not why Obsession is doing well. And it’s not because we’ve got Gen Z filmmakers at the helm, nor is it because horror does well (even though it does). In fact, please, for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD, HOLLYWOOD, don’t be tempted to turn this box office success into a run of awful ideas, like “you need 250,000 Instagram followers as a director” or “Ang Lee’s Skibidi toilet cinematic universe.”

It’s doing so well because it subverts expectations and goes beyond your typical horror tropes to create a more nuanced, layered piece of storytelling. From incredible production design, to themes of memory, to therapy speak being brandished for good, 

A quick word before we dissect: let’s assume you do not possess previous knowledge of the Backroom lore. While it’s popular on the Internet, like any translation of media from one format to another, let’s go with what the movie tells us, not the web series. Oh, and yes, we’ll be spoiling the movie. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT, GO SEE IT AND THEN COME BACK TO READ THIS!

Okay, so—

Clark (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a frustrated alcoholic seeking therapy from Mary (Renata Reinsve). The basement of Clark’s furniture store catalyzes the discovery that Clark and others can access never-ending liminal spaces. In the process, Clark ends up dragging his employees into the Backrooms with horrifying results, leading Mary to search for a missing Clark and her own terrifying revelation of the Backrooms existence. 

Let’s talk about production design. What makes liminal spaces so … well, creepy? It’s everything, from the production design of the butter-yellow walls and sickly carpeting to the 1990s shell lamps and puffy couches. It’s the absolutely unnerving moment of entering a room with just a lit-up Christmas tree in the center and what appears to be molds of people sticking out of the floor. The compelling visual landscape of the Backrooms evokes dread and fear, leaving a sense of unease that never leaves you. 

Which brings us to the concept of memory. Clearly, the film wants to play with what you remember—whether it was traumatic or not—and claims the best interpretation of what the Backrooms actually are, are imprints or copies of ourselves and those we’ve known. Almost as if the places and moments you remember get copied over and over again until they’re barely recognizable. As the film states, it’s like trying to describe a dog to a person who’s never seen a dog before. 

Which is, frankly, how we get to neural pathways. Yes, therapy-speak enters the chat at the top of the film when Mary patiently explains that we as humans tend to follow the same neural pathways over and over again. It’s in this way that the Backrooms is meant to represent stagnation and the repetitive nature of us humans chasing down the same thing, even if we know the results may turn out the same. It’s why this horror is able to subvert itself. The psychological turmoil of liminality, in life and in your brains and in your memories, is a maze with no center to reach. That’s sooooo unnerving!

And finally, the thing holding it all together—a complex protagonist. The YouTube series was full of great moments, but the movie offers us Mary. This woman realizes that despite her best efforts to fix her schizophrenic mother as a child, despite her best efforts to help all her clients like Clark, she cannot fix anyone. This is such a powerful realization for a character to come to, particularly when tied up at a kitchen table with a six-eyed copy creature that Clark insists you can eat. Her emotional trauma is so overwhelming that she, in turn, has repeated the same neural pathway—fix people—until she chooses to stop, thus allowing for her eventual escape from the Backrooms. 

One last thing: I know earlier we said let’s not assume to know anything, but there is the element of fan service being paid in this film. The web series Backrooms (with 24 episodes!) presents found footage in which the Async Research Institute explores the same liminal spaces. Async also makes an appearance in the film, but the focus stays on the Backrooms themselves. That’s because someone was smart enough to recognize that if this film were just a redux of the web series for the big screen, it’d probably fall flat on its face. Instead, the research facility gets nods throughout, but isn’t the main focus.

A good lesson for Hollywood? Yes, if your YouTube videos garner hundreds of millions of views collectively, you’re on to something, but you gotta let the creators have room to play and expand their universe.

Moreover, when Parsons made the web series, he said he had “no idea” there had been an existing fan community behind the OG Backrooms, which led to a lot of comments from Internet lurkers asking, “what is this?” or telling him “you’re doing Backrooms wrong” or “there’s supposed to be smilers on level one.” In other words, like any IP, the fans will always have something to say—whether it’s warranted or not. Make sure to honor the community that helped build up the IP and what makes them like that IP in the first place, without sacrificing everything. 

Frankly, Hollywood, if you’re going to learn any lesson out of this, it’s that there are tons of talented filmmakers producing unique, interesting, thought-provoking, popular content through unconventional means, and they’re obviously worth betting on.

I mean, gosh, who knew audiences of all ages wanted fresh ideas? Well, we did ... and we can’t wait to see the next eerie, lonely, uncanny valley edition of this world. 

*Feature Image: Chiwetel Ejiofor in Backrooms (A24)