Grildon Tundy
Member
IMDB has a "Parents Guide" page for movies. Here's the one for Backrooms:
Sex & Nudity:
None- Violence & Gore:
Moderate - Profanity:
Moderate - Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking:
Mild - Frightening & Intense Scenes:
Severe
-
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Fbh
Member
Yeah I feel the same.
I remember everyone hyping up Weapons last year and I found it very mid. The first half was a bit more interesting, but the second one and the reveal of the mystery was pretty bad IMO. Talk to me was pretty bad too IMO, but I did like Bring Her Back
poodaddy
Member
Saw this with my wife and daughter yesterday.
How to start....well, I'm gonna be honest and say I fell asleep four times in the theater. I'm not saying that makes it a bad film, but it is absolutely boring as fuck....that being said, I was tired yesterday, so take that with a grain of salt. Things don't move at a clip, and like most modern films, the editors were clearly on vacation as there's about thirty minutes of film that needed to be left on the cutting room floor and had absolutely no business making it to the theatrical cut. I don't know why modern directors think all photography should make it to the final cut, but I digress.
Speaking of the photography, let's touch on that. In a film as thin on plot as this, cinematography and set design has to take up the reigns, and boy do they succeed here. Brilliantly framed shots throughout, and the set design was an absolute marvel of minimalism, and quite a lot was done with quite little here. Fantastic practical effects throughout, blessedly light on cg of any sort, and the minimalist score worked to the film's advantage I think.
Acting was excellent across the board except for the Asian actress and the white guy playing the store employees; they were mediocre but, thankfully, are quickly dispatched and have no relevance beyond their initial introductions and one scene thereafter.
Plot, if you can say there is one, is absolute nonsense of the lowest order and not even worth discussing. This post probably has more thought put into it than the film's scenario and writing, it's that awful.
In summary, this gets a strong 3/5 from me. I've never partaken of the source material, so I'm rating it purely as a standalone film, and I think a 3 is a good score, (I believe in using the entire rating scale), and I absolutely think this is worth a watch.....at home.....with a cup of coffee....and perhaps a remote around in case you need to fast forward through some of the absolute tosh that the director decided to keep in. This is wasted in theaters completely, do not see it in theaters folks.
For what it's worth, my daughter loves all that meme crap and plays the backrooms games and all that with her friends, and she gave it a 4.5/5, so if you're into that source material, it does seem to elevate the experience.
How to start....well, I'm gonna be honest and say I fell asleep four times in the theater. I'm not saying that makes it a bad film, but it is absolutely boring as fuck....that being said, I was tired yesterday, so take that with a grain of salt. Things don't move at a clip, and like most modern films, the editors were clearly on vacation as there's about thirty minutes of film that needed to be left on the cutting room floor and had absolutely no business making it to the theatrical cut. I don't know why modern directors think all photography should make it to the final cut, but I digress.
Speaking of the photography, let's touch on that. In a film as thin on plot as this, cinematography and set design has to take up the reigns, and boy do they succeed here. Brilliantly framed shots throughout, and the set design was an absolute marvel of minimalism, and quite a lot was done with quite little here. Fantastic practical effects throughout, blessedly light on cg of any sort, and the minimalist score worked to the film's advantage I think.
Acting was excellent across the board except for the Asian actress and the white guy playing the store employees; they were mediocre but, thankfully, are quickly dispatched and have no relevance beyond their initial introductions and one scene thereafter.
Plot, if you can say there is one, is absolute nonsense of the lowest order and not even worth discussing. This post probably has more thought put into it than the film's scenario and writing, it's that awful.
In summary, this gets a strong 3/5 from me. I've never partaken of the source material, so I'm rating it purely as a standalone film, and I think a 3 is a good score, (I believe in using the entire rating scale), and I absolutely think this is worth a watch.....at home.....with a cup of coffee....and perhaps a remote around in case you need to fast forward through some of the absolute tosh that the director decided to keep in. This is wasted in theaters completely, do not see it in theaters folks.
For what it's worth, my daughter loves all that meme crap and plays the backrooms games and all that with her friends, and she gave it a 4.5/5, so if you're into that source material, it does seem to elevate the experience.
poodaddy
Member
If you'll excuse the spoiler.....
