As someone who watches a lot of horror and usually sits through most films with a completely straight face, Backrooms genuinely caught me a few times. And honestly, that alone says a lot. It is one of the few horror films in recent memory that actually made me jump instead of just appreciating the atmosphere from a distance.
The pacing is one of the film’s biggest strengths. It starts with a slow build, carefully introducing the strange world you are about to enter without rushing into chaos too quickly. That patience pays off massively later on. By the final section of the film, the tension becomes relentless. You could genuinely feel the audience reacting around the room, people leaning forward, gripping their seats, or half hiding behind them during certain moments.
As a fan of the original YouTube Backrooms series, I was relieved this felt like a genuine extension of that world rather than a watered down version of it. The film understands what made the original concept work in the first place. That feeling of endless isolation and being trapped somewhere that should not exist is still very much present throughout.
Chiwetel Ejiofor was fantastic in this. His erratic behaviour and unusual mannerisms added so much to the suspense and overall tone of the film. There is an unpredictability to his performance that constantly keeps you uneasy because you are never fully sure how he is going to react next.
Visually, the film captures the unnatural emptiness of the Backrooms perfectly. A lot of the horror comes from the environments themselves rather than relying purely on monsters or gore. The spaces feel wrong in a way that is difficult to explain, and the film uses that discomfort really well.
In Summary
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Backrooms. It is tense, creepy, well paced, and one of the rare horror films that genuinely got reactions out of me. If you are already a fan of the original series, this feels like a worthy continuation. And even if you are completely new to the concept, it still works as a genuinely effective horror film. I would absolutely recommend it.
I grew up in the Blockbuster Video days, when picking a film meant judging the cover and hoping for the best. I’m not a critic by trade — I just call it how I see it, whether a film smashes it or falls flat on its face.
