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Hello all. 
This week we're going to be 

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discussing Backrooms. 
Is it the groundbreaking debut 

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of a visual effects prodigy 
hitting the heights of his 

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powers? 
Or is it just kind of student 

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film energy with a massive 
budget and delusions of 

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grandeur? 
Stick around to find out. 

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Hello and welcome to Middle Age 
Geeks. 

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I am flying solo this week. 
Daz is out of the country so 

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please be gentle with me, it's 
my first time. 

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Today we are going to be digging
into the corridors nightmares 

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and the sheer audacity of 
bringing a a YouTube mini horror

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series of a urban legend to the 
big screen. 

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So let's find out if this thing 
is actually scary or if I'm just

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desensitized to horror after 
decades and decades of that type

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of movie. 
So what are we dealing with 

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here? 
Well, I think we've kind of got 

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a a classic. 
When people think of a classic 

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portal to another world trope, 
you might think of Alice in 

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Wonderland or Jennifer Connelly 
in Labyrinth with David Bowie 

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picturing, you know, expecting 
magical adventure and and maybe 

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even some singing goblins. 
But that all gets get thrown out

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the window here because in this 
film, Mark, actors walk through 

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a door and they find themselves 
not in a wonderful fantasy land 

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of music and creatures and shit,
but in an endless infinite loop 

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of yellow wallpaper, flickering 
lights and the kind of hallways 

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that make you want to call an 
architect and or a therapist. 

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So essentially this place, this 
yellow rooms is is like a a 

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cosmic junk drawer. 
And it's kind of if I think I 

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was as I was watching it, I was 
thinking if I ended up there, I 

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don't think I'd need a monster 
or some force to kill me because

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I would get lost in IKEA if 
there wasn't 4 arrows on the 

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floor. 
So I'm pretty sure I would just 

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curl up in a ball in the in the 
very first room I walked into. 

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But let's see how our main 
characters get on few few more 

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details about the movie before 
we get into our cast. 

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So this one is directed and well
did the music and score done by 

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Kane Parsons, who obviously made
the YouTube short. 

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The script is written by Will 
Sudic and the cinematographer is

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Jeremy Cox. 
And so, yeah, the main cast 

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we've got is Churatology for 
Amronate Ryan's Fair, and 

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they're really the two mains. 
We also have a small kind of 

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supporting cast with Mark 
Duplass, Avan Jogia, Lakita 

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Maxwell, Finn Bennett, Philip 
Granger and Robert Babroskic. 

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Borosky. 
Borosky, I'm never gonna get 

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that. 
So yeah, like I think when you 

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look at that list of that cast, 
you've got a like an A list 

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cast, especially with Chiwetela 
Renate working with a 

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cinematographer like Jeremy Cox.
And it's wild to remember that 

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the the person steering this 
whole ship is Ken Parsons like 

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that. 
He's not just the director, as I

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said, he's the one that composed
the score. 

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He's the one that built this 
whole digital world that this 

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movie lives in. 
And so it's a total auteur 

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project and it's a rare thing to
see in in film that has this 

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kind of scale and this kind of 
production, which is fantastic. 

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And I think that that's this is 
where this movie kind of 

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separates itself a little bit 
from standard horror. 

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I think it it focuses on like 2 
deeply flawed people who are 

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trying to maintain their sanity 
in a a world that fundamentally 

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defies all logic. 
For his part, to you tell 

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Ajiyafor, who plays Clark, he's 
essentially the architect of his

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own failure. 
Like he he kind of you can. 

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He's the runner of a Captain 
Cook's Ottoman Empire furniture 

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store, and he's a man that 
basically builds physical spaces

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for people to live in via 
furniture. 

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Although he wants to be an 
architect, but his life is 

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completely hollow and by his own
hand. 

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And he's he tries to project 
this image of being successful 

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and important while really 
drowning in his own inadequacy. 