A guy gets his shoulder bitten deeply into by a massive practical effects monster version of himself, (played by a Romanian basketball player wearing a mask), and screams in agony and is then slammed against a wall and table until he dies. It is a brutal kill by any metric. Scared my fourteen year old daughter pretty good, and she loves horror stuff, for what that's worth.
If that's not a big deal, then you're good to go as that's the most violent bit.
Robot Carnival
Member
just came out of the theater after finishing this. as someone who has seen all the YouTube version of Kane Parsons Backrooms, I'm very happy with this movie. is it perfect? absolutely not. but it's a great extension of Parson's creation and it gave both a good taste of things for folks who are new to this series and enough goodies for those who are already familiar with the source material to be happy. it captured that unsettling but not quite horror yet feeling very well and I love that about it. with the way it ended, I hope the box office is good enough so they can make a sequel or another entry into this.
Reizo Ryuu
Member
it was alright
Robot Carnival
Member
just came across this 
SpongeMonster30
Neo Member
7/10. Good flick but overall inoffensive to the senses. The most offensive scene it has is when the failed architect and therapist trauma dump each other.
rubik's dude
Member
Mortisfacio
Gold Member
7.5/10 for me. Just watched it with my daughter. It's not a conventional horror. She got bored with some of the quiet and slow scenes, but loved the actual backrooms. As someone who absolutely loves House of Leaves and all the lore of the Backrooms, play various backrooms and liminal games that enhanced it for me. I'm just really into the concept.
I'm overall not a fan of the horror genre in general though. All the horror/scary movies everyone talks about I find to be forgettable, so my 7.5 comes with that in mind. Not amazing, but more enjoyable of the horror genre I've seen the last decade. If you're not into the psychological side and slower pace of it and aren't OK with leaving the theater with more questions than answers, skip it. If you're into that or into liminal spaces, I think it's worth it.
I'm overall not a fan of the horror genre in general though. All the horror/scary movies everyone talks about I find to be forgettable, so my 7.5 comes with that in mind. Not amazing, but more enjoyable of the horror genre I've seen the last decade. If you're not into the psychological side and slower pace of it and aren't OK with leaving the theater with more questions than answers, skip it. If you're into that or into liminal spaces, I think it's worth it.
Itchy.Tasty.
Member
I have surface level knowledge of Backrooms lore and I absolutely loved this. Genuinely eerie and ominous nightmarelike concept.
The slowness didn't bother me. Having lone characters cautiously explore the environment were the most unsettling scenes for me.
The only thing they should've left out was the plot exposition towards the end. I was looking forward to scouring the internet for people's theories and interpretations. I didn't want it spelled out for me in the movie.
The slowness didn't bother me. Having lone characters cautiously explore the environment were the most unsettling scenes for me.
The only thing they should've left out was the plot exposition towards the end. I was looking forward to scouring the internet for people's theories and interpretations. I didn't want it spelled out for me in the movie.
StueyDuck
Member
Makes sense to target tweens and teens.
Thats kind of the target, the skibidi toilet , roblox, tiktok crowd
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Robot Carnival
Member
it originally started as a creepy pasta from 4chan and then grown into this big community driven horror story thing like the SCP Foundation. but this version is based on Kane Parson's own interpretation of the Backrooms mythos. the film follows and expands upon his viral YouTube videos on the Backrooms. the games mainly popped up due to the popularity of the original community and the popularity of Kane's videos.
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Grildon Tundy
Member
Those Backrooms videos this kid made on YouTube were made in Blender? I've seen clips of a bunch and had no idea. Figured they'd built actual sets in a warehouse or something. That's crazy.
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
Kane Pixels is far superior. His youtube videos look bizarrely real, while the video you posted just looks like nice looking CGI.
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Revolutionary
Member
just came across this
This is unironically better than the movie
Also RLM posted their review:
wipeout364
Member
I went last night (May 30th) and thought it was great. Not really scary but great in a X files/SCP kind of way.
People want concrete answers to the plot but personally I love the ambiguity of the whole thing and would rather it be that way.
People want concrete answers to the plot but personally I love the ambiguity of the whole thing and would rather it be that way.
