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Backrooms (2026)
2 Playsin 6 minutes
Rick & Trav get lost in a litany of liminal linguini creepypasta. From the electrical spend of an infinite set of backroom (rooms?) to Real Life therapists no-clipping their way into a suspended license, the Duo of Dread talk all things Analog Horror, Uncanny Valley, and where Kane Parsons sits amongst next Gen(Z)eration of spooky filmmakers.
(01:00) - Random Banter
(03:52) - Intro
(04:20) - State of the Union of Horror Movies in 2026
(05:23) - Is horror back? Was it ever gone?
(08:22) - The Terror of Generative A.I.
(10:04) - Synopsis
(10:35) - Our Viewing Experiences (sponsored by AMC A-List)
(15:45) - The Origin Story of BACKROOMS
(20:48) - Overall Thoughts
(28:11) - Box Office
(31:40) - Kane Parsons and Production Notes
(35:55) - Production Design & Cinematography
(38:22) - Casting
(42:55) - Scare-O-Meter Rating
(45:33) - Highlights
(47:37) - Deep Cuts & Flea Market Montgomery
(50:14) - Awards
(01:17:38) - Scream King or Queen
(01:20:18) - Coming Next Week
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Transcript
Filming Preparations and Director's Insights
00:00:05
Speaker
Sound? Camera? Rolling. Alright, and action!
00:00:18
Speaker
That was good, that was good guys. Alright, that was good. I'm thinking we get a wide angle and then we're done. Alright, yeah cool. Like how much further? like A little more. A little more. You got? Yeah, yeah.
Life and Water in New Jersey and Colorado
00:00:50
Speaker
hell? All right, we're back. Mr. Townsend, how are we doing?
00:00:59
Speaker
mr townsend how are we doing We're doing good. We're in ah New Jersey. I'm i'm here ah because my partner is working on a Netflix series. And so we've been apart for a few months.
00:01:15
Speaker
As Kurt Russell taught me, he and Goldie Hawn never go go more than two weeks without seeing each other. That's their rule in the business. And so Sarah and I have adopted that. We call it the Goldie rule. Okay. And we're doing we're going to try to stick to it. so um You've abided by it thus far?
00:01:32
Speaker
Well, no, this is on the heels of like a month and a half. And we're just like, we're just not doing that. okay So now the golden rule starts. Yes. Okay. ah That's awesome, man.
00:01:43
Speaker
Yeah. What are you up to? ah Summer in Denver here. We're in a drought. We just declared a statewide emergency, if you saw that. We have no water.
AI Data Centers and Agriculture's Water Use
00:01:54
Speaker
Okay. but Nice. But we're still water at the pools, and our girls are really into swimming. So we're we're getting out there and trying to make the most of the heat.
00:02:02
Speaker
You have no water, but you're going to the pool. Yeah. But I mean, pools aren't actually a big consumer of water because believe it or not, they use a lot of the same water source um for the year. They're not like flushing out the pool and replacing it. Do you know who's the vast, the the biggest consumer of water, of Colorado's water here? AI data centers.
00:02:23
Speaker
No, that that does eat up a few percent, but not even close to touching the forest. Farms? Yes, yeah. It's big agriculture.
00:02:34
Speaker
Specifically, a lot of yeah like alfalfa and clover. Stuff that's grown usually for animal feed. um So not even for human consumption, but for animals. And so, you know, I love cows, but maybe we need to start thinking about a ah a different diet variety that is a little less water intensive.
Meat Industry Ethics and Former Clients
00:02:54
Speaker
Hey, the Impossible Meat doesn't taste that bad.
00:02:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's actually... a I don't know actually how much water they have to consume for producing that. No no no free ads. I'm just saying ah more videos I see of how pigs are being treated in this mass produced meat market. You know JBS was a c client of mine for for years, right?
00:03:15
Speaker
I didn't. I don't know what JBS is. One of the biggest meat producers in the world. It's like them Tyson. So you're part of the problem. So chicken, beef, pork. um Yeah, I mean, I've been to their facilities, both where the farms that they buy the livestock from, as well as the slaughterhouses where they prepare it.
00:03:33
Speaker
it's It's not that bad. I mean, maybe they're putting on their best maybe they were putting on their best face when the auditors showed up. factron I think there's a whole set of back rooms where the real shit's happening that you don't see.
00:03:45
Speaker
Talk about good, scary movie concepts.
Introducing 'Sunday Scaries' Podcast and Kane Parsons' Film 'Backrooms'
00:03:48
Speaker
Back rooms there would be ah pretty fascinating as well. But um yeah, yeah. Let's get into it. This is the Sunday Scaries. I'm Travis Telerik.
00:03:57
Speaker
I'm Ricky Townsend. Today we are covering yet another young filmmaker's debut in Kane Parsons' film, Backrooms.
00:04:07
Speaker
This one has had a lot of buzz to it for a while, so I'm excited to talk about you know not just the movie itself, but all the lore and hype surrounding it. um But talk about another good year thus far for horror, Rick. like who I was a little worried start
Horror Film Trends in 2023
00:04:23
Speaker
of the year. and Maybe it's just because I'd have the foresight to look down the road for what else was coming other than like ah you know the new Resident Evil movie set for later this year. But these last few weeks, we've been treated to some real real delights here with horror films.
00:04:39
Speaker
we're We're eating well, Travis. We're eating well. ah You saw Primate. I have not. But after that was Bone Temple, which we both loved. um We still have to look. We haven't seen Hocum. I want to see Hocum real bad. I haven't seen Hocum yet. Send Help was really good, though. Sam Raby's new Send Help was great.
00:04:58
Speaker
Markiplier's Iron Lung. I want to talk about a bit on this pod just as a trend of like YouTube content creators getting their arms around the box office.
Gen Z's Horror Interest
00:05:06
Speaker
and Like you said, Resident Evil, Clayface. do If you consider Godzilla, Godzilla minus zero, I would, I mean. Oh, definitely. min so Minus one was my favorite horror film of what was that? 22, 23. Yeah. A handful years ago.
00:05:20
Speaker
um So yeah, we're eating we're eating well. We're eating well. um You know, there's a lot of people, they're like, oh, horror's back. Okay, I don't i think we've had good horror since Ari Aster and Eggers got on the scene, honestly, and Jordan Peele. um What I think is new now is that it's capturing the interest and eyeballs of Generation Z. Like it's capturing a younger audience and they're harnessing not just their eyeballs, but their content creators. So Kane Parsons, Curry Barker, um you know, Markiplier is older, but his whole his his like.
Evolution of Horror Films and Post-COVID Cinema
00:05:55
Speaker
audience is Gen Z. um You even have the amazing Digital Circus Last Act, which is ah ah YouTube series, but they're they're putting the final installment on the big screen and it's going to do over like $10 million dollars this weekend. So we see this cycle in the movies all the time throughout the history of cinema, right? You people get bored of the same studio slop. And so they hand the keys over to the the young, the next guard of Spielberg and Lucas and the new Hollywood era. And then you know, that becomes kind of bastardized and and franchised in the 80s are just like a bunch of blockbusters. And then the 90s hit and you have independent cinema, Soderbergh and Tarantino and Spike Lee.
00:06:38
Speaker
And then we get into the Marvelification of things. We're back to just like corporate mandated kind of stuff. And I think what we're seeing post COVID hand the keys over to the next young generation who knows something that these execs don't. And so I'm really excited to talk about how Kane Parson fits into this whole thing. Cause I think he's got a, he's a very different filmmaker than Curry Barker. um but I'm excited that they're both on the scene. So it's pretty cool.
Shift in Horror Storytelling and Kane Parsons' Approach
00:07:03
Speaker
I, um, You know, to your point that maybe horror's been back for a bit longer than people give it credit for, i completely agree that, you know, there's there's stages and trends in the industry where late 2010s, we got Ari Aster kind of coming on the scene, but it was a lot of, you know, what we've called this like,
00:07:23
Speaker
elevated horror or trauma-based horror. And that was great, but people started to pile on quickly where it started to become a bit more redundant. And now this film, there is a bit of like past character trauma and heavy weight carrying, but not as much. And looking back at Obsession that we recorded two weeks ago, you know, we're starting to get maybe some fresher looks at horror. I feel like it's starting to shift where the weight of characters past trauma is ah in grief is a little ah more light and less notable. And instead we're we're just getting some fun horror films, I'd say. With some fresh concepts. And you know like you said, a lot of these were based on like YouTube sketch artists who maybe the character backstories are a little more thin, but that allows you to focus more on the scares and the the vibes of the horror itself.
00:08:17
Speaker
i've I think you can apply that to this film tenfold because, and you know, not a sketch artist, but he was a digital content creator. Kane Parsons was. um And we can talk about his background a little bit.
