I restarted my popular films project and next was The Emperor's New Groove. David Spade's voice is just too grating to be the lead in a movie, which is probably part of why it is less than 80 minutes long. The best part of the movie is that there are two somewhat well known meme formats that come from it that I now understand.
Crash (1996) - 8.5/10 Idiots in Cars Compilation 1996 - EXTREME Try Not to Cum Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE) Freaked - 8/10 Still not completely convinced I didn't hallucinate this film as a child. Some of the most grotesque practical effects ever put to screen. Equinox - 8/10 On one hand, you don't get the stop-motion monsters until the last half-hour...on the other hand, the first hour plays out like a proto-Evil Dead student film from the 60s, and if you're reading this review I can't imagine you're the kind of person who wouldn't enjoy that. Infinitely cozy. The Old Dark House (1932) - 7.5/10 Hosted as Reel Rituals' first film (and Pride screening) at The 10/20 Collective :)
The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford - 7/10 Backrooms - 6/10 Teen-Age Crime Wave - 6.5/10 Crash Landing - 6/10 Framed (1975) - 8/10
i went to the MOVIES! Obsession - 8/10 Was it essentially a super long episode of a twilight zone episode? Definitely, but hey, this dude knows how to do horror movies. Great tension building. I'm all about atmosphere when it comes to movies and i felt incredibly awkward the whole movie that's a job well done. Completely into it the whole way. Great scares. The non-horror aspects weren't great. The script wasn't great. A bit corny (and i dont think it was on purpose CAMP, maybe it was?). I'll see if the movie lasts in my head, but yeah, a good night at the movies.
In one respect, it felt like a mix of other aspects I have seen before, just with a different setting, and in another, it came across as unfocused in certain areas while leaving parts of the plot/characters unresolved. I also didn't find it to be scary, but 6/10 is still a positive score and I am sure Kane Parsons will get better with experience. Plus, as far as liminal horror goes this year, Exit 8 was far more engaging and the characters in that had no choice about their situation, whereas with this, there was no need for anyone to have gone into the Backrooms at all.
The first 2/3rds of backrooms are good to great especially the middle third. The last third doesn’t work for me at all and brings the movie down as a whole.
liminal spaces are innately creepy so I'm definitely in on that facet. he mentioned that certain plot points go nowhere, which is a major bummer if true
Found backrooms to be mostly boring, and yeah I didn't much enjoy how it all wrapped up. Respect for a 20 year old pulling it off though.
you really should see it before making any assessments. I found it thoughtfully-crafted. the creepiness is in the mystery, so the fact they don't overexplain is in my opinion a positive thing. it's not holding your hand, something I was glad about. and since it's a smaller-scale story within a seemingly larger world, that openness allows your mind to wander and theorize things, or not--and be satisfied with the themes this film pursues.
I liked Backrooms. I was surprised when a lot of the negative reaction I saw seemed to call the film shallow (strongly disagree) or thought that certain elements should have been explained more or been more neatly/explicitly resolved (again, strong disagree).
Rewatching a little bit more of the canon while I languish in summer school brought Vertigo and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. Vertigo has always been my least favorite of the major "important" films, and while it probably still is the least interesting, it has gotten slightly more entertaining over time. It has risen a little bit in my estimation after reading about how the studio wanted to change the ending in such an awful way. Sunrise is one of those films that is foundational to cinematic techniques, but narratively the story is a little thin, even for a fairly short film. Apparently someone stole Murnau's skull a few years ago and they still have not found it.
I think it’s especially great the next generation of filmmakers are capable of producing something of depth due to its own restraint. And even with all its subtlety, it’s clear the dude was extremely intentional and passionate about every technical aspect. He even worked on the score.
They Will Kill You - 8/10 This gave me big Kill Bill vibes. Short and sweet with action sequences that were well made. The ending was bonkers. Idk why I didn’t hear of this until I saw it on the Max homepage.
Backrooms had the perfect amount of depth for a movie about a liminal space with creepy stuff happening in it. If they went into the perceived themes or answered any more logistical questions, it would have felt way too on the nose. I think Parsons and co. really nailed a balancing act between giving the audience something to chew on while letting them question this new reality they're experiencing.
If anything I thought they explained too much. The scene at the dinner table is what soured the last 3rd of the movie for me.
I sorta get this but I took that scene as proof of Clark’s metamorphosis by being in that space. He’s portrayed as a total nutcase who let this place absorb him, even going as far as to consume its contents. It’s not The Explanation but his rabbithole.