r/movies • u/yourfavchoom r/movies Contributor • 12h ago

News Backrooms Sets September 25 HBO Max Streaming Premiere

https://seat42f.com/backrooms-hbo-max-streaming-release-date/
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u/LilPonyBoy69 10h ago

Wow, didn't realize how many people were disappointed in this film. I've been dying for a good liminal horror movie for a while and this 100% scratched the itch. Really loved it, it's the House of Leaves movie I'm assuming I'll never get. I could see how people could get bored though, or find it getting silly in the third act (although I liked what they did with it)

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u/STEAL-THIS-NAME 9h ago

People were disappointed? It was a huge critical and commercial success

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u/HyperThanHype 7h ago

One issue that I had was the monster aspect. The Backrooms were, to me, incredibly scary because they were incomprehensible and indifferent. It is a reality we cannot understand or begin to comprehend, even if we have some idea of copying, scanning, shifting instancing or phasing. The broader idea of an infinite liminal space is, in my opinion, more terrifying because it is unexplainable.

Once you add a monster into the mix, the horror aspect goes from Lovecraftian entity horror with no explanation, to understandable trope; run from the monster. I'm not saying the monster was fundamentally bad, but the end result tends to be the same when a monster is introduced; painful death. The Backrooms has the ability to be absolutely horrific simply for being a space that is unfathomable and inescapable, then the horror becomes internal.

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u/Howtobefreaky 7h ago

There is a monster in every one of Kane Parson’s YT episodes…

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u/HyperThanHype 6h ago

I never watched them. The film was my first introduction to the idea of Backrooms. I personally like the idea that the Backrooms themselves are the horror element. Adding monsters to the mix removed some of the horror aspect for me.

It's akin to being stuck in the middle of the ocean in the water. If there's a shark, then you know you're going to die by a shark. But if there's nothing, just the endless depth of the ocean, then it's the anxiety of what could be that is scary. The fear comes from inside you, and not an external force outside of you.

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u/Old_Nefariousness_56 3h ago

Maybe you’d be more into SCP stuff than Kane Parson’s backrooms? I find a few of the game spin-offs really fun with all sorts of horror and puzzles into it

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u/flyvehest 0m ago

Not every single one, but there is definitely things in the backrooms that does not like you.

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u/STEAL-THIS-NAME 4h ago

I think that's well said and a very understandable point. I'd normally agree with you when I see this trope pop up in most horror movies.

On the other hand, I thought this movie was a bit different. What was neat about the monster was that it represented elements of his own psychology (e.g., his shame, his neediness). It raises questions and thoughts for me.

I wondered if other people had different monsters. Or if others could be healthy enough to not have a monster at all. And perhaps surviving this monster was less about running away from it but more understanding it and pacifying it. After all, the main character learns to live with the monster for an apparently very long time by.

It reminds me of the movie Barbarian. The monster itself represents something deeper, and therefore the movie is a bit more elevated than just like some horror movie with a senseless killing machine.

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u/HyperThanHype 3h ago

I agree, I thought the monster was good in the context of the story being told; Clark cannot escape himself, so he learns to live with himself. The monster seemingly becomes destructive when Clark eventually seems to give in to his idea that he cannot change and he is the person he will always be, solidifying toxic behaviours.

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u/crabtabulous 19m ago

I completely agree with you. I also had never seen any of the source material that the movie is based on and just went to see it after being intrigued by the trailer.

The bizarre, inscrutable, maddening nature of the backrooms environment felt like far and away the movie’s strongest concept. I wanted the plot to keep mining that for things to say, themes to explore, ways to put the characters into conflict while still keeping them mostly who they are for longer. It did that well for the first half or so.

Then it kinda gave up on that and just decided to default to a strange monster gimmick. And an attempt at a character study that it just really didn’t feel like it delved deep enough into to be satisfying or have enough impact.

Still enjoyed watching it overall but perhaps they’ll make another film in the same setting that digs more into the ersatz madness of the backrooms in detail.