00:08:31
Speaker
But on the note of like the the narrative taking a backseat to the vibe, I 100% agree. I mean, well personally, i thought I thought the script was pretty poor. I'm not going to lie. Like I thought the dialogue was pretty unbelievable. A lot of like tropes and caricatures that you're used to seeing like the alcoholic client the therapist who doesn't follow her own advice you know back flashbacks to like putting your mom into a psych ward just like stuff that is like pretty ham-fisted Kane did not write the screenplay they actually had you know two different passes at the script I I i think they're gonna go in a different direction it sounds like for the sequel um with ah a new writer but um
00:09:07
Speaker
I think what what is the the bulk of what carries this thing is a type of horror that feels like eerily nostalgic and kind of familiar, but also misremembered. You know, you and I love Alex Garland's Annihilation. And I told you a reading I had of that film um my fifth or sixth time watching it was like, man, I know this was not made in the generative AI world.
Synopsis of 'Backrooms' and Viewer Experiences
00:09:30
Speaker
um that we live in now but seeing it post chat gpt it did remind me of like um the you know lovecraftian kind of emotionless um terror and like bizarre manifestations of like copies and mimicry and copies and mimicry and copies and copies until it's like turned into something we don't recognize and there is a bit of that in this movie i see it at least Oh, 100%. All these uncanny valley films, even ones that predate AI, hit extra hard now because of our relationship with AI. um
00:10:04
Speaker
Tell us the synopsis for this film. The owner of a furniture store finds a secret doorway that leads him to an endless stretch of rooms. When he disappears, his therapist ventures into the unknown to rescue him.
00:10:19
Speaker
but Talk about a yeah therapist putting an OT there. I know. Does the insurance does go to these in insurances get back for that?
00:10:29
Speaker
But yeah, she she really went the extra mile. um let's Before we talk about the film too much, quickly just set the scene for when you saw it, what that was like. Yeah. Um, I had an experience similar to you, uh, for obsession Trav. I, so I've, I've seen midday bad and not so much more so that I had gotten there right after the, uh, the trailers. And so my seat was taken. Um, I went to the, uh, AMC brick Plaza 10 in New Jersey, a fine establishment. Um,
00:11:02
Speaker
What was really like encouraging and awesome to see was like the whole movie. I saw a 6.50 PM showing on Thursday night. The whole theater was filled with mainly people younger than me.
00:11:13
Speaker
It was like, it seemed to be 25 and younger. um And so i'm I'm not going to break up a big group that's all sitting in the because I also like you go to the back row so I can take notes and stuff for the pod.
00:11:24
Speaker
um I was like squarely like perfect, perfect seat right in the middle in the back. But obviously that was taken up by this horde of of teens. I'm going to let them enjoy their movie. But ah about 20 minutes into the film, a couple came up to me and said, hey, those are my seats to my seat. And so I had to get up.
00:11:44
Speaker
Fortunately, by the time I got to my real seat, those people had also had to move. And so everything was fine. But the main thing I wanted to say was that um this is the first time that I can remember going to a movie where the majority was people younger than me, like Friday nights at five nights at Freddy's was also like this. um But the big difference was that there was not a phone in sight.
00:12:07
Speaker
Like five nights at Freddy's people are hooting and hollering. Minecraft are hooting and hollering. They get the phones out and I get it. It's like an event film. It seemed like there was a massive respect for like the atmospheric dread that this IP is
Unique Concept and Atmosphere in 'Backrooms'
00:12:21
Speaker
supposed to generate.
00:12:22
Speaker
And, you know, and maybe I'm projecting hope onto the future a bit by also assuming that like there is a bit of rejection towards technology or like trying to resist like like living in the moment and like trying to recapture this like pre-internet.
00:12:37
Speaker
you know, early 2000s, 90s aesthetic that the movie also replicates. And so I have no idea if it was just a flash in the pan, but I was so amused and and and happy to see that like lot of young kids and no phones.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. That's great. i Much smaller sample size for me because I saw 1 p.m. matinee on a Tuesday. As as you do. DMC half price tickets, though. It's a great great deal. no um But I mean, there's still, i don't know, my theater was probably a third full, maybe close to half full.
00:13:10
Speaker
um it It's an interesting, there's not as many big jump scares in this one. So I didn't get as much of a visceral reaction from the audience anytime something happens. Same. But they were dialed in. Read to your point. Like people who were there, the the loyal contingent of people who say midday Madanese for R-rated horror films um were were very dialed into the film.
00:13:33
Speaker
And so that was fun. I was at the AMC crossing again, Arapaho crossing, my my new venue. um So nothing more really to add to my theater going experience. No no funny ah tidbits other than... Well, did you like it, Trav? Did you like the movie? yeah that's what I want to get into. i I really liked certain parts about this. Yeah.
00:13:56
Speaker
So if I think about obsession in bone temple, both those were like home runs for me this year. This one has so much potential in the setting, um, the set design, the, uh, the whole concept. I used to job for a decade. Like I had late nights, you know okay. So I'm,
00:14:17
Speaker
gonna give a glimpse of not big real estate, but my former career, I started right out of college, right out of grad school as an auditor. um doing financial audits. So here you go out to your client corporate offices, typically for a few weeks at a time to look through their financial records. And since you're only there for a few weeks, they don't have like dedicated cubicles or space for you. So oftentimes they're putting you in a windowless conference room.
00:14:44
Speaker
And that's usually at the nicest, literally like there was oversized closets and hallways we would work at. We would typically work long past regular business hours once our clients had left and the corporate building was largely deserted. There are some nights where i'd be the last to leave and There is, you know, kudos to Kane Parsons.
00:15:04
Speaker
It is scary in these just sprawling corporate buildings after hours when there aren't people there. And i think him capturing this feel through the back rooms is such a cool concept that I was very eager to see this film just to get a taste of that. I had not prior to the film watched his like YouTube shorts. And so that in and of itself is...
00:15:30
Speaker
Amazing. I'd love for him to re-explore it with the s sequel. Like you said, maybe if we could get some different writing. oh That would be very enjoyable.
Origins of 'Backrooms' and Impact of Digital Creators
00:15:37
Speaker
We're going to get a whole... i mean, this is going to be big. I think this is going to be the start of something, like a franchise. Yeah.
00:15:43
Speaker
I mean, so... Are you familiar with the origins of the back rooms, Trav? Like, the concept? No. Well, I went back to watch his original 9-minute YouTube short. Yeah, but before his series.
00:15:57
Speaker
No, no, I'm not. I think we're going to be speaking to like mid-range to maybe older millennials. And so for those hip Gen Z folks that listening, we're going to sound like old heads here as we try to unpack your internet lore. But I'll do the best I can. I'll try to keep it concise, Trap. But I think it is important for people who don't really know. Creepypasta is the...
00:16:18
Speaker
the sharing and exchange and collaborative creation of creepy folklore that usually stems from like an image or like a short story that somebody created. And then people like kind of add on to it and like it goes in other directions. you know, that's where we get Slender Man. All right. So like somebody created that image and then boom, you have like a web series and and then a movie. um With Backrooms, somebody ah anonymous, there's a paranormal 4chan, like a board, I guess. And somebody posted...
00:16:48
Speaker
a very eerie looking image of like yellow stained, like walls and it's empty and it, it, it looks like there should be people there, but there is no people and like one piece of furniture. and In a response to that, another anonymous poster said, if you're not careful and you no clip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the back rooms where it's nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights and maximum humbuzz and approximately 600 million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby because it sure as hell has heard you. Do you know no clip means, Trav?
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, i I had to look that up as well, but it's kind of where you just transit. I think it's like the scene where he kind of just phases through the wall, right? Just like somehow transitions through a- It's a video game term. Yeah.
00:17:48
Speaker
It's a video game term where like if if you put in a certain cheat code or like go in the wrong area, you might end up outside the reality of of the game yeah where game designers game designers might put recycled materials. it's or It's like Truman Show, right? Where you're outside the bubble of reality yeah into where you shouldn't be. yeah so So that was May in 2019. That kicked off a whole new creepypasta. People started sharing their own images. That image ended up being from a a furniture store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Oh, it was a furniture store. It was a furniture Oh, that's funny.
00:18:21
Speaker
Yeah. um And so it had been, they had like posted it to their web blog, web page. want to say something about this. So nobody knew until 2024, Trav, that where that image came from.
00:18:34
Speaker
It wasn't until they got some real sleuths on the case. And by using the Wayback Machine, which is, you know, the internet archiving website that like helps dig up abandoned websites, they were able to find this random webpage that was hosted by Hobby Town, which was trying to chronicle. I know Hobby Town.
00:18:54
Speaker
Okay, well, they were trying to chronicle the renovations to a new building they had just bought. And so they posted a picture on their blog saying, oh, this has some water damage. We're going to clean this up. I just want to say, you know, I think when the internet first got on the scene, we all were like, oh, now we have a official record of everything that's ever happened. We're not going to miss anything. Well, because of the way we use the internet changes, um site servers go down, um things don't work the way they used to. Like we we can still excavate for like lost items and like places on the internet. And I think the back rooms is an interesting example of that because yeah,
00:19:30
Speaker
you still have to kind of search for the origins of things. So um to wrap it up, basically that kicked off this liminal spaces craze where people were like posting more pictures of empty malls or office buildings like you were talking about. But then, yeah, Kane Parsons kicks it up to another gear where he in 22 starts a web series using only a few IRL shots, but mainly on Blender. He created all that on like an open source. Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:58
Speaker
And so he doesn't own the IP per se, but he is like the the steward of where the the mainstream understanding of the backrooms is and I think has most people would say has perfected the idea and and the look of it.
