(Image credit: A24)
Tom's Guide Verdict: 'Backrooms'Rating: 4/5 starsVerdict: "Backrooms" may be adapted from a YouTube series, but it's made for the big screen. The performances are excellent, the tension is perfectly crafted and the set design is genuinely an art form. But the ending leaves you with just enough questions to slightly sour the experience. Where to watch: See "Backrooms" in theaters now"Backrooms" made our list of the biggest summer movies to watch this year, and going into it, it was easy to see why. Yes, it's director Kane Parsons' first feature-length film, but it stars Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. It's produced by James Wan, Osgood Perkins and Shawn Levy. Sure, it's an adaptation of a YouTube series, but guess what? That's in right now. "Iron Lung" was a hit earlier this year, and "Obsession" made more money in its second week in theaters than in its debut.In short, being in the YouTube horror genre is a selling point for this movie, not a shortcoming.After seeing it on opening night (in a sold-out theater, no less), though, I'm here to tell you that this movie doesn't feel like a web series at all. This is a full-bodied, feature-length psychological horror movie made for the big screen. The set design is incredible, the performances are great and the directing leads to perfectly crafted moments of tension.It's also incredibly accessible, particularly if you're familiar with some of the bigger horror movies of the past few decades. You don't need to have seen the web series of the same name to see this movie. Because watching "Backrooms," it's impossible not to be reminded of a few major movies: "The Blair Witch Project," "The Cabin in the Woods" and "Inception."Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022. He watches dozens of new releases every year to make sure you don't have to watch any of the bad ones.'Backrooms' feels familiar but never staleOf the three movies I just referenced, this movie has the most connective tissue with the first two, particularly "Blair Witch." There are two major sequences of this movie shot from a first-person perspective using a 1980s to '90s style handheld camera. The first one kicks off the movie, while another occurs in the film's second act, which you can see highlighted at various points in the movie's official trailer.
