Light spoilers for “Backrooms” and “Obsession” ahead
A strange post had been made on the popular forum platform 4chan on May 12, 2019. An eerie room filled with yellow wallpaper and matching yellow lights, the room seemed to repeat onwards just around the bend.
This sparked a shared feeling of familiarity and unease at the sight of a room at the back of an office, or perhaps a furniture store. Years later, a man who created a world of sublime looping rooms on YouTube from the original image named Kane Parsons has just this summer interpreted it into a movie, being his biggest project yet: “Backrooms.”
As an avid user of the internet, I loved it. With only games and the odd creepypasta being transformed into blockbuster movies, it was exactly what I would want to see from something like the backrooms which is more of an accepted internet concept rather than an official category.
As the weeks have passed from its original release the conversation of “Backrooms” has not slowed down. The internet has done its duty of keeping the conversation going. Of course in the conversation there will be backlash to the movie. Simple cries of “I didn’t like it” — or the more extreme “this is the worst movie ever”. These normally don’t make me turn my head.
But one thing I have found rather unfortunate is the comparison treatment the movie has been given by those who favored “Obsession.”
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It seems to me people watched “Obsession” and then went into “Backrooms” expecting some aspect that was the same. Full transparency, I have not seen “Obsession.” Though with the amount of clips of it that have come across my for-you-page I have practically seen it all. And my thought on one of these things people wanted from “Backrooms” that they were never going to get? Something easy to grasp that made them feel intellectual.
It is no secret Bear in “Obsession” follows the”‘nice guy” trope. To declare he is the true villain, especially as a male viewer, is considered a hot but true take by these viewers, even though it is a very obvious observation especially to people who have met someone like Bear.
“Backrooms” does not have a “show don’t tell” effect in the same way as “Obsession.” In “Backrooms,” it is made clear from the start that Clark is the villain. This time there is no proposed “subtlety,” he completely owns it and is then consumed by it. What there is to be interpreted and picked up on is what the setting of the backrooms is and means. And with that being more abstract, a viewer looking for an easy theme to pick up on might completely ignore it.
Personally, I think looking at “Backrooms” with “Obsession” being your blueprint is hindering you from an indulging and warping experience of the mind and your past. And if you don’t like it afterwards, then that’s alright. Just know, you are guaranteed to hate it if you’ve expected “Obsession: Part 2.”