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a good way to distinguish it, is it's not one company, one writer's IP that they then ran with, like Marvel. But instead, it's kind of this shared community output of, oh, here's an idea we think is pretty cool, and a lot of different creators trying to add to that folklore.
00:20:29
Speaker
Yeah. um And so I wanted to bring that up. I know we haven't gotten production notes. I guess that's a little bit of production notes. But I think it's important history to note that, like, I have only seen the first four episodes of it, but I can already tell that like Parsons interest is he even said in a few interviews that like this movie is a way in.
00:20:49
Speaker
Like it seemed to me that when he talks about the movie, it's not his fully realized story.
Kane Parsons' Filmmaking Potential and Adaptation Challenges
00:20:55
Speaker
vision of it in the sense that like the story isn't really his main priority, which I was really happy to hear because that was the part of the movie that I was least interested in and found myself bored with. And so I was comforted, you know, because a little worried that he wrote it when really the movie shines when you are just mesmerized by this endless hellscape of always and like um things that seem off. And I had to like remind myself that
00:21:22
Speaker
that a movie is not just the story. And i kind of just allowed myself to get transfixed by the back rooms scenes and the sound design and the diegetic and non diegetic music and trying to parse out what's practical and what's digital and like,
00:21:39
Speaker
that's where I let's put it this way. Tribe. I walked out just kind of mild, like so, so in the film, I have not been able to stop thinking about it. It's kind of like ear warmed its way into my brain so much that I'm like looking things up and I'm watching the old web series and I want to rewatch the film now. Yeah. Like in hearing him talk and how intentional he is in his designs. And he has all these like design philosophies and like principles that he abides by. It sounded very like, like somebody who has been doing this their whole lives. And, um,
00:22:08
Speaker
So yeah, I've gone from like lukewarm to like really excited about but what he does next. And I want rewatch the film and kind of forgive its writing snafus. You know, a lot of his YouTube shorts are short by nature, right? They're a few minutes long. And I think it's difficult, right, to then jump to making a feature film based on the concept.
00:22:27
Speaker
And I think where that's that's where maybe some of my um qualms with the movie came from, just like you noted. Like, ah I don't know if I needed the psychiatrist's trauma. andpack It wasn't even fully unpacked. I'm not sure what purpose it served with all her flashbacks. you know i like Mark Duplass as an actor, but like his role with the corporation and stuff, again, that there seemed like there was some bolted on plot elements in writing that...
00:22:56
Speaker
took away from the film a bit because I agree with you. When I was most engrossed with some of the like the first person or found footage segments where you're just exploring through the back rooms themselves, right? The first time Ejiofor's character Clark gets in there.
00:23:13
Speaker
like That's captivating, especially like you know there's a long chase scene at the end. And I understand that's common for a lot of horror movies. But it was usually scarier where you didn't know where the other entities or if there were other entities.
00:23:24
Speaker
any, if there were other, ah if there were any other entities in there, it's usually scarier not being chased, but just being worried about like, wait, there's a sound off in the distance. Like what, what was that? Um, that sense of mystery is really what captivated me more so than when they actually tried to,
00:23:43
Speaker
you know, add more traditional character arcs and, you know, the whys to why this exists in there. So I was talking to Sarah earlier today about this kind of thing. And, ah you know, what one of the one of the things that has stuck with me most one of my film professors, um Dr. Kevin Heffernan, said to me or said to our class, I should say, um during international film cinema was You know, the advent of the motion camera came out in like the late 1800s and.
00:24:12
Speaker
and Between 1890 and like 1920, we had a flurry of experimentation and excitement about what to do with this camera. Some of it was narratives, but a lot of it was like observational or abstract and like. ah But so for some reason, we settled into this like very rote, familiar three act structure from the 20s until now. We haven't gotten ourselves rid of it like the we have made the same type of movie in terms of like the structure, really. Like, yes, within that structure, we can see really exciting things. i mean, that's why we have this podcast. We love movies. But like if you want to take a step back and understand like the structure of a film,
00:24:54
Speaker
the three act narrative structure has kind of been irreplaceable a, because it works for a general audience and B because it's safe. um I think that Kane Parsons has an opportunity here and I think it dips into it a little bit in this film, but ultimately it does have to like give something back to a 24. So not too worried is that he's dabbling with this abstract, like storyless fascination with the back rooms and, and sound design and,
00:25:21
Speaker
taking you down, like having an experience, right? that But he is constantly having to be pulled back into a grounded story, ah probably because he knows it needs to be accessible by and and and initial audience.
00:25:35
Speaker
But I would be really excited to see him, because you said he makes a lot of shorts. Some of his uploads for the series are like 45 minutes long, though, and it's just a fucking backlist. And and I think there's an appetite for that. I just think it's a scary leap to make because when's the last time an experimental film did millions of dollars of the box office? We're in a weird territory where like, is that what is that like ASMR kind of Internet culture um expectations to go from computer screen to the big screen?
00:26:05
Speaker
can that leap be made or is, is that kind of stuff just, is it best for on your laptop or on your phone? I'm not sure, but I, I am hopeful that like he keeps pushing the boundaries um of what we think is like that people would want to go buy tickets to go see. um The best example I can think of is Lynch. Like Lynch was pushing the boundaries of yeah a story and like what's on screen and what makes sense and what you have to just like interpret for your head. And I think Parsons has a mind for that.
00:26:32
Speaker
um We just haven't seen his full potential yet. Yeah, that's a good example. um Before we do production notes, any other thoughts on theme? I know we started to talk about, you know, it's it's very resonant with AI and a copy of a copy of a copy, and you get a lot of that here. any Anything else theme-wise that's worth highlighting?
00:26:50
Speaker
Yeah, i I just keep going back to like Lovecraftian themes of like the the horror of indifference and the things that the mind cannot comprehend.
Production Techniques and Success of YouTube-Originated Horror Films
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah. so i don't know if that's a theme as much as it is is like a callback to a like a subculture of horror that I really resonate with. actually tried just to show you. I know we don't have a video format much, but I i bought a short stories booklet of Lovecraft's just to oh dive in. yeah apparently um the call of the Cthulhu, the the area from which the Cthulhu reigns and lives is also an endless maze that is kind of incomprehensible. And some people have made comparisons to the back rooms there.
00:27:34
Speaker
And so things that just defy human understanding, ah you know, I finally saw the heretic with Hugh Grant. And like he says a line in there that had really been thinking a lot about. He's like, when you remember something, you're remembering the last time you remembered it. You're not remembering the actual event.
00:27:50
Speaker
Like and and as each time you try to remember something, it gets distorted and distorted and distorted. So in that regard, I guess it's with memory. I did think about that because of. you know, the the misshapen faces, getting back to like AI mimicry and uncanny valley.
00:28:05
Speaker
um These are all things that are kind of, i don't know, floating around in my head, you know, I think, and I think that's why it works. All right. Should we talk about production notes? Do you have the box office numbers? If not, i I have them up. I don't. Yeah. tell Tell us. I know the movie's doing extremely well on the heels of obsession, doing extremely well. Okay. i Obviously a much higher budget for this one.
00:28:26
Speaker
Yeah, about 10 times higher. It's a $10 million dollars budget. um It completely shattered the the record that A24 had set prior to this for an opening weekend. So prior to this was Alex Garland's Civil War from 2024 that made million dollar opening um Oh, wow. so this This did $81 million. $81 million dollars domestically. If you include international grosses, you get $117 million.
00:28:55
Speaker
um pretty Pretty incredible. um They're predicting $40 to $50 million for this weekend, um which means it could be a sub-50% drop, which, as you know, Obsession did the almost impossible, which went up. um With such a big opening for backrooms, you're not going to see the it go up. i mean, that's, that's yeah insane, but to have a sub 50% drop is great.
00:29:18
Speaker
I put together a list of all these other like YouTube trajectory, horror films going back to talk to me. So talk to me in 2023.
00:29:28
Speaker
$4.5 million dollars budget. It did $10.4 million a domestic opening weekend and settled in at $48 million. I'm only doing domestic just to keep things easy. yeah um Bring her back.
00:29:39
Speaker
Same guys, the Philippou brothers. um yeah More of a for them. ah For them, the filmmakers, because that that was not as much of an accessible movie, but $15 million dollars ah budget domestic was opening with $7 million, settled in at $19 million. um It probably just broke even because at worldwide it did $40 million. Then Shelby Oaks from Chris Stuckman, the YouTube reviewer, that was a neon production, $2.8 million dollars budget, ended up doing $4.5 million domestic. Iron Lung by Markiplier, yeah.
