Backrooms
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Every episode of It's Been a Minute, NPR's What's Happening in Culture podcast starts by asking three questions. Who? How? Why now? If the culture's asking it, we're talking about it. At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious and indulge your cultural curiosity. Follow It's Been a Minute wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll break down the zeitgeisty topics that are filling your feed.
Back Rooms is a horror movie about some of the creepiest places imaginable. The nondescript beige carpeted rooms that populate countless office spaces and discount furniture warehouses. If you've ever worked in a rundown office park or shopped for a cheap mattress, the vibe will be instantly familiar. dingy, claustrophobic, maybe with cheerful music piped through tinny speakers, and always with the unsettling flickering hum of fluorescent lights. That setting forms the central concept of Back Rooms, which doesn't have a plot so much as a deeply unnerving sense of place. It's a surreal and unsettling bit of horror based on a popular YouTube series. I'm Stephen Thompson. Today we are talking about Back Rooms on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.
Brazil used to have one of the fastest growing economies in the world. People called it the country of the future. There are songs. O Brasil é o país do futuro. Because it seems like we have it all, man. But then the music stopped. On the Planet Money podcast, a lot of countries these days aren't rich. They aren't poor. They're just kind of stuck in the middle. Why is that? Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Joining me today is Jordan Cruciola. She's a writer and producer and the host of the podcast Feeling Seen on Maximum Fun.
What is the concept behind the horror movie Backrooms?
Hey, Jordan. Hello. Thank you so much for having me back. It is a pleasure. Also with us is freelance music and culture journalist Rihanna Cruz. Hey, Rihanna. Hey, Stephen. Happy to be here. Great to have you. So in Back Rooms, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the manager of a pirate-themed discount furniture store called Cap'n Clark's Ottoman Empire. As he discusses with his therapist, played by Renata Reinsve, his life is falling apart. He's getting a divorce, he drinks too much, and he's carrying around the massive weight of ambient stress. And to make matters worse, while living in the store, he discovers a secret labyrinth of Back Each has a strange and unsettling design. Tiny doors with three knobs, narrow passageways, piles of strangely familiar laundry, masses of junky furniture stacked ominously.
The disorienting effect of back rooms... is magnified through the film's use of found footage, as we view some of the rooms via fuzzy images shot on vintage camcorders. Back Room's origin is what's known as a creepypasta. For those who don't know, that's a catch-all phrase used to describe pieces of horror folklore that spread on the internet. Kane Parsons made a popular Backrooms web series for YouTube when he was a teenager. This is his debut feature. He's only 20. Backrooms is in theaters now. Rihanna Cruz, I'm going to start with you. What did you think of Backrooms?
I think I like it more the more I think about it, to be honest. There's a bunch of things going for it. You know, it's technically stunning. The production design I find incredible.
How does the setting of Backrooms enhance its horror elements?
Yeah. the choices that Cain Parsons is making as a director feel very beyond his years. You know, they feel super seasoned. And I think the best parts of the movie are when it commits to this analog aesthetic and the vintage horror style that you find in the YouTube series. I don't, necessarily think it functions the best it could outside of youtube to be honest but i think that's intentional right like i don't really find backrooms the movie scary and i don't think it really functions well as a horror movie but as like a conceptual project with weird, disarming elements and lots to say about the nature of memory and the reproduction of thought, I found that fascinating. And I like generally how it feels in direct opposition to the class of tell-don't-show horror movies that we're in right now, especially YouTuber horror movies, thinking of Obsession, thinking of Shelby Oaks, things like that.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–1:50
2
What is the concept behind the horror movie Backrooms?
1:50–3:26
3
How does the setting of Backrooms enhance its horror elements?
3:26–10:06
4
What are the unique design features of the labyrinth in Backrooms?
10:06–12:53
5
What is the significance of the film's origin as a creepypasta?
12:53–17:09
6
How does the film's production design contribute to its atmosphere?
17:09–20:48
7
What are the critical perspectives on the film's narrative structure?
20:48–22:20