My thoughts and opinion on the backroom film

I just got out of Backrooms and I have really mixed feelings.
I want to start with the positives because I genuinely loved the first half.
The vibe was incredible. It absolutely nailed the Backrooms atmosphere: the tension, the found-footage cameras, the liminal spaces, the eerie soundtrack, even the real-world 80s/90s setting. The scenes filmed directly through the characters’ cameras were amazing and honestly felt exactly like what I hoped a Kane Pixels Backrooms movie would feel like.
The first half was easily an 8/10 for me.
My problem is the second half, especially starting around the dinner scene.
That’s where it stopped feeling like The Backrooms and started feeling like a completely different horror movie.
And I want to be clear: I never expected the movie to explain every mystery. The Backrooms should feel impossible and unsettling. I don’t need a full explanation for what the place is.
What I did expect was for the movie to build on what Kane’s series already gave us.
That’s what disappointed me.
We already know so much from the YouTube series:
Async trying to use the space for storage, housing, offices, and expansion
government involvement
experiments going wrong
people getting trapped
the bacteria/entities
strange effects from long exposure
abandoned sections that clearly had plans for people to live there
And there are specific characters from the series I genuinely thought would at least be mentioned.
Peter Tench especially.
The whole time I kept expecting Async or the government to bring him up. He literally disappeared, was displaced in time, came back having seen things nobody else had seen, and they faked his death.
That feels huge.
I kept thinking: if Clark and Dr. Mary Kline get caught by Async or government officials, THIS is where they start talking about everything.
Mention Peter Tench.
Mention what he saw.
Mention why they covered it up.
Mention why Async started shutting things down.
And then Marvin Leigh.
He found that massive red city deep in the Backrooms.
What happened with that?
Even if they didn’t physically bring him into the movie, at least acknowledge it for the people who’ve been following the series.
That’s honestly what frustrated me most.
It felt like I learned so much from the series and none of it mattered.
And weirdly—even people I watched with who knew almost nothing about the Backrooms were confused too.
So both longtime fans and newcomers walked out confused, just for different reasons.
That’s why I kept asking myself: what was the movie trying to say?
If the point was “this is what happens when someone gets trapped in the Backrooms,” okay—but that doesn’t need an entire movie repeating similar scenes.
People enter.
They panic.
They wander.
They see something strange.
Then repeat.
Meanwhile Async is right there and I kept waiting for the movie to finally go deeper into what they were doing.
Why did the project stop?
Why does everything feel abandoned?
There are signs kids were there.
Living spaces.
Planned infrastructure.
What happened?
Did people keep clipping in?
Did long-term exposure affect everyone?
Did something spread?
Did Async lose control?
I’m not asking for the Backrooms itself to be explained.
I’m asking the movie to follow up on the story Kane already created around Async.
Even small things felt dropped.
The radio calls.
The surveillance.
Katherine saying “I can see you” while Clark couldn’t see her.
Then she dies.
How?
Where?
What happened?
It felt like scenes kept happening and then the movie immediately moved on without paying them off.
And then the dinner scene.
That’s really where it lost me.
It went on for so long and most of it focused on Clark’s personal issues and his wife.
We did get one interesting idea: that the Backrooms “remember” you if you stay too long.
Cool concept.
But that’s basically the only thing I got out of a scene that felt way too long.
And then we move on again.
The visuals were still fantastic.
The soundtrack stayed creepy the entire time.
But the more the movie went on, the more it felt like it was losing what made Kane’s Backrooms feel unique.
The clone idea especially didn’t work for me.
The final chase scene looked great, but the clones didn’t feel scary and honestly ruined the Backrooms vibe for me.
I also personally struggled with Dr. Mary Kline’s performance.
For me her reactions felt too similar in every scene. Whether she was terrified, emotional, shocked, or confused, it felt like the same expression every time, and I had trouble connecting with her because of that.
So overall:
First half: 8/10
Amazing atmosphere. Felt authentically Backrooms.
Second half: 4/10
Lost its identity and turned into a much more generic horror movie.
I still respect the work Kane put into this. Visually it looked amazing and there are scenes I genuinely loved.
But as someone who loves the YouTube series, I really wanted more Async, more government, more follow-up on the world-building, and at least some acknowledgement of characters like Peter Tench and Marvin Leigh.
Instead I walked out feeling like I had way more questions than before—but not in the fun Backrooms way.
Curious if anyone else felt the same.