00:30:15
Speaker
$3 million dollars budget opening weekend, 17.8 million settled in at 40 million. And that did not have traditional distribution. He, yeah he just had his, did it all himself. He did has fans call local theaters and ended up being in 2000 screens. That's incredible. Um,
00:30:34
Speaker
And then we've already talked enough about Obsession, but like, as you know, sub $1 million dollar budget opened at 17 and then back rooms. ah It's, it's who knows what it's, it's, ah it's cap is at, it's going to go oh probably over $200 million. dollars um And then amazing digital circus is the final installment of a web series from YouTube, also horror related.
00:30:56
Speaker
And that's supposed to do over 10 million. It's just great to see the creativity kind of left of center, horror filmmaking that um has been in front of us the whole time. It's just been on a smaller
Controversy and Praise Surrounding Kane Parsons
00:31:07
Speaker
screen. And so it's nice to see that they're expanding it. So yeah, box offices on a weekend that a Star Wars movie is out. let Let's let that sink in. That's crazy. yeah That like yeah movies from one with a less than a million dollar budget and the other one with a $10 million dollar budget outgrossing a Lucasfilm property.
00:31:27
Speaker
Oh man. Yeah. Poor, poor star Wars. Poor Grogu. He'll figure it out. um Okay. So we, we talked a bit about Kane Parsons. What's his YouTube handle. It's like Kane pixels or something like that. Yeah. Kane pixels.
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah. Kane pixels. um Again, extremely young, which is what adds so much more to the hype of this movie. He's 20 years old. Am I getting that right?
00:31:53
Speaker
Yeah, i mean, he was 16 when he created the backroom, the first episode of the backroom series. um He was probably 19, 18 or 19 while he was making this movie. He is the youngest filmmaker ever to have a number one hit at the box office. So yeah, 20 years old. Before that, it was Josh Trank with Chronicle in 2012. was 27. you seen Chronicle?
00:32:17
Speaker
I don't think I've seen jumper, which I always get confused. The Chronicle. I think Chronicles like horror Jason, maybe more thriller, but I love that movie. Michael B. Jordan, one of his earlier film roles, um found footage movie. Really good.
00:32:29
Speaker
but highly would recommendm I I'm glad you gave it a shout out. um Hopefully Kane's career trajectory is a little easier than Josh Trank's. He's kind of had a yeah ah rough go.
00:32:42
Speaker
Because of his age, I mean, you know, we're talking about director, but we have more crew and cast we'll talk about, but it's probably worth getting into a bit of, i don't know if this was manufactured controversy because I've actually heard it died down a bit now that the movie's been out for over a week. But right when it came out, there there were allegations of like, well, how involved really was Kane Parsons, especially seeing the producer list and all the big names who were involved with this film.
00:33:08
Speaker
Sean Levy, Osgood Perkins. I think, yeah, I saw the same things pop up in my timeline. Here's here's what I'll say. After spending the you know the last few days like consuming interviews and reading articles and seeing behind the scenes,
00:33:26
Speaker
Like it takes no more than two minutes when you hear this guy talk to see what a handle on his vision he has. He is a technical genius. He is a visual genius.
00:33:37
Speaker
ah He is always creating. i have zero doubt in my mind that there was i think the only controversy is his age and that some people just wanted to like speculate because he had a lot of seasoned vets in the room.
00:33:51
Speaker
this kid is smart, dude. I don't even want to give the controversy too much light because there's nothing there's nothing founded on it. like there's no There's no examples of where they might have, you know what i mean? I agree. And maybe we could move past it. I was just highlighting it did come up and I think it was purely based on speculation of how young he was. like How is this possible? I agree. Since a lot of the cast and crew have come out to his defense, you see the controversy kind of die away as people are actually now seeing the film and have seen some of his original YouTube videos saying like, yes, actually, again the best parts about this movie are what he was able to capture and bring forth from his YouTube shorts and so I think people realize no this is truly his essence here yeah I agree
00:34:33
Speaker
So it was penned
Production Collaboration and Technical Choices in 'Backrooms'
00:34:34
Speaker
by Will Sudick. Do you know who that is? Yeah, he's done a few episodes of Westworld, Homeland, um Ash versus Evil Dead. He's been a TV writer.
00:34:44
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, look, I think Backrooms is a hard movie to turn into a traditional narrative. I think I see the intent. I thought that it was 20-year-old Kane Parsons trying to write about the psychological turmoil of like 40-year-olds. And so I had a shirt. I felt a certain way about that because I was like, what is what life experience does he have to be able to speak about this? And then it turns out this guy is 40 plus years old. um Yeah. Yeah. So, um yeah, ah ah it's it's interesting to me, Trav, that um the first right after the movie had its gangbusters weekend,
00:35:18
Speaker
The very first inclinations that they're working on backrooms to alongside that copy is that, quote, Cain Parsons is seeking a writer for the next film, meaning that's the one piece of the puzzle that he is swapping out. So I think you can read between the lines and see maybe maybe what he thinks could use improvement.
00:35:35
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. um Anything else with crew? I mean, again, shout out to set design, sound design, cinematography. I think we're all a plus in this film to capture the vibes.
00:35:47
Speaker
ah ah Anything else before we move to cast? I mean, a little bit about the production itself. um you know He's still, I think it's so cool. He's such an advocate. First of all, he's staunchly against AI. Like think it's think it's it's a a cultural decay. So you love him.
00:36:04
Speaker
i speak anybody directly there Anybody who hates AI is a friend of mine. um Again, generative AI. let's Let's not get crazy here. I don't broadly hate technology, just generative AI. um I think it's interesting to note one. He's such a advocate for Blender, which is an open source. As we talked about, 3D software that you can use to make 3D images. um He used it for this film, despite having access to probably something much more proprietary and expensive. He's like, no, I'm and i' i'm going to use
00:36:34
Speaker
the tool that I used to make my world here. Not only did he use it for some actual scenes, Trav, he used it to to model out concepts to the production design team for them to go off and then make this 30,000 square foot set of stages in Vancouver. So it's a mix of set painting and VFX work, but also practicals and blender which Which makes like this this really eerie result. So that's one thing.
00:37:05
Speaker
And then the other is that when you saw the the kind of Sony Handycam camcorder parts of the film, would you guess what kind of camera they use for that? No, no idea.
00:37:18
Speaker
So one might think, oh, to get it to look as much like a analog analog, you just use use an old camcorder. Well, they didn't. They used Komodo body with a zoom lens. You can kind of get that servo ah zoom element that those old camcorders had.
00:37:35
Speaker
And they shot it in 4K, crystal clear, just like they shot the rest of the movie, except the hand movements, they changed a bit. And then in post, they added, they tried to emulate the sensor that that creates the image you have on most of these old tapes.
00:37:49
Speaker
The reason they did that was because In post-production, before they put those effects in, they had to still render the world that they were in. And that to do that on an actual camcorder, not enough pixels there to like give them the look they want. So they have to make it as clean as possible to make the walls behind them, to get the colors they want to match. And then there's a conversion process where they run it through a VCR. But I just thought that was interesting.
00:38:18
Speaker
They didn't use a Sony Cam Super 8 because it was just, it was not work. All right. So looking at casting here, a relatively small cast. So leading it, we kind of have Chiwetel Ejiofor.
00:38:32
Speaker
He's great. I i mean, i love, he's been a bunch of like Spike Lee films, but I haven't seen him in horror before. um Again, maybe some fault with the writing, but i I like some of his more visceral, like when the anger's getting uncaged takes here. And so I think he did great.
00:38:49
Speaker
um oh man, you're going to have to help me with, is it Renee? right It's it's Renata Rinesva. I'm pretty sure. Oh, I would have never pronounced that correctly.
00:39:00
Speaker
um Just came out in Sentimental Value, which was a ah well-hailed, you know, multi-academy award nominee film last year 2025. She was nominated for Best Actor, right? And before that, she was also nominated for a Worst Person in the World.
00:39:16
Speaker
um Actually, no, sorry. The film was nominated for Best best International Film, sorry, to be to be completely honest. Yeah. Yeah. I like these actors individually. I think this is a hard movie to place like serious, traumatic actors in. Honestly, the actor I was most impressed with ah is a is a guy we've seen close out one of our other favorite horror films of the last few years in ah Alien Romulus. um Our boy, you know I'm
Casting and Character Contributions
00:39:48
Speaker
talking about? no
00:39:50
Speaker
yeah His name is Robert Bobroski. Bob Bobroski. I didn't realize he was the monster in this. Oh yeah my goodness. He's Captain Clark. He's Captain Clark, man. so He's a basketball player, if I'm right. know Not in the NBA, but he's like a professional international basketball player. I don't know if he's still playing. the I know that he he was on that viral video for being like just insanely tall. He's from Romania. He's um and that he was just like footsteping He was dunking without with with just great ease. um
00:40:22
Speaker
But dude, he's on his way to being a scream king. He's two for two on his roles, um being the offspring in Alien Romulus and now Pirate Clark here in the back rooms. i I like what he's doing, dude. I kind of thought it was him, honestly, when I saw him lumbering about. But I was like, there's no way it's him again. And ah sure enough, it was. You only get so many people who are seven and a half feet tall or taller able to play these roles. So great. Like he's quickly cornering that market.
00:40:46
Speaker
He really is. He's kind of like the next Douglas Jones, um who was in a lot of Guillermo del Toro's movies just for just being a tall a tall dude.
