Backrooms, the latest A24 thriller, is a chilling exploration of the horror that lurks in the spaces between. It's a movie that takes us on a journey into the liminal, the in-between, the spaces that exist neither here nor there. But what makes Backrooms so captivating is not just its eerie setting, but also its commentary on the banality of everyday life and the dehumanization of our built environment. Personally, I think that Backrooms is a masterful blend of horror and architecture, and it raises a deeper question about the nature of our reality. What makes this particularly fascinating is the way it combines the mundane and the eerie, creating a sense of unease that is both familiar and unsettling. The drop ceilings, the fluorescent lighting, and the yellow-tinged rooms all evoke a sense of absence and in-betweenness, and it's this feeling that is at the core of the horror in the film. In my opinion, Backrooms is a commentary on the institutional uncanny, or the aesthetic of living in a world that has been brought into being by paperwork rather than by stories. It's a world where everything looks the same, and there is a dissolution of place, in favor of neutral, meaningless spaces such as airports and department stores. What many people don't realize is that Backrooms is not just a horror movie, but also a reflection on the dehumanization of our built environment. The film tries to make sense of a rapidly dehumanized built environment and its effects on the human psyche, and it does so by constructing a 'building' on screen that captures these feelings of liminality. If you take a step back and think about it, Backrooms is a commentary on the infinite bureaucracy that governs our lives, and the way that this bureaucracy can be both comforting and terrifying. The movie takes the infinite liminal space that Parsons conjures from the internet, and continues the long romance between horror and architecture. In conclusion, Backrooms is a thought-provoking and engaging film that is a must-watch for anyone interested in horror, architecture, and the human condition. It's a movie that will leave you thinking long after the credits roll.