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And I just I think that I love 
the way Geo Intelligia 4 plays 

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him with this like constant 
simmering desperation, you know,

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not just be for being, you know,
the stuff that's going on in his

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life with his his wife and his 
house and his business, but also

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just sitting room with his own 
inadequacies. 

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Like when he finally gets to 
these back rooms, he's not like 

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this hero searching for 
treasure. 

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He's a man that's finally found 
the world that is I, as you'd 

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say, as broken and as as fake as
he feels on the inside. 

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And Renade Reinsford, played by 
who plays Mary, I don't know 

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massive amount about her. 
She isn't just a therapist. 

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She's someone who she kind of 
uses her own past trauma, her 

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her mother's mental language 
issues, things from her own 

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childhood to connect with Clark 
to connect with. 

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She would tell, she thinks that 
she can heal him or at least 

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help him navigate his own grief.
And I think that like, as 

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someone who's trained as a 
therapist, one thing that really

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jumped out at me is how how Mary
was perfectly captured is that 

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wounded healer thing. 
You know, like we people have 

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this kind of cultural myth about
going to the therapist, the 

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therapist going to fix 
everything. 

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Therapists are unshakable. 
The, the, they're your all 

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knowing guru. 
But in reality, most people who 

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get into that line are doing so 
because they've been there, 

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they've struggled, they've felt 
loss and they want to help 

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others. 
And, and I think that I think 

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that really, they really hammer 
that point home. 

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We see Mary's back story with 
her mother and I kind of there's

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a sadness there because it it 
makes her descent, I suppose, 

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into back room so much more 
traffic. 

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She's tragic. 
She spends her life trying to 

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fix other people's broken 
realities. 

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And then she falls into this 
place, this otherworldly place 

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where reality itself is broken. 
And like I said, it's, it's kind

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of a just a a boat, mainly those
two in a small kind of sideways 

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cast. 
But one other that's worth 

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mentioning is Mark Duplass, who 
plays a guy called Phil, who was

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kind of the corporate stooge for
the async company. 

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Now this is kind of thing if 
you've played, if you've watched

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the the backroom shorts on 
YouTube, you'll probably be way.

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You'll probably be know a lot 
more going into this movie about

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async. 
It plays a little bit of a back 

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seat here. 
But what I like is that he 

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provides this kind of chilling 
counterpoint to Clark and Mary, 

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like because they're 
experiencing backrooms as this 

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personal nightmare of theirs, 
where as Phil, he experiences it

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as this scientific and corporate
asset. 

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It's something to be learned 
about, not just explored, but 

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exploited. 
And I like that that's that's 

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terrifying as as well. 
Like as the as the audience. 

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You're saying, Jesus, how can 
you have that point of view? 

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And when you're seeing the 
visceral personal horror of it 

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being lost on but that these 
people are getting is kind of 

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lost on him because he's just 
detached. 

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It's all about corporate 
explication. 

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And and yeah, I kind of really 
enjoyed that. 

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I thought that was a nice little
balance. 

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And I, I think where this is 
different from the shorts is 

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that Clark and Mary and she 
would tell and Renata, they, 

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they carry this movie because 
they're making the world feel 

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much more grounded. 
Like when they're, when they're 

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talking in that weird flickering
fluorescent light that we hear 

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the whole time. 
You believe they're therapists 

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or patients and, and not just 
actors in a green screen room, 

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which can happen if this whole 
thing was done. 

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And that that's the magic here. 
They make their their kind of 

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messy human baggage right up 
until the moment that the 

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architecture itself starts 
trying to, you know, steal them,

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digest them. 
I, I think, I think that the hat

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off here with making this happen
has to go to the director. 

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We have to talk about game 
Parsons like a few years ago. 

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We're talking about a, a, a kid 
that was in his bedroom, a 17 

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busy 17 year old, I think, when 
he started and, and using 

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blender to rent these haunting, 
glitchy kind of yellow wallpaper

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nightmare rooms and then 
expertly having camera movement 

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to make it look like you're AC. 
It's an actual person's POV with

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Avhs going through and, and, and
now like we've got a 24 who, you

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know, as I've mentioned millions
of times are a personal favorite

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of mine. 
Like they're they're a studio 

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besides behind some of the most 
prestigious films that we've 

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seen over the last decade, which
I think is fair to say. 