00:40:57
Speaker
Yeah. um And then other cast, you know, we have Mark Duplass playing kind of the scientist. Again, I like Mark Duplass. I love the the old show, The League, from like the Yeah.
00:41:11
Speaker
I don't know. I think the whole scientist plot was kind of bolted on there. i didn't necessarily need like the ending few minutes of the film where he's trying to put more context on the back rooms. And then outside of him, yeah. Oh yeah.
00:41:25
Speaker
What do you have to say about Mark? Well, I'll just say, i to me, he's like more there as like a producer and they just happen to like throw him in as an actor because he's, you know, he's got his whole, he's a director for that the Creep Tapes or a Creep of franchise and um just involved in a lot of like, you know, horror type media. Mm-hmm.
00:41:50
Speaker
I agree that it was kind of like ah shoehorned in there. But if you watch and again, I'm only four or five episodes in, I think. um
00:42:00
Speaker
Kane's version of the backrooms is is like grounded in reality. Like the backrooms itself, reality gets distorted, but he, he wants this to like be something that you could imagine happening in the real world. These portals opening and the the ones observing all this and like taking note of it is, you know, a shady kind of institution. And so maybe it wasn't like ah cleanly rendered here, but it is an important part of like,
00:42:25
Speaker
the lore of the back rooms. And I wonder if he's a bit more subtle with it in this next go around. Um, but that's, that is my, that's my feeling it for why it's there. Okay.
00:42:36
Speaker
And then you have a few other just like kind of body count characters they have to throw in there with Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell, who were, uh, you know, the assistants to, uh, Clark at the furniture store.
00:42:49
Speaker
Yeah. RIP them. Yep. Yep. um All right. Well, how scary was it? Let's get to our scarometer and let's do this the right way by ah counting down and then both sharing our our number here. All right. right.
00:43:03
Speaker
Three, two, one, five. Six. You waited way after me, but- um No, did it right when you said it. On my end, there's no delay. Maybe there's a delay. Okay.
00:43:17
Speaker
um Yeah, i think we're pretty close. We're 5.5. Definitely scary vibes. The monster itself, not super scary. um Again, shout out to ah Robert Bobrowski. but um i like to call Bob Bobrowski. The vibes got the scares there. Yeah, yeah I was initially at a five. And then as I more think about it more, and as it's like the images have stayed in my head, i'm i went up to a six. But I'm i'm happy your five is keeping us...
00:43:48
Speaker
at a 5.5 let's see where that puts us it's uh so travi we have to make it some distinctions here because we already
Scariness and Artistic Elements in 'Backrooms'
00:43:56
Speaker
have two existing 5.5 movies all right so at five is 28 days later so it's above 20 days later that we have halloween at 5.5 We have Conjuring, The Devil Maybe Do It 2021. That's 5.5. We can put it just above those.
00:44:14
Speaker
i think that for Just above The Conjuring? Yeah. yeah It's funny. It's just above The Conjuring and just below ah another Gen Z inspired craze of Five Nights at Freddy's 2 at 5.7.
00:44:26
Speaker
Oh, wow. I guess that movie did have some jump scares in it, although not a quality film by any means. um Would you agree for Backrooms? so I felt like the first half of the film was much scarier with the tension it builds up, where once they pull back the curtain a bit and you you see more of it, you see more of the monster, it kind of lost some of the scariness for me.
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, I wanted to keep going down the rabbit hole. And i feel like we stopped a little early before things got too weird. I saw glimpses of it. And now that I'm watching the web series, I see how far he can go.
00:45:02
Speaker
Again, it sounds like from interviews, man, he was like intentionally holding back just to get a foothold in this industry and then see what happens. But he wants to really unpack things like his landing spot, he says, is TV. Like he wants to do a nine part miniseries with an actual production budget. So The things I'm knocking it for, I also understand the strategic move without like completely selling his soul.
00:45:23
Speaker
um So I can't be too mad about it. But I do hope it's more true to his vision the next go-round. But yeah, first half is scarier. All right. um Highlights. What what's scenes, set pieces do we want to focus on here?
00:45:40
Speaker
Man... it's a it's it's it's It's a shot that lasts for like 30 seconds, but I really liked the ah the the room getting more and more bizarre looking. Like we're going through the levels, it's like almost like an elevator, and we're seeing this room. near the very end of the film where you see a copy upon copy of Mary the therapist.
00:46:02
Speaker
Yes. And um but I'm saying I'm but i'm saying like the elevator esque movement of that of that sequence, you know, i'm talking about where you you see the yeah the carpet changes, the the furniture starts to melt into the yeah i just level you go down and you see a different copy with more, you know, dysfunction or more uncanny valley aspect. Yeah. and like And whether you tie it to like misremembering things and like the way the mind works, like it it makes you think. And I just thought that was a great depiction of it. So that was I was a highlight for me. Yeah.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah, for me, it's going to be the first time Ejiofor goes into the back rooms. So you're like 30 minutes into the film. Again, I've made this point a few times, but I don't know what we should expect there and neither does he. You know, he first tentatively goes in there, steps back out, but then he fully immerses himself in it where I i thought it might like cut to the next day, but he starts exploring right off the bat.
00:46:55
Speaker
And that was... fascinating and a lot of tension building there as you get your best glimpse that's not like just the found footage style of the back rooms there.
00:47:06
Speaker
um So I really enjoyed that part of the film there. That was actually, I had that written down too. Like just going with him on that journey first going in. ah Totally thought that when he tried to get out, he'd be trapped. So I was surprised that he could get out Yes, exactly. Like not knowing whether he could get out or not. Like i didn't know it was passable both ways. And so a lot of that tension adds adds to why I liked it so much as you just like him are completely bewildered and not knowing yeah what the space entails.
00:47:36
Speaker
Right. i agree. Yeah. There is so much existing media inside this movie because there's like a zillion commercials and infomercials and stuff like that. But I didn't since I'm not i wasn't familiar with the lore whatever.
00:47:52
Speaker
i was not. privy to any of them. Any any Easter eggs? or i didn't i There was no deep cut I could come away with and being like, oh, did you notice this, Travis? Did you see anything? that you No. Yeah. Like you said, not being intimately familiar with the YouTube series, there was nothing that jumped off the page to me.
00:48:08
Speaker
um I do like, you know, again... I think this is supposed to be set in the 90s. And so a lot of the, even if they didn't post like analog style footage, old furniture department stores, like I really liked a lot of those aspects of it and in the feel for the film, although there's nothing specifically that seemed like, you know, it was a real life product placement or or anything maybe paying out homage to the YouTube series that I was aware of.
00:48:38
Speaker
Hold on, Trav. There is a commercial. that i that I wonder if you remember watching. It's like an infomercial. Can you hear it? Oh, yeah. You can find them.
00:48:49
Speaker
You remember this? Oh, I have seen this. Flea Market Montgomery. It's just like eight minutes. It's just like a mini mall. Come shop with us. This went viral, dude. It was on Ellen DeGeneres and stuff.
00:49:10
Speaker
Come shop. Living rooms, bedrooms, darkness. We got it. You need it. You'll find it. It's a great jingle, but you'll see why it reminded me of this movie. I think Cain on an interview did admit that he was did up as he he was inspired by this a little bit when doing the Pirate Clark.
00:49:26
Speaker
Behind the scenes commercial they're trying to film. It's just like a manny mall.
00:49:42
Speaker
You come back. Yeah, dude. Yeah. Man, ads used to be so fire. That's funny. Shout out to that guy. I do like the rival furniture stores, like much better produced ad that you watching. God damn it.
00:49:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:03
Speaker
i do like the rival furniture stores like much better produced ad that you just see clark like begrudgingly watching hates it god damn it yeah All right, I'm going to need your help on Ben Gardner, Jumpscare Award, Trav, because one I'm thinking about... I was hoping you help Okay.
00:50:24
Speaker
The one I'm thinking about, I think, was in the very beginning during the initial found footage segment. And at the very end, much like his web series...
00:50:36
Speaker
something flashes across the hallway that it came at the right time. And it just, I jumped at it. I jumped in the beginning at the end of the movie and somewhere in the middle. It three of them because the movie was so kind of like, how does like a,
00:50:53
Speaker
hallucinogenic nature to it. I had trouble like remembering certain moments because there's all these loops. it rolls you into like a hypnosis. yeah So I really had, and when I moved seats um to my real seat, I left my pen over at the other seat.
00:51:06
Speaker
So I could not take notes of that Ben Gardner jump scare award. I got so frustrated with not having my pin that I eventually did get up and go ask the couple that was at my former seats if my pin was there. And because the boyfriend was off getting a drink, it was just the girl. And I don't think she so knew that I was the guy whose seats they kicked me out of. And so she was like, what? And I said, my pin, is it still here? She's like...
00:51:26
Speaker
why would there be a pen here? And I was like, I was, and I couldn't get out the word. So I just kept walking. And then the people right next to her, i was like, what about you guys? You guys see the pen? and they're like, a pen? And i was like, fuck this. I'm like getting out of here. So I went out in the lobby and borrowed one from an employee. And then I went back the other way. I did never saw them again because I was embarrassed.
