JENNIFER SEY: Creepy Pasta, Toxic Masculinity and a Full Theater: My Take on Backrooms.
I didn’t find it scary — not in the way other low-budget hits with a truly terrifying premise land. Take Open Water, for example: a couple on a scuba dive gets accidentally left behind in shark-infested ocean waters. It’s just them, bobbing helplessly as night falls and sharks circle. The horror is primal and real — the isolation, the helplessness, the slow-building dread that this could actually happen. We go with them on the psychological journey —
We were left, but it was an accident and the boat will come back —> The boat is never coming back and we are going to die either from the cold water, starvation or getting eaten by sharks and we just have to wait here for it to happen.
This movie made me so uncomfortable and anxious I could hardly stand to watch it.
Backrooms is more weird than that. Not terrible. It had more story than I expected for something born from a 4chan meme (which again, I don’t really know what that is).
The liminal spaces — the endless, off-kilter yellow rooms, buzzing lights, moist carpet vibe, I could almost smell how musty it was — are atmospheric and effectively creepy in a disorienting way.
It sort of seems like it’s supposed to be deep, but I couldn’t really pin down the themes. Is Clark the embodiment of “toxic masculinity,” seeking a place with no rules where he can wallow in his anger? Maybe. Or is it about depression, escapism or how we all get trapped in our own mental mazes? Or is it about nothing at all?
I’m not sure. Overall, I give it a C. Maybe a B-minus on a generous day.
The best part of the whole experience was that the theater was jam-packed and full of energy — a crammed theater, everyone experiencing it together. I had to wait in line for snacks, just like the old days.
I love a shared cultural moment, even for a C-level film.
Exit quote: “Maybe the movies are back? I hope so. I just wish they were better.”