The Backrooms theatrical trailer dropped this morning – 3 hours later than everyone thought it would. But any wait was certainly worth it! The trailer ticks all of the boxes when it comes to something that many of us Backrooms fans were hoping it would be.
I won’t give a description of the trailer, because it wouldn’t do it justice. But if you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for! View it below.
It Feels Like Kane Pixels
The first thing that should be mentioned about the trailer is that it looks and feels like something Kane has done – just now he’s evolved beyond Blender and YouTube, be a director on a feature film. From the moment it starts, it has the same feel. Although we are only seeing a selection of scenes, it feels like something that has been produced by a more experienced director.
The performance of both Chiwatel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve seemed top notch and extremely professional – although they are both Oscar nominated actors. It looks as though Kane has had no trouble adjusting to working with actors of a higher caliber. And last year Renate had nothing but praise for Kane Parsons in media interviews, but also the crew working on the movie when an image from her last day was posted by one of the crew members on Instagram.
Many people were also happy that a found footage element would still be present. While it isn’t a full found footage movie, it appears that there will be components of such as Clark explores the Backrooms to provide proof to Mary (we can see this is the name of Renate’s character in a frame showing a book she has written). This format allows a format that has become synonymous with the Backrooms to be combined with regular movie filming techniques.
As someone who is a fan of the found footage genre in general, I’m very happy that this filming technique will still be used.
The Original Photo Recreated
One of the highlights for me personally is the recreation of the area in the original photo. As most Backrooms fans will tell you, the original photo (as well as the text) are literally the single most important thing about the Backrooms. No matter what lore we follow, it all originated from here. Without them, this movie wouldn’t exist and Kane likely wouldn’t be directing his first feature film at 20.
For him to include this in the trailer (and very likely the movie itself) shows that he too has so much respect for the origin. For him, the origin was when he originally saw the image on Instagram and decided to recreate it in Blender – before he even had thought of Backrooms Found Footage. On top of that it also feels like a nod to fans everywhere, for it is us who will recognize this and not the regular movie-goer attending the film.
Several scenes also have a very audible sound of hum-buzz lights. While what appears to be moist carpet can be spotted in the area that is down the shaft.
Even the setting of a furniture store is a direct nod to the origin – as it was a furniture store called Rohner’s that gave the original location the decor and design that were photographed as in that original photo. If that’s not enough, the sign that says A24 at the start of the trailer, actually uses the same font as the HobbyTown logo – which of course was the store at the original location when it was discovered.
No-Clipping
One of the things that many fans – myself included – were concerned about is that no-clipping would be replaced with a physical doorway. This is because the official synopsis mentioned a “doorway” in the basement of a furniture showroom. But in fact it appears said doorway is actually a place where the Backrooms can be accessed – what is referred to as a Null Zone in Kane’s lore, We actually get to see Renate’s character no clip through the wall! Seeing the first no-clip on camera was certainly an amazing sight to see! Another exciting moment for us fans.
Async
Kane had said in the past that the movie wouldn’t be focused around Async. However that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t make an appearance. or even be involved in some way. This was confirmed with the trailer when we saw three people in Hazmat suits – including a green suit which we haven’t seen before. Of interest though is that there is no Async logo visible on the suits like there is in the series. This may or may not be intentional, Or it may just be behind the canister that two of them are fighting over.
References and Easter Eggs
The trailer is also full of many references to things in Kane’s series. And while we have watched his series many times, we’re not at the level of someone like our friend @kanehypeguy when it comes to Kane’s Backrooms lore so I’m sure there’s things I’ve missed. But some of the things we picked up on include;
- The Wallpaper – as expected, both the iconic Chevron wallpaper and the Quixel wallpaper used in most of Kane’s YouTube series were present (there also appeared to be dotted wallpaper used in the area based on the original location).
- The Furniture – random furniture can be seen in various episodes of the series. A tower of furniture was also teased by Kane on his Instagram last year in a post hinting at more YouTube episodes.
- Upside Down Stop Sign – similar to the U-turn and arrow signs in the episode Pitfalls which point in various directions.
- The Map – the map that Clark draws shows areas that can be seen in the series – in particular the cross-shaped walls.on the paper map in Motion Detected and that are in the scale model from Static Dead End.