00:51:49
Speaker
So I don't have a great answer for this other than like found footage portion in the beginning. I remember being scared of it. I think that's right. um Even that very initial found footage segment, like you have the bird suddenly fly in and then he thinks it's dead and flaps its wings again. And you see like off in the distance, like a narrow gap between walls. You can see the hallway and you see a shape quickly flash across it.
Dialogue, Atmosphere, and Character Decisions
00:52:11
Speaker
um Those were definitely the biggest jump scares delivered earlier in the film or while they're still exploring. Yeah. The monster is yet to be unmasked.
00:52:19
Speaker
um What about just our cantaloupe award here for oh this is no our is a creepiest segment? The best part? You can eat them. Yeah, yeah. that That was my best line as well. That was my best line. We were just like, what? And it's like some cotton candy or stuffing filling. It almost looks like the inside of furniture. It looked like ah angel ah angel food cake to me.
00:52:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a better comparison. But you're right. There's a furniture element and he does call them furniture because they don't move. So some furniture stuffing. I feel like your mannequin expert father would maybe enjoy this movie because of like, it seemed like this movie needs more mannequins. Yeah. Yeah. You think that's the next wave of mannequins? Like they move away from like solid, uh, uh, like plaster and plastic mannequins to like, no, we need them stuffed.
00:53:12
Speaker
and e I want, you can tear this thing open and yeah. we did Yeah. That was, what did you make of that? Like, what did you think was happening there? Like why and what? i So, okay. So that's, that seems interesting. Um, uh,
00:53:28
Speaker
It probably was some of the better dialogue of the film. um Could they use that as a catalyst for he's like, oh, you're saying like she's so terrified. So she's like, you know, this is your fault. Like quit blaming other factors in your life. You've allowed yourself to evolve to this amount of delusion. And she doesn't encourage him to change. She's almost apathetic. She's like, whatever. This is the way you are. um So I like that part of the scene, but there's also like interesting parts. Like I, this was going one of my dual knives, but like, so cat who is one of his assistants, you don't see her die. It happens off screen.
00:54:04
Speaker
And this is probably going to fit a lot of our awards, including cannon fodder. Like, I don't understand that was why he has her decapitated. Yeah. Okay. So let's just get it out of the way. it's my cannon fodder as well. Like he just randomly has her decapitated head in the fridge. Like, okay. i guess that gives us closure to know she is in fact dead, but like, That seemed like such a throwaway, like random element to it.
00:54:25
Speaker
um I wonder if, it was again, if somebody has seen the whole web series, they can, you know, probably can chime in better than us. But like, I felt like he was going insane. He was trying to make sense of the memories or or miss misremembered memories. And maybe keeping the head, he can like...
00:54:46
Speaker
create another person out of that head or something with his mind. Like, I i don't know. Like, all I know is that he's trapped in this maze of his subconscious or what's projecting his subconscious. And,
00:54:58
Speaker
in trying to like manufacture his own reality, he's going to some drastic measures to manipulate things. I don't know. that That was my only soft explanation for it, but you know what? Glad it was there because we have a cannon fodder award for it. Yeah. We get cannon fodder. We get kind of one of the, you know, cringier moments where he just, uh, starts eating that man sitting at the table next to him. You know, ah another, another, uh,
00:55:22
Speaker
ah what is it? Candle up or it could have gone to him just sawing off that scalp of his wife. Yeah. We're supposed to assume that's his wife. I think so. That's supposed to be the copy of his wife. The the comment was so fleeting when he's like running through the Christmassy area of the back rooms and he briefly sees her and he makes some comment alluding to like, that's his ex-wife where i i think you're correct. But again, it was so quick. i Well, then he uses her hair to put on Renata, Mary. The role play. Yeah.
00:55:54
Speaker
Yeah. I've seen more graphic scalpings, but that was creepy. I'm probably more with you on the eating them part. um All right. Well, should we talk about, so we we talked about cannon fodder, but can we talk about our best death?
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah, go ahead. It has to be Egeo 4 getting just bited into by his own you know doppelganger or manifestation. like There's a brief moment of like maybe he's gone so crazy, they've now become buddy-buddy. He's accepted the worst version, this crazy manifestation of himself. And now it shows like the monster truly is a monster. So when he goes up to embrace it, it just starts you know chewing through his neck. Yeah.
00:56:31
Speaker
It's going do what monsters do. That seemed like a very painful bite. Like you don't often see the bite on the trapezoid right there. Just a nice trap bite felt felt. yeah And can still see him scream in agony. I thought it was a great, great choice. Yeah. Super fucked I mean, that was the most graphic death of the film or some of the other ones are off screen or you briefly catch a glimpse of like a body being dragged through a door that's closing.
00:56:54
Speaker
um So they, they sent Clark out with a bang. That's for sure. All right, Shaw, the Shyamalan Award. um It was a it was a twist to me because I don't know about the lore, but to see that there was like and it's funny, I actually didn't see this part because when I went to go get my pen, I went at a good run P time.
00:57:18
Speaker
and the app run P as you're familiar with. Yes. And it said to move, to go when he sits on the stool, he gets out of the back rooms. And I guess what I missed was that it cuts to a scientist looking at him through a monitor, which I now assume was, uh,
00:57:34
Speaker
ah So oddly enough, my Shyamalan ward is a scene that I did not see, but read my run P app. But the being that like, there's other people aware of these portals and they're examining them, observing them, stuff like that.
00:57:49
Speaker
Yeah, I like that. i I like the reveal that the monster is Clark's monster. um Again, I don't necessarily love seeing the monster at all. But if we're saying, well, what were they going for for a twist or a big reveal? That that had to be it for me once, you know, you kind of get this silhouetted shot from over the shoulder behind the monster as he emerges into the kitchen. where you're like, oh here here comes. like What's going to happen? And then you get a full shot showing, oh, it's he it's Clark in his pirate costume, a grotesque version of that. And it's another byproduct of having to kind of like toe the line to get something somewhat traditional on screen. Because again, in in Kane Parsons interviews, like he'll flat out tell you that like the entities ah in his lore and his and his storytelling are like not the central part of what's scary. The central part is like getting lost in your mind, getting lost in these mazes. like He's like the entity isn't as important as a traditional monster movie might be. But I'm guessing he put it in there because you need a bombastic third act that culminates in a monster reveal like your traditional horror does.
00:58:50
Speaker
But it's not as important as other movies. You know, I wrestle with this. You see, you know, Kane Parsons, his debut film, but you see other indie filmmakers that maybe didn't have the production budget that he was allowed. And you think of films like Paranormal Activity or Skinnamarink where they never show the entity and it remains just as scary, if not scarier because of that.
00:59:10
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of agree with you. I don't know. i don't know if it's to springboard it into more people to buy tickets so they can like end on a high note. um I want to think he's being strategic about it. Yeah. All right.
00:59:24
Speaker
I hope this one, I hope I'm throwing you a softball here. It seems like we should have the same answer, but don't go in there. um The whole movie. just this yeah I was going to say, i like to be a bit more critical, give characters some benefit of the doubt. But when Clark first goes in through that wall, it is mainly by accident. He sees it, he's freaked out, and he steps back out of it.
00:59:47
Speaker
And I think a rational human would have been like, yep that's it for me. Like, I'm going to call the authorities. I'm never going back in there again. That was so mind-blowing that that's it. And that's where I would say, nope, don't go don't go back in there, right? You had your mind blown already. That is not the time to be like, all right, it's the middle the night. No one really knows I'm here. i'm going to go on a you know, solo expert exploration mission here of the backroom. See, it makes more sense that he would though. He's got nothing to lose, man. He's, he's a failed architect. He's been kicked out of his house. He's living in the store. i think that don't go in the ward should go to the therapist because why the fuck does she like, I get it.
01:00:25
Speaker
You should care about your clients. Why are you going inside and another dimension to go see if he's okay? And he's not even a client she particularly likes. If anything, she dislikes him. i I wonder if the reason she went in was because of her own hangups in life and the regrets. And she's popping pills. He's drinking whiskey. They're both not doing great.
01:00:45
Speaker
But ah yeah ah neither of them should. I do like the element of like, After the first few times he goes in there, you see the basement room in the real world. And it looks like he's been slowly like yeah stealing furniture from the back room is to be like, all right, i got some more stock. like he He steals the stop sign, which I don't know what he's planning to do with the stop sign in his store, but he's just slowly bringing items back into reality. You can see a stop sign laying on the ground in the basement the store later. Yeah. That's hilarious.
01:01:15
Speaker
ah Yeah, neither of them should go in. I mean, I would go in because I'm curious, but I would go in as far as he did. I would just walk around a little bit. Would you go in? best If you fell in, would you stick around for a little bit or would you jump right in? That's why it's my don't go in there. If I fell in by accident or went in by accident, it would blow my mind. but i' be I would be swiftly out of there and be like, nope, I i need to go.
