SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!

The looks, atmosphere, and found footage baybee

Its exactly what I wanted when I thought about a backrooms movie. The tension builds, stacks, and clips into itself throughout the first half.

The found footage moments especially were SO AMAZING to watch. I know found footage is supposed to look real, but you KNOW when the camera and whoever is holding it understand WHY found footage is scary. Because you’re the eyes of the camera holder, the camera turns where the head turns. You see what the person sees, until you don’t. Then the creeping feeling where you don’t know if you want the camera to turn towards whatever is so terrifying or not.

THAT is what I love about found footage. Forgetting that you’re still just looking through a camera as a silent observer to someone else’s horror journey and when noises start coming from a random doorway, you can’t run away. You can only watch as the camera moves closer and closer.

(Side note, is it found footage or is it just first person camera with noise on the footage? Like obviously it’s edited a certain way but is it technically found footage? Idk it feels odd calling the mixed perspective parts found footage but I don’t know what else to call it)

The pacing of two protagonists

While it looks good throughout, the story loses a bit of steam in the middle then ramps up for the end.

The initial build up of Clark, Katherine, and Robert entering the backrooms made me really excited. Especially seeing that Clark had been going in and out of the area for at least a few days, I wondered what he had discovered and where they would go next. The chute into nothingness and piles of clothes (where the face of the broken cardboard figure totally didn’t scare me) turning into an amazing chase sequence had me refusing to blink lest I miss a single shot.

Side note: I read some reviews and people thought the scene with Robert (Bobby? Idk) was a bit cliché or someone in particular laughed in the theatre when it happened??? That sequence was when I felt the most engaged honestly.

I knew the rope was going to come back to bite them somehow but being dragged down a tiny chute only to be dragged to who knows where is terrifying to me. The actor saying “don’t let go, don’t let me go” got to me. Up until Clark is trying to find Kat, im glueddd to the screen.

But then it just switches to Mary and the entire movie slows to a crawl.

Though, I think that’s the natural ebb and flow when you have dual protagonists.

And I do consider Clark and Mary dual protagonists. Considering they’re the two characters we see the most depth in.

I enjoy them both as characters too. Clark’s own struggle within himself, his wants, and finding the path to them is something so many people can see themselves in. waiting for the opportunity to appear while wondering where the fuck it’s at.

And Mary is the classic “I had a traumatizing childhood so now I’m a therapist”. I thought at first it was due to a want to understand her mother and what created the environment she grew up in and ended up finding satisfaction in working with others towards the same goal.

But during her conversation with Clark at the end, she says “I can’t save anyone” and her face relaxes. Almost like saying that sent her into a side thought. I saw that as her own breakthrough. She became a therapist not to just understand but to save others before they end up like her own mom.

I liked that moment. She came all the way here to find Clark, entered the fucking BACKROOMS to find him, why? What drove her to risk herself for a person that didn’t seem to have any interest in helping himself? Because she thought she could save him.

I appreciate how Mary’s character says that but doesn’t seem sad. She doesn’t seem defeated by the admission. She almost seems freed by it. You are not a terrible person because you cannot help them, they do not want help. You cannot help someone who doesn’t want it. And it’s not your job to save anyone. It’s not a weight, it’s a freeing thought.

But it totally ruined the tension. those moments of her discovering the backrooms and being freaked out felt like “okay yeah, it’s a wall that’s a door we get it, totally freaky” And then she’s walking through the backrooms and seeing the same stop sign we’ve been staring at for 1.5 hr now (there was something twirling in the corner that time I thought, I couldn’t see it very well but I SWEAR there was something there)

The tension returned in full swing when Mary noticed Clark. And all I wonder is HOW LONG did this man spend in the backrooms?? He’s got that white shit in his teeth and he is just pulling almond milk out of a fridge nonchalantly, indicating some kind of familiarity to the setting.

Side note: it’s definitely almond milk. That’s a backrooms thing right ? im saying it with such confidence but most of my backrooms lore knowledge comes from watching youtube ‘BACKROOMS FLOOR 1-199’ videos on youtube.

The end of the film does pick up again. Clark saying “I feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be” was bone chilling but also so fucking sad.

And then the pirate walked in.

The monster of it all (why is the backrooms)

The monster’s my least favorite part of this movie.

Not because it’s not unsettling, the idea of the backrooms being this tear in some electromagnetic MRI technology that creates a collective unconsciousness of memories is VERY interesting and unsettling.

I especially was unsettled by it literally being the Pirate Clark, being a manifestation of his memories in that costume and the feelings that come with it was super interesting.

But you can’t unshow a monster. And if the monster is Clark’s memories, was that the same monster from the start? No way. It’s just another twisted version of someone’s memories? I don’t know and it feels like it wasn’t intended to be considered.

I think if they showed more of a monster at the start or explored the still lives more throughout the film, it would connect more. But then we’d all know what to expect from the monster by the middle of the film. If you told me the backrooms was reflecting memories and self-perception from those near and inside of it, yeah Clark being the end monster would make sense. He’s shown to be wrapped up in these negative and destructive feelings so of course that will turn into something dangerous in the Backrooms.

So I’m not sure what would have created a more sustainable fear. Maybe by still saying that it’s reflecting their memories but not showing anything? The mind will always be better at creating that specific type of monster than a single director or team will be at depicting it.

I say all of this while also saying I had a PHENOMENAL time watching the film. I was engaged even when the pacing dragged or the monster cut the tension of a scene. That’s all I look for in a viewing experience. So overall, I regret nothing and I think this is an incredible directorial debut for Kane.

life updates

okay back with another movie review!! this blog is kind of the only consistent thing in my life so I should be more consistent with it. just to be respectful in return to the creative fuel this blog is meant to foster. 

you only get out of it what you put in and all of that. 

im moving back in with my parents next friday. one week. 5 days before they get here and start helping me pack the final bits. it feels weird. not entirely bad but i think thats what makes it weird. my entire life was upended and im moving back 5 hours way from the life i spent 4 years creating. i just know ill be able to make something amazing again, even if its not exactly the same as this time and place. im still sad to leave it though.

i sold my TV stand that i got after finding a $40 brand new couch on fb marketplace. when i moved that tv stand in, it felt like i made a home. i had a tv stand because i needed to get one for my studio apartmetn! bc i found a studio apartment! and now its just going in reverse and it's sad. 

But yeah, all of this is to say we are SO BACK! I love doing my movie reviews and I want to start getting some more recipes loaded. 

Until next time, 

Amber :)

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