Chiwetel Ejiofor in “Backrooms.”
A24
Backrooms, director Kane Parsons’ horror thriller based on his hit YouTube web series, is new in theaters this weekend and is winning over most Rotten Tomatoes critics.
Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in Backrooms as Clark, the owner of a discount furniture store that he also lives in after an ugly separation from his wife. While in the basement of the store, Clark enters a strange, interdimensional doorway that leads to a maze of empty spaces — although some contain piles of objects — known as “the backrooms.”
When Clark doesn’t return from one of his trips to the backrooms, his therapist, Mary (Sentimental Value Oscar nominee Renate Reinsve), enters the endless space looking for him and discovers the chilling atmosphere contained within.
Rated R, Backrooms also stars Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell. The film plays in Thursday previews and opens in theaters nationwide on Friday.
As of Thursday midday, Backrooms has earned an 87% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer based on 102 reviews.
RT’s Critics Consensus, Audience Summary and Popcornmeter score are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘Backrooms’?
Owen Gleiberman of Variety is among the top critics on RT who gives Backrooms a “fresh” review score. Gleiberman writes in his RT summary, “As an atmospheric freakout, Backrooms is extraordinarily effective. You sit back and settle into the enigmas and the grunge textures, knowing that the movie is going to keep raising your eyebrows.”
Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Times also gives the film a “fresh” score, writing in her RT summary, “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.”
Backrooms also mesmerized Beatrice Loayza of the New York Times, who writes in her “fresh” RT review summary, “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.”
Nikki Gemmell of The Australian refers to the recent hit work of another YouTube filmmaker, Curry Barker, in her “fresh” review of Kane Parsons’ film on RT, 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.”
Nick Schager of The Daily Beast is also high on Backrooms, writing in his RT review summary that the film “casts a surrealistic spell that’s unlike anything else in contemporary cinema.”
William Bibbiani of The Wrap is among the top critics on RT who gives Backrooms a “rotten” score. Bibbiani writes in his RT review summary, “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.”
Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail isn’t a fan of the film, either, writing in his “rotten” review summary on RT, “It is not as if Backrooms is all journey and no destination, but it would help if someone involved in the production had a beyond-basic idea as to why anyone should venture from one room to the next in the first place.”
Jack Coyle of The Associated Press also closes the door on Backrooms in his “rotten” RT review summary, writing, “While the movie finds a potentially insightful pathway to a story, it can’t bridge its very physical, wall-to-wall-carpeted labyrinth with Clark’s mental state. A movie with so many doors ultimately can’t find the right one.”
Backrooms plays in Thursday previews while opening nationwide in theaters on Friday.