01:01:40
Speaker
Tell the authorities about this. I need to have the professionals handle this. This is not for me to go to school myself. I'd want a good 30 in there. Just 30 minutes is kind of scope. Oh, 30 minutes? I thought you were going to say 30 seconds. No, that's way too No, just creep around. Way too long. I mean, just stayed near the exit. All right. Best lines. We already said mine, but yeah, the best part, you can eat them.
01:02:01
Speaker
um i did like that. I liked, it's like describing a dog to someone who's never seen a dog, then asking them to draw it. Yeah, I like that. They bring it up twice in the film. And even though sometimes I don't like quotes to be redundant, I think that one serves its purpose well enough. First being used in a different situation while they are in one of their ah psych sessions earlier in the film. And then coming up later again, they kind of put a bow on that for what the back rooms are.
01:02:29
Speaker
I really like that one.
Therapist Dynamics and Personal Anecdotes
01:02:31
Speaker
ah But on the same note of repeating lines, I thought... the whole thing about we all have our loops, our habits, behaviors that keep us walking in circles. I think doing that one twice, the beginning, the end was a bit like, I, I get it.
01:02:45
Speaker
We have loops in mal the mind, the neural pathways, but yes, I did. I didn't mind the dog wouldn't go in again. Um, I have one more unless you have one. No, no, go for it. I just like the, you are your fucking brain, you dipshit.
01:03:00
Speaker
yeah when he's like blaming his brain, which I have to admit, like, you know, i got some mental health issues here and there. And sometimes I will be like, oh, my brain's doing this. My brain's doing that. I'm like, well, I am my, like, what, what am I, but my brain, you know, it's not a bad line from a therapist. that I, I do. I know nothing about psychiatry. Um, so I'm sure this isn't best practices, but I do like seeing a psychiatrist just rip into a patient a little bit to be like, all right,
01:03:26
Speaker
You're fucking insane. Like this has gone too far. I'm not going to try to coddle you anymore. Like this is you choosing to do this. Even if you're, you are sick and stuff is wrong with you. Like the end of the day, you are making these poor and crazy decisions right now.
01:03:43
Speaker
One time I had a therapist tell me, you know, i i wasn't doing something I wanted to do. I was like, I wasn't picking up good habits. And I was like, man, I'm mad that I just can't do it. And he's like, well, maybe you don't want to. And I was like, no, I just can't figure it out. He's like, he's like well, if you want to do it, you've already done it by now.
01:04:01
Speaker
And I was like, what the hell, man? i was like, I'm trying, like, I'm coming to see you. I'm paying you 250 bucks an hour. Like, and you're just going to tell me that, like, I'm just not going to amount to anything. and he's like, well, if that's, you want to hear it.
01:04:14
Speaker
So I was always pissed at him for that. We stopped seeing each other shortly thereafter. Cut to like two years later, I'm going to see a new shrink. And they're like, hey, can you see me the records of your old guy? So I go to Google his office to like call them because I haven't talked to them in while. Turns out like a month before had gone crazy, brandished a firearm, threatened his wife, pointed it at his lawyer, and then was caught, headed towards North Park Mall with like 2,000 rounds of ammunition and two firearms and just like a bunch of drugs his car. And like, I just remember seeing that photo. And dude, Travis, the photo of him,
01:04:53
Speaker
of his mugshot dude. he' He's strapped to a gurney. They had to like, they had to like, it is crazy. so He has this crazy smile on his face. It's insane. And he's like completely went nuts. And I was like, Oh, I'm glad that I was paying this guy to like go inside my head here.
01:05:10
Speaker
Look, this is the picture. This is him when they caught him. ah no I wish him well. I hope that he gets out of the the place he's in ah someday. but ah He's in the back rooms now. He's definitely in the back rooms now. Dude, he's in the back rooms for sure. He needs to fucking figure it out.
01:05:30
Speaker
ah All right. Dole Knives. I've kind of brought some of mine up to the pod and the decapitated head and maybe some needless backstory and trauma dumping on the characters.
01:05:42
Speaker
As far as a critique of the thing, I've talked about the writing already. As far as what I don't understand, So when Renata or sorry, Mary is her name in the movie is talking to Mark Duplessis character, of the scientist, and he's asking her questions and she's asking him, he's answering some, he's like, yeah, we found this thing and like, we don't know to do with it. We don't know what it is, but we just can't stop looking at it and studying it And she's like, what are you going to do with me? And he doesn't answer.
01:06:09
Speaker
So are we to assume they just like put her back in there and then she becomes a distorted image of herself? Like, how did she get like whose memory is she and why does she have multiple eyes just like the furniture people that she would tell Edge her saw? Like I'm trying to what how did you make from the jump from talking to scientists to becoming distorted furniture person?
01:06:33
Speaker
Yeah, i I guess as new memories are created, maybe new back rooms are created. Like it's kind of a living space is my understanding. But again, there's a lot mystery shrouding that. I know, but like, so she, what, they they usher her back into the back rooms and they just leave her there and then she becomes one of those people?
01:06:54
Speaker
Well, no, no, I think... I think there's different levels to the back rooms. And so where you see the real Mary at the end of the film, I'm not sure if that's in the back rooms, if it's just outside of it in a lab, but since that new memory has now been created, the you can actually go into the real back rooms and see copies of that same scene oh so down below.
01:07:17
Speaker
Of her talking to the scientist. So she might still be somewhere in there, but what we're seeing is um is a copy of that memory
Character Fate and Sequel Speculations
01:07:26
Speaker
of that image. Yeah. I think we've seen that with other aspects of it looks like her childhood home, like the living room, there's copies of that that they explore, you know, just the basement of the furniture store. That's the direct room you can go into when you cross into the liminal space. It's a copy of that. Where do you think she is like the real Mary?
01:07:45
Speaker
I don't, you know, they leave it kind of vague and classic, like evil scientist. Like going to keep you around. We're going to keep you. We can't really, you know, I can't disclose that with you. um i wouldn't be surprised if they do make a sequel, if they completely disregard the character of Mary and Clark. They keep the scientist in it likely. but I almost, I mean, his in his miniseries, he has different characters almost each time so far. and Everyone I've seen has been a different person. So ah again, the the main character is the back rooms.
01:08:16
Speaker
Yeah. my My only other dull knife that I hadn't brought up thus far is if you remember earlier in the film, the the way Clark discovers the back rooms is he has electrician out to his furniture store. It sounds like he has a high utility bill.
01:08:29
Speaker
um And he's like, you know, what what is going on? What are these lights that are going on in the middle of the night? And it looks like he's providing power to the back rooms. But my understanding is the back rooms is...
01:08:40
Speaker
you know, hundreds of square miles, if not infinite. So that wouldn't be like, oh, my bill was 10% higher this month. That'd be like, why do I have like a $30 million electrical use bill? So I don't know exactly, maybe he's only powering part of the back rooms. They're, they're, Maybe they're motion-sensored, so they only turn on when they hear it's footsteps. Yeah, maybe. Although you didn't quite see that in any of the back rooms with lights coming on as you through the Maybe they're really, really good. It's like they can hear a pin drop. It's sensitive from a few rooms away. Right.
01:09:13
Speaker
that's That's a million-dollar idea. so so So that was just a ton of electricity what I had to have been providing where it's more than just like, why was my bill a little high this month? But like there's a serious anomaly that the electric company would be immediately aware of. yeah Why just electric and not other infrastructure? Like is there air conditioning or heat? Is there plumbing?
01:09:32
Speaker
Just electric is the only thing that manages to make its way into the back rooms. There was some water. Like we saw a pool at one point, although I don't know if there was an appropriate like drain system or water supply to refill Well, like you said, Trav, you guys are running, jumping in pools during a drought. So I guess the water just stays there. Because that's the embodied water. Yeah. Good point. We'd bring all back. Yeah.
01:09:53
Speaker
Yeah. All right, winners and losers? Winners and losers. All right, one winner I had, getting kicked out of your house while owning a furniture shop. That's the best case scenario because you don't have to go buy a new apartment or like drop rent. You can just go sleep on a nice bed. like and you ever love that reveal.
01:10:15
Speaker
We didn't mention it in the twist, but like the zoom out and you see that the bed he's staying in watching TV is just a bed in the furniture. I think it just cut. It's just a hard cut. it' just him and That's right. Yeah. But yeah, it's like ah what a winning combination. Like, yes, it sucks that you got kicked out of your house by your wife, but if you're going to be kicked out, that's the best business to own.
01:10:35
Speaker
Nice beds. um I just have cinematography as a winner here in in its various forms in this film. Love when, even if they didn't post like the ah the analog style, we've mentioned this on other films before, just always inherently creeper creepier.
01:10:51
Speaker
um I also love you know found footage. I truly believe found footage. I can't think of a better purpose for found footage um viewing other than for horror movies. And so I love that we're treated to bits of that through this film as well.
01:11:06
Speaker
Yeah. I want to see more of it. I'd like more found footage, handheld shit next, his next go around. I do love the cinematic look of the the wide angle lens and like the 1.85 aspect ratio.
