'Backrooms' Review: Kane Parsons' Liminal Space Horror Film Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor
By
Owen Gleiberman
Front-window bakery material. Catches the eye, delivers the goods.
Summary
A review of Kane Parsons' film "Backrooms," a surreal horror movie in the tradition of "Eraserhead" and "Skinamarink" that adapts the internet liminal space meme into a feature-length psychological freakout. The film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, a divorced furniture-store owner whose therapy sessions with Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve) spiral into a reality-bending nightmare. The review analyzes the film's atmospheric dread, its connection to the original YouTube short, and its place in the A24 horror canon.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIn 'Backrooms,' a creepy meditative dada horror trip in the what-is-reality? tradition of 'Eraserhead' and 'Skinamarink,' the director Kane Parsons turns our fears into a funhouse that's got a lot of walls but no bottom.
Clark sees a therapist, Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), and the two do a role-playing game in which they reenact Clark's angry sob story of how his wife threw him out of the house.
The film turns the Internet memes of liminal space into an atmospheric freakout.
You might also wanna read
'Backrooms' Review: Kane Parsons' Feature Debut Brings YouTuber Horror to A24 with Chiwetel Ejiofor
A review of 'Backrooms,' the feature film debut of 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, expanding his viral YouTube short series into a full-l
Deadline·4d ago
'Backrooms' Review: Kane Parsons' A24 Horror Debut Blends Found-Footage with Liminal Space Terror
Kane Parsons adapts his popular YouTube series 'Backrooms' into a feature-length A24 horror film. The movie follows explorers navigating a n
IndieWire·4d ago
'Backrooms' Film Review: Kane Parsons Turns Creepypasta Into Existential Horror Cinema
Kane Parsons expands his eerie 'Backrooms' YouTube series into a feature-length film that captures the existential dread of endless, empty,
Rolling Stone·2d ago
Kane Parsons: The Teen Filmmaker Behind the 'Backrooms' Horror Phenomenon Goes Mainstream
Profile of 20-year-old filmmaker Kane Parsons, who created the viral YouTube horror series 'Backrooms' based on a 4chan meme when he was jus
Wired·1d ago
Backrooms Review: Feature-Length Adaptation Loses the Short's Horror Magic
A review of the film 'Backrooms' directed by Kane Parsons, arguing that while the concept works brilliantly as a short-form horror piece, th
A24's 'Backrooms' Horror Film Opens in Theaters; Not Yet on Netflix or HBO Max
A24's new horror film "Backrooms," directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, is based on his viral short film and web series inspired by an inte
Decider·3d ago