Displaying items by tag: Kane Parsons

BACKROOMS

US, 2026, 110 minutes, Colour.

Chiwitel Ejiofor, Renata Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Robert Bobroczjyi..

Directed by Kane Parsons.

In 2026, movie box office commentators were amazed that two very small budget horror films, written and directed by young men in their 20s, excited the wide public imagination and broke box office records in the first month of their release. The first was Obsession, directed by Curry Barker. The second was Backrooms, written and directed by Kane Parsons, who in his teens, produced films for Youtube, found footage of action in strange rooms. He directed Backrooms when he was 20.

One advantage for this story is the strong leading roles played by veteran Chiwitel Ejiofor as the owner of a large furniture store and Swedish actress, Renate Reinsve as his therapist.

The film opens with some found footage, some strange characters but a strong emphasis on very large rooms which will become the feature of the central action of this film. Clarke, Ejiofor, doesn’t have many customers, has separated from his wife, has gone for counselling. But he engages a friend with a camera to film some commercials, himself as a pirate of olden days.

Sensing something behind the wall of his office, he actually passes through it into those backrooms, the audience exploring with the camera roving, strange rooms, some with odd contents, piles of furniture, staircases, basements, seemingly never-ending. But Clarke can emerge through the wall back into his office.

His idea then is to get the young man and his assistant to go through the walls, filming, exploring. And, eventually persuades the therapist to venture into the backrooms.

And, then it becomes more sinister, a giant pirate captain pursuing Clarke, the therapist more and more lost, more and more terrified – and some violent action.

The screenplay demands some attention at the end, information about a company, since disbanded, creating rooms and experimenting with the human psyche – and, the story of the therapist as a little girl, watching the demolishing of her house with sadness, which was to become the location for the furniture store and the backrooms.

How much of this action is happening in the mind of the therapist?

The film is billed as horror but it is more a film of continued uneasiness, a sense of menace, moments of violence, a tantalisingly curious story.

1. Box office success of the film, the appeal to the younger audience? The origins on YouTube? The age of the director? A film of the 2020s?
2. The YouTube background, clips, found footage? Elaborated in your screenplay? Drama, sense of menace, disorientation, touches of horror?
3. The opening, bewilderment, the found footage, the backrooms? The later explanation of the company, experiments, creativity, failure, observing behaviour?
4. Introduction to Clarke, his furniture store, the vast showroom, no customers, his staff, the filming of the commercial, the pirate captain, his style, Bob as photographer, Kat as assistant? Clerk falling off the chair, the collapse?
5. Clark, to his therapist, Mary, her age, presence, style, questions, getting into dialogue with her as her being his wife, the truth, his drinking, work, blaming others for his failure, as an architect, the shop, leaving the house? His sense of disorientation?
6. The episodes with going through the wall, puzzle, returning, the architecture of the rooms, vastness, the various contacts, the furniture file, the reverse Stop sign, stairs, basements, the various levels, the colour scheme, the whiteness of the walls? The effect on Clark, bewilderment, puzzle, his architects I?
7. His calling in Bob and Kat, the camera, their apprehension, going through the wall, the exploration, lowering Bolt down into the passage, the room, listening the rope, pulling, being dragged down? The effect on Bob and Kat, disappearance?
8. The further bewilderment, the range of rooms, the fastness? The appearance of the giant pirate, the confrontation, Clark and his death?
9. The role of Mary, as a little girl, the house being pulled down, her regrets, the fingerprints in the clay? Her hoping this present? The trauma of the house? The effect on her mind?
10. Mary, at the store, entering through the wall, the confrontations with Clark, the discussions, the tensions, psychological conflict, talking with him as therapist? In the room, the figure of the table, the woman standing, the man in the chair, Clark and his explanations, removing the woman’s school, playing placing it on Mary’s head? The discussions and interactions? The appearance of the giant pirate, killing clerk?
11. Mary, her continuing through the backrooms, the effect, the pursuit of the pirate, her being tracked, his violence, the various rooms and the defence, her escapes, her attacking the pirate? The effect on her, all this happening in her mind?
12. The rescue, Phil, the company, the explanations? The ultimate effect for Mary?