01:11:20
Speaker
but ah there is something kind of claustrophobic and creepy about the mini DV stuff that, uh, I like this film, you know, switch between the two of them, right? It creates excuses for why we see some of it through found footage perspective and some of it through more wide angle, um, more, more traditional or current, uh, viewing experience. And so I like that we get both of them here. Yeah, i agree.
01:11:44
Speaker
Um, Another one I had, Blender. what ah what is What a ringing endorsement for Blender. Yeah, seriously. Free open source software. The only thing holding back is your own skill level skill level and your own time. So if you have free time, then the only reason you're not succeeding is because you're just not good at rendering images.
01:12:09
Speaker
If you don't have free time, find some and you can be the next Kane Parsons. I also had infomercials as winning because there's a lot of them and I want to go back and like remember all the jingles. Yes, yes. I did like the infomercials
Real Estate Challenges and Abandoned Places
01:12:21
Speaker
in this. um For losers, i mean, my my only loser really is like commercial real estate.
01:12:27
Speaker
i think this rings true right now with a lot of, you know, after the remote work shift, you have a lot of like vacant office buildings or old department stores. And even though this film was set like back in the 90s, we're seeing this come into play again. And it's just a sad rep reminder of, It may be cautionary tale of like we built up too much for what we expected the traditional American life would look like decades from now. And that's not ringing true.
01:12:55
Speaker
Trav always wanted to to bring a heartfelt ah tone to real estate. I appreciate it. um Yeah. Valley View Mall in Dallas ah has long been a an area of intrigue for like teens and artists and stuff because it's this snapshot of mall culture, but everything has been abandoned. They didn't do anything with the property for so long. Yeah.
01:13:18
Speaker
Two fun notes on that. One, that's where the new Mavs Stadium is going. The Mavs Arena. Valley View. Why are they building? I love the American Airlines Center. That's such a fun spot, too. Why do you think? theyre because Well, because of commercial real estate, Trav. Y'all's rent's too high. Okay? Man, that's so sad. Like the plaza surrounding it and stuff is such a fun venue. stars the stars The stars are going to Plano. There'll be a 10-minute walk for me. And then the Mavs are going to Valley View. Dallas is really bad at being like the worst part of like Americans prioritizing like car commuting versus like publicly walking to areas. Cause with their football, with the Cowboy Stadium, with the Ranger Stadium already in Arlington, like yeah we're going to shout out to Denver for having all our stadiums downtown. Cause at least it's all walkable, all fairly close to public transit. yeah
01:14:04
Speaker
I love having that here. commuting it's like i think dallas is horrible at nurturing culture they just like tear shit down they they just painted over that wyland painting of the whales downtown to make for a fifa ad and i'm like just put a poster over it for a fucking month it's horrible yeah um but also that valley view abandoned mall is also one of the images that inspired kane parsons in his work oh is he from dallas No, I think he saw a picture of it.
01:14:33
Speaker
um Okay. Yeah. And so ah the oldest view, which is his web series before back rooms that basically has a, it's a found footage mystery where he's, somebody's exploring an abandoned mall.
01:14:48
Speaker
He completely replicated Valley view mall in blender. And that's what the oldest view is. Yeah, abandoned. So we we did a barbarian pod like, i don't know, nine months ago, which captures kind of the essence of like residential Detroit and some of these neighborhoods that been abandoned and left to time. And this is such a winning concept for horror because there's there's the scary aspect of like, oh, there's, you know, it's a spooky looking area because it's decrepit, but it's also like you can internalize a bit more like this is sad to see what used to be a thriving, you know, bustling area with now just no one there.
01:15:26
Speaker
sad to see the deterioration of like the American dream to some extent. Yeah. I'm sad that during my five years in Dallas, I've never seen them all. That sounds like something, you know, the horror me would have loved to go explore. You can view a replica of it on the oldest view. Via his web series. That's a good point.
01:15:41
Speaker
Because it's a three three d imagining. um All right. A
Therapist Portrayals in Film
01:15:46
Speaker
loser I had was therapy. Uh, this is a therapist who's not listening to her own advice. She's just out there to to sell books, popping pills, lonely.
01:15:58
Speaker
ah not a great example of role play. I would say, ah towards the end, I've, I've been at some therapy camps, Trav, where we do role play. it was a lot more civil than being strapped to a dining room table. I know that was not her fault. I'm just saying therapy in general is just not getting a good look here in this movie. It's not very effective. yeah yeah She's up there with of the worst therapists in film. You know, I think of like Vera Farmiga in The Departed sleeping with her clients. You can't do that. I mean, think about, um have you ever seen What About Bob with yes Dreyfus and Bill Murray? Like they also not a good therapist. They actually hated each other. If you include psychiatrists, you can include Dr. Hannibal Lecter in this as well. yeah That's true. That's a great point. That one might be the apex bad. Might be the worst. From just bullying your patients to eating them might be a step in the other direction.
01:16:51
Speaker
ah Call back to Angel Food Cake. um I had it loser, but now the more think about it, it made me want to eat it more. So maybe it's a winner. Yeah, wasn't.
01:17:03
Speaker
We've seen a lot of horror films where character is eating something which is revolting, even if it's something like um yeah ah The Substance, where you see Dennis Quaid eating shrimp. I love shrimp, and watching him eat it was disgusting. This is one of those where it's like, oh, he's eating people, at the same time, you're like, yeah, that looks kind of good. I'm interested. there's no blood. There's no bones. Yeah. I'm interested, at least. It's like mana.
01:17:26
Speaker
You and your cannibalism references.
Celebrating Kane Parsons and Teasers for Future Episodes
01:17:29
Speaker
Just cannibalist curious Ricky over here. Look, I just think you should always try something once is what I'm saying. ah Who is your scream, Queen or King?
01:17:41
Speaker
I think we have to be the same one here. But um yes, it's Kane Parsons. I can't imagine anything different here because yeah like we said, he's the reason this film works. um Just like we made Curry Barker a Scream King for for Obsession. No, we didn't. Were we indie? Yeah, all of us. we that and i I like that. So we have some variety. I get worried sometimes we're always going to default to the director.
01:18:05
Speaker
um I think we gave him honorable mention then. But yes, this time Obsession had a lot of great pieces working for it with Indy Navarette being one of them. And that makes sense why we gave her the Scream Queen honors. This film I think was very much on the shoulders of Cain Parsons. And all that's good seems to truly come from him.
01:18:24
Speaker
um i'm'm I'm going to probably see it again. And I'm down for the second part. And I'm going keep watching the miniseries. I'm getting, i go of the web series. I'm getting hooked. I'm falling down. I'm falling down the back rooms.
01:18:36
Speaker
Yeah. I think what this does for horror will be seen as more impactful than the the merits of this film in and of itself, right? I think this is just very cool to see another YouTube to silver screen transition. the the vibes of this film, like you said, the creepypasta, liminal spaces, ah you know, ah less of a standard vibe.
01:18:59
Speaker
three act film, at least his web series was this tries to maybe come back to fit the mold. And so I think King Parsons introduces a lot of really cool ideas that I'm sure we will see now copy pasted in the future with more films like this. And I'm excited for that.
01:19:13
Speaker
Well, Trav, you you added your own creepypastas to the lore because you sent me a photo of a home you're listing soon, um which definitely has some back rooms vibes. we we're I should have mentioned like we're we're putting a new flooring, new carpet, new lighting. So that's pre-renovation. But that basement space is legit scary and feels just like the back rooms. Dude, the way this picture is a little off kilter. It's got the same yellowish color into it. It's got stained carpets. I've got like weird lighting coming around the corner. I think you should put this in 4chan, man. I know that was I know that you're on there. I know you're trying to say you're not.
01:19:52
Speaker
I hear a little projecting here coming from you, Rick. Awesome. Well, that does it for us this week. Thank you guys for listening. We are re-emerging back on our social media channels. If you want to follow us on Letterboxd, if you want to follow our Instagram account for the Sunday Scaries pod, the SundayScaries.pod.
01:20:13
Speaker
um Be happy see you guys there. i i imagine I think the next Sunday main show that we'll be dropping, Trav, is likely going to be an Evil Dead related movie. I hope so. We're going accept. Yeah. Talking about upcoming releases, we completely ah did not mention yet. We are very excited for the next installment of the evil dead franchise. So we're going to try to hopefully catch you guys up on some of the earlier installments. So Sam Raimi's installments prior to this one drop in.
01:20:40
Speaker
Yeah. And and post Sam Raimi. You got Lee Cronin and ah Fetty Alvarez. So we got some we got some movies to go through if we do it. No promises.
01:20:51
Speaker
Awesome. All right. Well, thank you guys for listening. We'll see you next week. i Bye.
01:21:11
Speaker
you you could have swapped You could have swapped out those actors with anybody. ah it'd be the It'd be the same movie, honestly. I think it's completely... he He seems like he doesn't have a huge ego, but on interviews, he is pretty clear that like he's pretty meticulous. and it's Danny Trejo and Awkwafina. We're getting the same movie.
01:21:35
Speaker
What? Danny Trejo is the lead and Awkwafina is the therapist. I believe you heard that movie. All right. That's a bit of a stretch. Um,