Shadows on the Wall

Backrooms

dir Kane Parsons
scr Will Soodik
prd James Wan, Michael Clear, Roberto Patino, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen
with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia, Robert Bobroczkyi, Ember Ambrose, Krista Kosonen, Philip Granger, Katharine Isabelle, Peter New
release US/UK 29.May.26
extended US/UK 3.Jul.26
26/Canada A24 1h50/2h05

Is it streaming?

Having missed this hit when it opened, I caught the Everything Must Go version, adding a 15-minute found-footage sequence after the credits that provides intriguing texture (and some nice jump scares). The film inventively exploits the creepiness of a confusing space that mixes familiarity with anachronistic freakiness. Because director Kane Parsons so adeptly appeals to the audience's curiosity, he is able to build a superbly unsettling vibe.

In 1990 San Jose, Clark (Ejiofor) manages a quirky furniture store, speaking to therapist Mary (Reinsve) about the breakdown of his marriage and derailment of his architecture career. Then in the shop basement he discovers a wall that he can walk through, entering a cavernous maze of yellow-wallpapered office space in which everything seems wrong. And something is moving around in there. He asks shop clerk Kat (Maxwell) to bring her boyfriend Bobby (Bennett) and his videocamera to document this, going further into these eerie rooms. Later, Mary finds the portal while looking for Clark.

Mixing in first-person VHS-quality video, the film plays up the intrigue this situation generates, so want to explore this series of spaces that seem to defy every rule of logic. And when nasty noises and shadowy figures emerge, our hearts start beating as quickly as the characters on-screen, even if it's their specific fears and failures that they are facing. Most impressive is how Parsons sustains suspense, creating a terrifying atmosphere that's augmented by the occasional side-glimpse of grisliness or a longer view of something incomprehensible.

Within this, performances remain fairly grounded, especially the always remarkable Reinsve, who layers Mary's haunting nightmares into the story. Ejiofor has the tricky job of making an unlikeable man sympathetic, because Clark is, yes, the architect of his troubles. So he slightly overplays the blustering Clark, a man who brushes off any sense of responsibility. And then there's Duplass as the mysterious Phil, who is alertly watching what's going on in these rooms, and may know something. Or not.

While the movie is essentially an experiment in brightly lit horror, it also playfully taps into issues relating to memories, especially the repressed kind that can send our minds privately spinning. This adds resonant subtext to the nutty situation as it unfolds, digging deeper into the characters than we expect. The revelations in the final sequence are refreshingly vague, maintaining the central enigma while offering just enough information to keep us thinking. So a sequel is unnecessary, but inevitable.

themes, language, violence 6.Jul.26

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