'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut

peteforde

I'm a long-term "OG" Kane Pixels fan. I took a friend to see the opening night preview and we both loved it. Anyone not familiar with Kane - who was 16 when he started making his "found footage" films in Blender - the guy is a truly brilliant mind. Listening to him talk... you can close your eyes and he speaks like someone middle aged. It's almost uncanny. Anyhow, in addition to his genuinely excellent Backrooms videos, I highly recommend you turn off the lights and take in his The Oldest View series as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjY897CCu4g&list=PLVAh-MgDVq... He painstakingly recreated a random demolished suburban Texas mall from archival footage. It's wild how good he is at this.

Modified3019

I really enjoyed it. I had no idea what a “backrooms movie” would end up being, but it was exactly what I could have hoped for having enjoyed his other work. Honestly creators from youtube putting out movies recently has probably been the most interested in going out to see something in years.

wewewedxfgdf

I saw it. I'm not a young Internet kid. And I enjoyed it - it's quite clever, I never cringed at terrible dialogue, people behaved in ways that you would expect them to in strange circumstances. Worth seeing. Amazing it was made by a 20 year old.

squidsoup

Showing alongside Obsession, another horror film made by a YouTuber.

lwansbrough

I think people are excited for new ideas in cinema. A24’s track record is far from perfect, but I respect their willingness to try things. In my opinion, this movie is no exception. Very meandering and largely devoid of any real plot. Did a good job holding the tension at points, but ultimately fell flat in delivering on that tension. Probably worth a watch if you enjoy the genre. If you’re someone who just enjoys a good story, this is a pretty easy skip.

ramenat2am

That really shows the hunger for original stories and IC among cinephiles. Major studios were too afraid to produce something fresh instead of numberless sequels and reboots in the last decade or so.

ChrisArchitect

The what? Horror something? ....started on 4chan? Yeah, immediate aboutface here. And reading wiki articles about it that throw around words like "creepypasta" like that's widely understood? Liminal spaces I get. Reminds of Severance . And anyways, how is this worth going to a theater for? <Shrug> A24 has done well. Is 81M considered breaching 'mainstream'? Because these niche horror things being portrayed as part of the greater 'culture' is tiring.

dgan

I practically never watch any movies because they are almost always trash, but decided to go watch Obsession after seeing a youtuber (penguinZ) talking positively about it Yeah it's pretty good. I am in my late 30. Excited for Backrooms which isnt yet available

fmajid

Chiwetel Ejiofor is a phenomenal actor, that probably helped. This is more of an indictment of Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy than anything, strip-mining Star Wars or Marvel will only take you so far.

deadbabe

Now that Backrooms has been a hit, I wonder if we’ll ever get a House of Leaves movie, which was somewhat of an inspiration for the original backrooms lore.

atleastoptimal

All they had to do was simply hire a talented person who knows how to make compelling narrative art. This is lost on the movie industry, though Hollywood has been treading water for over a decade now, failing to examine its failures and coasting on inertia. In general, there is sooo much free money on the ground for large, hierarchical American corporations to do the following 1. Give young talented people resources and freedom 2. Don't put them through endless bullshit internal status games The reason why the tech industry in the US thrives so much is partially due to the fact that it is one of the few industries that gives people high salaries and agency in their roles without a huge amount of experience. Almost everywhere else is just an artifically gated series of internal politics, nepotism and pointless rituals in too-big-to-fail industries, which attract people who prefer these games over actual results.

moralestapia

Glad to see another 4chan original going mainstream. <:)

spartanatreyu

No spoilers below: The movie was great but it's not a stand-alone movie, it is a small piece of the full story so don't go in thinking that everything will be explained and tied up in a neat little bow. The movie takes place in Kane Pixel (the movie director's) youtube series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVAh-MgDVqvDUEq6qDXqO... It makes a lot more sense if you watch the full youtube series first.

HDBaseT

Sucks this film had exclusivity rights for different cinemas.

Triphibian

Backrooms and a new Boards of Canada record coming out on the same weekend feels like some kind of cultural signal.

prvc

The new Star Wars movie grossed $81.6 million at its debut last weekend, for comparison.

yobid20

omg my family we all went to see this today and we were all raging at the end. this is one of the dumbest movies any of us have ever seen. no plot. no point. complete waste of my life that i will never get back.

kev009

I wonder how much of this is a kind of alternate nostalgia like Vaporwave. Similar to the aesthetic draw of Severance. Wandering around the halls of some functional institution was definitely a childhood past time of mine. Now still wondering how our parents and grandparents enjoyed private office space, lounge furniture designed by professional celebrities like Eames, and time, doing more with less. Now stuck at home or wandering in some open plan space that looks like college kids got permission to use a charge card at Ikea.

haunter

The music from the new Boards of Canada album (which just got released this weekend) was the cherry on the top for me