Dirk Benedict
Member
I'm not disagreeing, I still prefer the absurdity of Andy R and how the backrooms itself is a complex entity with seemingly power over space/time itself that reacts to "The Wanderer". There are a lot of interesting backrooms videos that have much worse cgi quality. Also the wall breaking and all the craziness beyond.
Jinzo Prime
Member
Budget for this thing was 10 million, and it's already made 110 million (gross). You are getting a sequel, whether you want it or not.
Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Yeah. Sounds like you didn't have any experience with the YouTube vids. That definitely made the whole movie great for me. But it also just sounds like it's not your cup of tea.
I love analog horror, so I already was invested before the movie even started.
Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Kane has already stated that he wants to do a short miniseries after the movie, which I think would be perfect tbh. 8 episodes to dive into Async would be super cool.
I don't think another movie would be good, though.
Dirk Benedict
Member
I like Kanes take on The Backrooms and how he took initiative. The way the lore works, anyone could make a Backrooms movie, but I wonder about the IP? The Backrooms worked because it was a concept that... anyone with creativity could add to or use the lore to build out their own version(s). Some good, some bad.
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
OMG, that movie was pretty bad. The first half was as you say quite interesting and I was eager to see where it would go. But the revelation at the end that the big bad was just a witch made me check out mentally. It felt incredibly anticlimatic and I have no idea how so many raved about it. It was just a mediocre horror flick.
I think having watched Found Footage #1, 2, 3 and Pitfalls would have prepared you better. The stories are basically non-existant and the videos are purely fueled my mood, atmosphere and the visuals. They are very unique, nothing like them on youtube. I haven't seen the film yet as I don't think it needs to be experienced at a theater, but I'm looking forward once it hits streaming. I'll go fully prepared on getting amazing visuals and mood and not focusing on the story. But when it comes to making a full feature film you can't be as barebones and experimental as on youtube so I get why the story will make people disappointed. I never cared about the whole Async organization plotline.
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spookyfish
Gold Member
near
Gold Member
'Backrooms' Becoming A24's Highest Grossing Movie Ever Worldwide, Besting Timothée Chalamet's $191M+ 'Marty Supreme' – Box Office
Article: EXCLUSIVE: In less than a year's time, A24 has beat its own records twice: Kane Parsons' viral-born Backrooms will become the New York studio's highest grossing movie ever this weekend, if not by Monday, overtaking the $191.2M global haul previously racked up by the Timothée Chalamet-starring Marty Supreme.
And that's even with a steep drop this weekend for Backrooms in North America, estimated at -68% with a second frame of $25.7M. Domestic cume by tomorrow is expected to be $134.8M. The running foreign cume as of yesterday stood at $50.3M (with global expected to be north of $185M by EOD Sunday). Again, that steep drop is due to the fact that Backrooms is a very fan-front loaded IP, with 81% of the second weekend audience still under 35.
Backrooms accomplishes this record in its first 10 days at the box office (if not 11). It took the Josh Safdie, 9x Oscar nominated Marty Supreme 53 days to unseat A24's previous longtime top grossing movie, their multi-Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once ($147.9M WW).
As we told you Wednesday, Backrooms became A24's highest grossing movie at the domestic box office, overtaking Marty Supreme ($96M) in its first six days of release. Again, this is a phenomenal achievement for A24: Backrooms cost under $10M, co-financed with Chernin Entertainment, with a domestic P&A in the teen millions.
Backrooms stars Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve and was also produced by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, 21 Laps and Phobos.
Lots of champagne popping around town with other studios seeing record results at the box office this summer: Lionsgate's Michael will cross $888M worldwide this weekend, becoming that studio's highest grossing title in its history. Also, Focus Features' Obsession with more than $151M by tomorrow, is already that label's top grossing stateside, and is bound to outstrip their pure Focus label top global grossing release ever, Downton Abbey which ended its run at $194.6M WW. (Note, Universal's classic label predecessor, USA Films, counts Traffic as its top grossing movie at $207.5M WW. It would not be shocking if Obsession passes that threshold ultimately).
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
Movie was kind of meh. You're better of just watching the four youtube videos I mentioned above.
