UNPRECEDENTED - Backrooms is an UNPRECEDENTED or unequaled box office hit. Directed by 20-year-old YouTube phenom Kane Parsons, the horror film has stunned Hollywood executives (and me) by grossing $81.5 million domestically and $118 million worldwide in its opening weekend against a tiny $10 million budget. This represents the biggest start in history for an original horror movie. The film successfully tapped the youth market with exit polls showing that 86 percent of ticket buyers were under 35 and roughly 44 percent were under 21. Let’s use SAT vocabulary words to describe Backroom’s plot. Here goes!
INEXPLICABLE – Clark is a failed architect turned furniture store owner who is drowning in debt, dealing with a painful divorce, and battling alcoholism. He sees a therapist, Dr. Mary Kline who harbors her own deep-seated trauma tied to her paranoid mother and the demolition of her childhood home. In addition to these woes, Clark’s store has INEXPLICABLY or unexplainably high electrical bills and mysteriously flickering lights.
AMORPHOUS – Clark follows the electrical disruption down to the store’s basement. There, he discovers a glowing seam in the wall. He accidentally pushes through the wall and suddenly finds himself in an AMORPHOUS or formless maze of endless long halls and empty offices lit by buzzing fluorescent lights. Frightened by an unseen creature, Clark narrowly escapes back to his store.
SKEPTICAL – Perplexed by his discovery and frightened by his narrow escape, Clark is justifiably terrified when he tells Dr. Kline, “I found something, in the store. A place, I found a place.” But Dr. Kline is SKEPTICAL or dubious about Clark’s story. She dismisses it as an alcoholic-induced psychotic break.
CORROBORATE – Clark is determined to CORROBORATE or confirm his story and prove he isn’t crazy. He recruits his assistant store manager Kat and her boyfriend Bobby to go down into the basement and film the space.
ABRUPT – The expedition ABRUPTLY or suddenly goes horribly wrong. While exploring a steeply shaped corridor, Bobby is violently ambushed and killed by a distorted entity. In the chaos, the creature separates Clark and Kat trapping them deep inside the Backroom maze.
AMBIGUITIES – What happens next? What will Dr. Kline do when she receives a CRYPTIC or mysterious message from Clark? I don’t want to give away spoilers that will ruin the movie for subscribers and students who are planning to watch it. But be warned - Backrooms is filled with AMBIGUITIES or uncertainties that will unnerve and confuse viewers. Remember, Backrooms is a horror movie, so expect to be frightened!
UNPRECEDENTED – an unequaled event or discovery; unparalelled
INEXPLICABLE – impossible to explain or understand
AMORPHOUS – lacking a definite shape; formless
SKEPTICAL – having an attitude of doubt; a reluctance to accept something
CORROBORATE – to confirm by offering proof
ABRUPT – something that suddenly happens without warning
AMBIGUITIES – when a word, phase, statement or idea has more than one possible meaning causing uncertainty and confusion
CRYPTIC – mysterious; puzzling