Backrooms 2026

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• James Berryon TMDB

  Given how many endless, empty geometric hallways our main character had to wander through, having Justin Long’s character from Barbarian pop up with a tape measure to calculate the square footage would have genuinely made this a 5-star masterpiece. Backrooms completely nails the atmosphere in the first half. The grainy, handheld "home video" style shots build an insane amount of tension, and making the entire environment harsh and well-lit instead of hiding in the dark is a brilliant way to capture that pure, unsettling liminal space dread. The sound design is heavy and unrelenting, but the editing kills the momentum in the second half. The audio masterfully amps up your anxiety to a 10, but the actual visual reveals completely flatten out and fail to deliver on the build-up. Still, it's a solid watch on a big screen.

• Brent Marchanton TMDB

  Anointing a young, first-time big screen director as the new filmmaking messiah of his or her particular genre is a risky undertaking, to be sure. Does the fledgling auteur have what it takes to live up to that auspicious title? Is this an ordination that’s truly warranted? It’s serious business, both for box office tallies and artistically speaking. But does the heir apparent truly possess the skills, talent and vision to achieve success on both fronts? That’s something worth considering in light of the debut feature from writer-director Kane Parsons, the force behind this aspiring smart horror release, which is quickly being praised to the hilt and drawing huge numbers in ticket sales. However, I believe that the coronation of this new voice in the genre is far from deserved and entirely premature. While it’s true that Parsons has a keen eye for the aesthetic, that’s only half the challenge when making a movie in virtually any genre. The other part – being an effective storyteller – needs work (and a lot of it). Based on a YouTube adaptation of his immensely popular internet TV series The Backrooms, the film follows a troubled (and largely unsuccessful) seller of cheap furniture,

• CinemaSerfon TMDB

  Hmmm. Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood, but I really didn't get what the fuss was about with this. "Clark" (Chiwitel Ejiofor) is a recently divorced man who has big dreams but who is reduced to running (and sleeping in) his cheap and cheerful "Ottoman Empire" furniture emporium in small town America. The electrics in his store start playing up and upon investigation he is intrigued by a glimmer of light that appears to be emenating from beneath the basement wall! Investigating, he discovers that there is a mysterious portal into a construction that has something of an Escher drawing straight from the mind of Lewis Carroll to it. He tries to explain this discovery to his sceptical therapist (Renate Reinsve) but she thinks he's lost the plot so he engages the help of two of his employees "Kat" (Lukita Maxwell) and her boyfriend "Bobby" (Finn Bennett) to film his next exploration - and that's when they discover that all in this new dimension is not so very friendly. Meantime, his shrink "Mary" makes a visit to her patient's showroom only to discover the same portal. Is she going to be daft enough to walk through the wall into the unknown? There is some attempt made at the end to tie

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Pairings

Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.

• Double bill withColor Out of Space2020

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Often watched with

Recommendations from TMDB. Opening one adds it to Tastebuds

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