Background Review – Horror by Kane Parsons has rewritten the genre rulebook | Video

Alonely people… who are they all? YouTuber Kane Parsons makes his feature debut with this a very strange and mind-bending horror film based on its web seriesand written by Will Soodik. There’s something here for J-horror, V/H/S found footage, Dan Erickson’s Severance and Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal. It’s about people who are fenced off in their memories, trapped in things that are forever remembered, or the sad reality of their present life in which they have shown themselves, the bright stars of their crippled, failed world. Or maybe the action of the film is not symbolic in this or any other way, and the “back rooms” of the subject exist.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve give excellent performances as Clark and Mary; it’s the early 90’s and Clark is a failed architect, estranged from his wife, and an alcoholic who to make ends meet runs a cheap furniture store, Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire. He makes dumb TV commercials dressed as a pirate when he knows he should be a sultan to make an “Ottoman empire” pun. He goes to see a doctor, Mary, a sad, meek person who sells her self-pity tapes and is haunted by childhood memories of her abusive mother.

Poor Clark has to sleep in his shop, in one of the beds in the small “bedroom”, a strange place of real human space. But one day in the great basement, he discovers a part of the strong wall, through which he can walk to find the great back rooms – strange installation areas that show images of what seems to be real life. And it goes on forever. Clark finds that getting out of non-Narnia is not easy, and Mary is no longer there when he goes in to check on her.

Danny Vermette’s design is amazing, combining real architecture and digital design. With cinematographer Jeremy Cox, he creates a dead yellow light, the light that emanates like radon gas from a million lights, shops and office buildings. Backrooms slowly ups its game to the big end with jump scares, squirm scares and small shuddering scares. There is a real interest in exploring this great, invisible state of fear.