- Cardboard Cutout – a cardboard cutout can be seen at the end of the hallway when Clark first arrives – much like the caveman cutout from Found Footage 3.
- Brighter Yellow Walls – most of the walls we see are a more muted lemon yellow. However the area that Finn Bennett’s character is being lowered into appears to have the brighter yellow that we see in the YouTube series.
- Red Area – this reminds us of outside the Unknown Father’s House in Found Footage 3 where random objects and statues can be seen clipping into the ground. While the red tinge is reminiscent of the Red Neighborhood/City, the area doesn’t look like such.
- Wires Along the Ground – used by Async in various episodes to mark their way back.
- Black Mold – can be seen on the on the ground at the bottom of the shaft. Could it be relating to Bacteria or is it just due to the area appearing to have moist carpet.
If you have any more that you have spotted, leave a comment below and I’ll add them to the list.
Liminal Spaces
While we all know that the movie would contain the liminal spaces that The Backrooms is known for, what I didn’t expect was the feeling of such to carry over. In comments online, I came across many people who said that the trailer evoked a sense of unease or made them feel uncomfortable. But for me, I didn’t feel that at all. For me, I felt a sense of fascination, wonder and excitement. Certain areas caused me to even get chills – but not because I was scared, no the chills I got were from seeing the Backrooms recreated in this way, in a way that felt so real.
My theory is that people who feel uncomfortable when they are in a liminal space, are the same people who felt this way with the trailer. While, I am someone who always feels happy and comforted when I’m in a liminal space so this could be why I felt the way I did instead.
I also found it interesting seeing Clark’s reaction to being in the Backrooms as being that of someone who gets positive feelings from liminal spaces. Although he seems hesitant to explore at at first, he appears to become fascinated by it (whether this from his own volition, or whether it is something the Complex is causing). Even when he says he feels he might get lost, there sounds like excitement in his voice. And his line at the end where he says that “it’s beautiful, am I right?” shows how he is viewing the place. Perhaps we might see an exploration of how some people can get positive feelings from these types of spaces (of course being a horror movie, I’m sure something happens to change his mind!). Which would be a parallel to those who find them unsettling as it appears Mary might.
Liminal Music
A surprising part of the trailer’s soundtrack was the inclusion of the the track “Six Forty Seven” by Instupendo. What many fans consider being liminal music, this song is often is used in both liminal space and Backrooms videos. It will be interesting to see if any other pieces of popular liminal music will be in the movie which would compliment the original score being written by Kane and Edo Van Breeman.
Mark Duplass and Avan Jogia
Both Mark and Avan were notably absent from this trailer. A couple of theories around were that one of them would be a member of Async. In the leaked set photos from last year, we saw Mark Duplass in a shirt and tie. Which although doesn’t necessarily mean corporate attire, it does point towards him having this kind of position.
The other possibility for one of these actors is the scene at the end of the trailer – which takes place in a location that looks like the swimming pool (Area 5) in Found Footage 2. A humanoid figure can be seen against the wall of this area but the footage is blurry and they can’t be made out. This too could be one of these actors.
Beyond the Fandom
Most of what I have written about here are things that resonate with fans of either Kane’s Backrooms series or fans of the Backrooms in general. The trailer definitely has a lot of “fan service” included in it to make us all going away from the trailer with a very positive opinion and a belief that the movie will be the Backrooms movie that some have been hoping for for many years.
But what about the general movie going public? Or the regular horror fan? Does the trailer have enough in it to appeal to a wider audience? I believe so. The trailer keeps you asking questions, and even more so if you know nothing about the Backrooms. It doesn’t give anything away and manages to have parts of it that do show more intense and scary moments without spoiling anything or even showing any lifeforms.
While I didn’t have too much time today to look at many of the posts out there on social media (I will take more of a look at these in my 48 hours later article in a couple of days time), I did come across some posts by people who were either only horror fans or were aware of the Backrooms but wouldn’t consider themselves enough of a fan. A couple of these posts made claims that it would be the horror movie of the year. While others said that it was definitely something that they were going to see in the cinemas.
It looks like based on this trailer, there is a very positive outlook for the Backrooms movie, for both fans and non-fans alike! We definitely can’t wait until the end of May. And before that hopefully get to see the trailer on the big screen too!
