(film review) - Backrooms

I remember watching Cloverfield for the first time and, by the end of it, asking myself, "What the hell was that?" Not because it was bad. Quite the opposite. I was fascinated by it, but I also had that lingering feeling of, "What exactly did I just watch?" By the time the credits rolled on Backrooms, I found myself having a very similar reaction.
Now, one of the things that intrigued me going into this film was learning that the director is only twenty years old and originally made a name for himself as a visual effects artist. Pair that with A24, a studio that seems incapable of avoiding interesting projects, and I was curious to see what all the fuss was about.
I can safely say I discovered what the fuss was about. Whether I completely understood it is another matter entirely.
I'll be honest: a lot of this film went straight over my head. After watching a few reviews and ending explainers, I realised I'd picked up on some of the themes and ideas being presented, but the deeper CreepyPasta lore and mythology surrounding the Backrooms? Yeah, I was completely lost there.


Backrooms stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, an architect who now finds himself working in a furniture store. While investigating a lighting issue, he discovers a hidden doorway that leads to a seemingly endless maze of interconnected rooms. After discussing his discovery with his therapist, Mary, she decides to investigate the mysterious space herself, and from there things become increasingly strange, unsettling and difficult to explain.

One thing that immediately stood out to me was how little this film must have cost to make. This genuinely feels like it was made for the price of a bag of fish and chips, a portion of mushy peas and maybe a cup of gravy if the budget stretched that far.

The film mostly revolves around two central characters, with only a handful of supporting roles, and the majority of the story takes place within a single environment. Normally, when films work with those kinds of limitations, they need one of three things: a brilliant script, brilliant performances or brilliant ideas. Backrooms definitely have at least two of those.

The story itself is where things become a little complicated for me. On paper, there is absolutely a narrative. We meet Clark, we learn about his problems, we follow his journey, and eventually we reach a resolution. But this isn't a film interested in traditional storytelling.

It isn't concerned with explaining itself. It isn't interested in answering every question. And that reminded me of Cloverfield; I did not mind that.

Mary's storyline in particular felt underdeveloped to me, or at least they could have added a little more to really flesh out her character. I found myself wanting more from her character and more exploration of what she was going through. However, I also recognise that the film is deliberately designed to leave gaps and allow the audience to fill them in themselves.

The film seems far more interested in exploring ideas surrounding accountability, guilt, trauma and possibly forgiveness than it is in explaining what the Backrooms actually are. And honestly, the film never even attempts to provide those answers.

As a horror film, though, it absolutely succeeds. The cinematography is fantastic. There are moments that genuinely made me uncomfortable despite very little actually happening. Slow camera movements, endless corridors, dark corners, strange sounds and objects that appear slightly distorted or out of place all combine to create an atmosphere that feels consistently unsettling. The Backrooms themselves are often filled with furniture, objects and environments that look familiar at first glance but feel wrong the longer you look at them. That uncanny feeling becomes one of the film's greatest strengths.

The sound design deserves a lot of praise as well. There isn't a huge amount of music throughout the film, but what it lacks in score it more than makes up for with atmosphere. Every creak, hum, distant noise and echo is used to make you feel uneasy. Then there are the performances.

These kinds of films live or die based on the actors carrying the audience through long stretches of uncertainty, and thankfully, the cast is more than up to the task. Chiwetel Ejiofor is superb, as he usually is. He plays Clark with an intensity that constantly keeps you guessing. There were several moments where I wasn't entirely sure whether I trusted him, understood him or even fully believed what he was experiencing.

Alongside him, Renate Reinsve delivers a strong performance as Mary. She spends much of the film attempting to maintain control while clearly carrying unresolved trauma beneath the surface. Watching her navigate the increasingly bizarre situation reminded me at times of the characters in The Descent.

Ultimately, Backrooms is a film that has a lot to say, but it absolutely refuses to spoon-feed its audience. It doesn't explain the rules. It doesn't explain the mythology. It doesn't tell you how or why things exist. They simply do. I did not mind that, but perhaps I needed just that little bit more; another part of me found it fascinating.

Maybe a sequel will explore more of the lore. Maybe the director intends to build an anthology around the Backrooms mythology. Or maybe the mystery is entirely the point. What I do know is that this is one of those films that sticks with you after the credits roll, especially with what you see. I would definitely watch it again. And who knows? Maybe the second time around, I'll finally understand what on earth I just watched.

(trailer review) - Onslaught

This feels like one of those films that could easily get overlooked. The trailer has a slightly generic setup on paper, there isn’t exactly a huge A-list star front and centre, and I can already see some people dismissing it before giving it a chance. Besides, the name does not help. But honestly? I think this looks really good.

For a good portion of the trailer, I was trying to work out where I recognised the lead actress from. It was bugging me the entire time until her name popped up at the end and it finally clicked. Then I spotted Reginald VelJohnson and thought, "Wait... what?"

But the name that completely caught me off guard was Michael Biehn. Let me catch you up to who this is.

