Backrooms is finally here.
A24‘s highly anticipated movie is hitting theaters nationwide starting today (Friday, May 29).
Directed by Kane Parsons, the film is set to be a big-screen adaptation of the eerie viral horror phenomenon.
The film follows a chilling premise: a strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom, leading into a disorienting and seemingly endless maze of rooms.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve lead the cast, alongside Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell.
The movie is based on Kane Parsons‘ viral Backrooms series on YouTube, which gained massive attention online for its unsettling liminal space horror concept.
But what do critics and audiences have to say so far?
Backrooms currently has an 88% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 72% audience score.
Polygon gave it a 100, saying: “Backrooms is deeply unnerving. Better yet, it’s haunting, leaving behind lingering shivers and ongoing anxieties. It’s smart, ‘elevated’ horror for the tired-of-slashers crowd, but it has plenty of slasher shocks as well.”
Bloody Disgusting gave it 3.5 out of 5, writing: “While the journey ultimately loses steam by its cryptic end, Parsons’ visual representation of the human psyche disturbs like no other.”
The LA Times says: “Describing Backrooms as a horror film doesn’t feel exactly right. It’s a surrealist painting in motion, the equivalent of staring at Salvador Dali’s wasteland of melting clocks until it makes gut-sense.”
The New York Times says: “Ambiguity is key to this style of horror, where space and atmosphere do most of the heavy lifting, and though the story isn’t over-explained, mind you, it’s filled out enough to break its own uncanny spell.”
The London Evening Standard gives it 4 out of 5 and says: “Ejiofor is absolutely brilliant, but it’s a shame that Reinsve (so good in Sentimental Value and The Worst Person in the World) seems a touch miscast. Pretty much any B-list US horror star could have slotted into her role.”
TheWrap says: “If this movie was nothing but a sightseeing tour of disquieting office buildings Parsons probably could have gotten away with it. But the more Backrooms tries to have a point, the more pointless it feels.”
Irish Times gave it a 4.5 out of 5, writing: “[Backrooms] succeeds where other creepypasta adaptations (take a bow, Slender Man) have dismally failed and requires no prior knowledge of its storied history.”
The Daily Telegraph gave it 5 out of 5, writing: “Backrooms could have taken any number of sabotaging turns, or undercut itself with effects (excess gore, say) that aren’t needed. Instead it builds with clear logic, solid acting, and doesn’t skimp on being suggestive.”
The Australian gave it 4 out of 5, writing: “It feels like cinema’s future. Leaner, tighter filmmaking, saturated in web-lore rather than cinema-lore. The revolution has begun and Backrooms, together with Obsession, are at the vanguard.”
Inverse writes: “Parsons undoubtedly has an eye: His placement of the horizon in a series of striking establishing shots proves all by itself that he has talent as a director.”
See what else critics are saying.
Kane Parsons was just 19 years old when he directed the movie and there are people on the internet trying to claim that he wasn’t behind the camera. Backrooms actor Mark Duplass is now coming to his defense.