None of the characters were interesting. I didn't really care about anyone getting stuck there because I didn't feel like I cared about them. The videos make you feel like you're in there yourself as it's only from the POV of the camera. I understand that a movie needs a different narrative structure than a video, but it might as well have ditched it and went full experimental or been a regular FF movie. The monsters in it were far less terrifying too. The whole final act was so underwhelming and I kept waiting for some really scary twist with ASync. Instead the two characters just sat and had the most boring and stilted conversation I've ever seen on the big screen.
Sadly to me this is a 5/10 movie. I was really hyped based on the trailers. The worst thing is that it didn't fill you with that dread of being stuck somewhere you couldn't get out from. Having an open doorway completely removed the sense of claustrophobia and panic. I wish we could have seen someone about to die of thirst and still running around desperate. There should also have been much less explanations as there was no real mystery left. I wouldn't bother to go watch Backrooms 2 if they made it. Unlike Obsession 2 which I would see in a heartbeat if they made it an anthology series.
Sadly to me this is a 5/10 movie. I was really hyped based on the trailers. The worst thing is that it didn't fill you with that dread of being stuck somewhere you couldn't get out from. Having an open doorway completely removed the sense of claustrophobia and panic. I wish we could have seen someone about to die of thirst and still running around desperate. There should also have been much less explanations as there was no real mystery left. I wouldn't bother to go watch Backrooms 2 if they made it. Unlike Obsession 2 which I would see in a heartbeat if they made it an anthology series.
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EverydayBeast
ChatShitGPT Alpha 0.001
If you're Backrooms, you're doing a sequel, full course with that Institute and find out what matters most, the super natural dimension, the characters, etc.
Grildon Tundy
Member
It was aight. The biggest scare was when the audience member on the cam rip coughed.
John Marston
GAF's very own treasure goblin
I watched his Youtube stuff but it isn't for me.
15 minutes of walking in empty hallways followed by a cheesy chase.
But I do admire his perseverance.
15 minutes of walking in empty hallways followed by a cheesy chase.
But I do admire his perseverance.
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
Yeah, in my opinion Obsession was even far more enjoyable than Weapons and Sinners too.
Together was my favourite horror movie of last year.
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Grildon Tundy
Member
I thought Weapons was really good, and Sinner was just ok. Obsession was more entertaining than both.
Hmm.
I liked it up until the final act. It's yet another mystery box that works better the less you explain. By the time it's basically an extension of therapy quackery with a sprinkling of sci-fi it lost me. Great performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor so the final act is also diminished there.
I think it could've been awesome as a psychedelic dungeon crawl adventure instead of what it turned into.
I liked it up until the final act. It's yet another mystery box that works better the less you explain. By the time it's basically an extension of therapy quackery with a sprinkling of sci-fi it lost me. Great performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor so the final act is also diminished there.
I think it could've been awesome as a psychedelic dungeon crawl adventure instead of what it turned into.
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
It would have been far better as a more experimental movie. I would have wanted to have seen a psychological horror fever dream instead of trauma rehabilitation.
John Marston
GAF's very own treasure goblin
Don't tell me it's one of "those"
I hate movies about grief or past trauma disguised as horror.
While some of them have been effective I mostly feel cheated and pissed off.
Reizo Ryuu
Member
It is, it's basically a therapy movie and a backroom short film stitched together.Don't tell me it's one of "those"
Trilobit
Absolutely Cozy
Once it finally became a Backrooms movie, it immediately jumped to the therapist instead and we had to follow her trauma.
This was my exact reaction:
ShadowkillXNA
Member
I'm actually shocked no one on resetera is whining yet about a white guy playing a black actors role yet lmfao!
They're usually on this stuff faster than flies on a turd in the summer after all.
Same. From exploring the dungeon with maps and ropes and an adventure backpack, with psychological undercurrents and great frazzled acting by Ejiofor, to just explicitly being about trauma processing and MRI machines w/ the therapist. Major downgrade in the final act.Once it finally became a Backrooms movie, it immediately jumped to the therapist instead and we had to follow her trauma.
This was my exact reaction:
Grildon Tundy
Member
Not only does it dig into the main characters' traumas, it comes across as written by someone who's only seem that trauma depicted in other media and not in real life. It comes off surface level and not representative of a lived experience.
20 year old director.