The moment someone in the trailer says they were trying to create the ideal combatant, my brain immediately went to Universal Soldier with Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lungdren. I used to have that recorded off cable TV on VHS and watched it countless times. If memory serves, those soldiers were enhanced more through cybernetics and experimentation than outright robotics like an cyborg, but that's the first thing that came to mind watching the trailer.

The other movie this reminded me of has a guy who was sent back in time to protect a woman from a cyborg because she would eventually give birth to his son, John Connor. Yep, The Terminator.

So seeing his name attached to a film involving engineered super soldiers and or cyborgs/killing machines felt strangely fitting.

The overall vibe gave me a mixture of both those films. It feels more Universal Soldier because of the military backdrop, but there's definitely a little bit of The Terminator DNA in there too. At the same time, it has that slightly rough-around-the-edges B-movie energy that I actually quite enjoy, and considering it's coming from A24, that immediately raises my interest level.

The trailer introduces us to a former soldier who appears to be living a quiet life whilst dealing with the lingering effects of PTSD. She's isolated, keeps to herself and is raising her daughter alone, but things start to unravel when she notices a pattern of military helicopters repeatedly flying over the area where she lives. Convinced something isn't right, she begins digging deeper.

That's when we hear the line, "What you're looking at is the human equivalent of a heat-seeking missile. The perfect soldier." And from there, the trailer kicks into gear.

We get glimpses of a heavily enhanced soldier with pale, almost glowing pupils tearing through people with brutal efficiency. There's a knife attack, gunfire, bodies dropping and the sense that whatever experiment was created has gone very, very wrong.

Then we're introduced to another operative, seemingly brought in to contain the situation and clean up the mess before it becomes public knowledge.

We are then reintroduced to the lead where she's forced into the conflict when the violence starts spilling into her world. From that point onwards, her focus becomes survival and protecting her daughter at all costs.

The story itself doesn't look particularly groundbreaking, but the execution looks strong. The action appears solid, the atmosphere works, and there's enough mystery surrounding these soldiers to keep me interested.

Could it end up being another generic military sci-fi action film? Absolutely. But based on this trailer, I think there's a decent chance it's something better than that. And sometimes, that's all a trailer needs to do. Make you want to find out more.

(trailer review) - Marty Supreme

 

I had heard a lot about Tyler the Creator being talented, but I had never fully listened to his music. Since, I have heard him feature on a couple of tracks, and I have really liked his verses, and every time I hear him, I remember a friend of mine who once said that he was talented, and unless I am remembering this incorrectly, he even plays instruments. I never bought or listened to his albums, but I respect the fact that I have heard him on songs, a couple of his own songs, and he is really good. But never did I know, nor have on my Bingo Card at the beginning of this year, that I'd be watching a film, let alone this trailer, with the tissues sticking out of his nose, thinking "Isn't that Tyler the Creator?" in that quick shot. I rewound that quick shot twice, then continued to watch it, and I actually said out loud, "Wow! It IS Tyler the Creator". And whilst those of you reading this may be thinking, "This is Timothee Chalamet's film, why is he talking about Tyler!?", because whilst everyone must know by now that Timothee is a great actor and is only getting better and better with age and by film, there is no point pointing out the obvious, but not only does Tyler look like he is also giving a great performance, this trailer looks every bit of incredible, and it is about....Table Tennis!

So the trailer starts with Timothee saying he has purpose, during a conversation with a woman played by Gweneth Paltro, and we are introduced a few things about him, what he likes, playing table tennis, not having any money nor a job and that he lives day to day having confidence in himself that the money will follow, but after the A24 logo, we are shown Marty struggling to keep it all running smoothly. We are introduced to Tyler, who may be a close friend of his, but it looks as though he is not accepting any help from anyone, even though he is hustling and trying to make money while supporting his mother. It looks like he starts travelling across the world, entering different Table Tennis Tournaments, and does he owe money by ripping someone off? Or did he place a bet on himself? Or did he promise someone money? Is he making bad decisions that he is fighting with his girlfriend, and people are looking to fight him? He is running through the streets with a bag (which could be full of money), crashing through the porches of houses. What is happening? But whatever the story ends up being, it is going to be one man trying to chase his dream, and this looks really good and might be where Timothee gets his Oscar.

(trailer review) - Everything Everywhere All At Once

I keep my ears as low to the ground as possible when it comes to new movies coming out, but I heard nothing about this movie until now. Maybe I am not subscribed to a medium or maybe the studio behind this movie isn't doing enough to promote this movie but this movie looks great!

Famous actor Michelle Yeoh in a somewhat different role to most of the characters she has ever played, but still fighting as she unlocks the ability to tap into the multiverse and tap into the various versions of herself across the multiverse and maybe essentially lose herself and her family to it, or at least the family may think that. A story about family it seems, but done in a crazy and colourful way. This film looks good and I'd definitely be interested in seeing another trailer and see this when it comes out. Soo many great actors in this too.  I mean, did you know that was Data from The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Or that lady at the beginning was Jamie Lee Curtis? Soo good.

Directed by Daniels and starringMichelle Yeoh,Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis,

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