Being someone who has at least a passing familiarity with most things on the internet, I was quite excited for this film. There are a lot of "firsts" that this movie claimed in its award case and I won't go over them all, but it's very nice to see such a fresh, semi-original, high concept film in this day and age. The source material is quite interesting as a thought experiment, but what really makes this movie good is everything that was added on top.

The acting and casting is quite good and much better than I was expecting. Ejiofor gives an excellent performance alongside a strong cast, and their emotions really sell the horror and psychological aspects of the film. The character writing is interesting but definitely nothing to write home about. Clark is a character that you could dissect in plenty of different ways and I think this adds a lot to the film, but I would have liked to see a little more depth in Mary to even things out. 

The visuals and horror are the crown jewels. Parsons did such an excellent job at making the space feel real and imaginary, hostile and tame, familiar yet alien. Every scene that actually takes place in the backrooms feels intense in a slow burn type of way, before all exploding into an array of crazy sights and sounds. There are several rooms or scenes that really spark the imagination of the viewers, or are just plain creepy. 

Like most horror films, the story isn't exactly a Pulitzer-winning piece of writing. But I think The Backrooms does a pretty good job exploring what it wants, both psychologically and physcially, while also not flooding the audience with information that would ruin the mystery. I definitely would have liked to see more, but I'm satisfied with what was given.

Overall this is a breath of fresh air for the genre and the industry. Perhaps people will look back on The Backroom's success (alongside Obsession?) as the tipping point for when the era of remakes finally started to cease. Or at least I hope it will cease.