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And like the they've kind of 
handed them the keys to the 

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castle here. 
It's kind of an industry anomaly

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because it's not often you see 
someone jump from like straight 

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from the viral Internet 
sensation into multimillion 

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dollar set building that still 
manages to keep the soul of 

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their original project. 
Like yes, sure, there's people 

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who started on YouTube, like we 
mentioned Curry Barker last week

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and we mentioned, you know, we 
know Markiplier has made iron 

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lung that that that's fantastic 
and and they're doing great in 

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their own right. 
But for to come in and get like 

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a list stars in a movie in a 
studio like a 24 and be given 

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this kind of money that is 
unprecedented. 

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You know, and I think what's 
wild about the movie itself is 

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that it is a love letter to 
that. 

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Do it yourself, because that's 
what he was doing. 

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All of this was majority was him
in blender and then of course, a

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lot of his friends and stuff 
acting in the parts in the 

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shorts. 
But I think it's a little 

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lighter than that because he 
went from the kid making the 

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animations in the room to making
these like 30,000 square foot 

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sets is what they made for this 
in a major, major motion 

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picture. 
I think this, I think this is 10

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million was the budget. 
So this is the same just the 

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same guy, but he's playing with 
the same toys, but on a much, 

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much bigger budget. 
And to have that trust in him, I

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think is fantastic. 
And and for me it pays off. 

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And I think that that that's, 
that is the real story here. 

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And I'm I'm happy to see Mark 
Duplass come out kind of in in 

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defense of him, because all the 
people online, they're finding 

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it hard to believe that someone 
of that age of his only 

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experience being the experience 
that he's made himself, that 

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he's managed to make this movie 
himself, that he didn't really 

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direct it. 
XY and Z, you know, because 

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James Wan's a producer and 
Osgood Perkins is a producer. 

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But according to Mark Duplass, 
he was saying that no, he he 

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came in, he was fully prepared. 
He he worked very closely with 

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his DP. 
He got he knew exactly how to 

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work with his actors and did so 
very smartly. 

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And to the naysayers, Mark 
Duplass was saying were you 

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there? 
Were you on set because I was 

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and he was delighted with the 
job that that Ken Parsons did 

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and is looking forward to seeing
more as am I. 

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I think that what's people might
get from knowing that he has 

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that background and CGI is that 
the movie, this movie is going 

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to be all CGI. 
And yes, there are visual 

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effects there, but I think it's 
it's the physicality is actually

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what sells it more here. 
But what you're seeing here and 

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what you're what when you're 
walking to those endless 

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claustrophobic corridors is that
we're not just seeing pixels. 

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We are seeing that 30,000 square
feet of actual physical sets, 

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the lighting, the dust, the the 
kind of home of the electricity 

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and the fluorescent lights. 
That's was the result of a 

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director who knows that even in 
a like a digital world, you 

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still need something solid to 
ground the audience when you're 

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making a motion picture rather 
than a than a small short that a

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lot of people were watching on 
their phones. 

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You know, and one thing that 
surprised me there really was 

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this the camera work, because if
you've if you've watched the 

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shorts, you know, it's all VHS. 
But if you haven't going into 

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this, you might be wondering, oh
God, is this all going to be a, 

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you know, is this all going to 
be found footage? 

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And I think the found footage 
can be fantastic if it's done 

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properly. 
But I think what they've got 

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here, the mix of the tension of 
the found footage and that kind 

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of hearing the breathing behind 
the camera because we're seeing 

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what they see. 
I think they've we kept that 

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aesthetic with from from the 
original YouTube city shorts, 

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which gives you that shaky, 
claustrophobic run for your life

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energy. 
But it's got this at the same 

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time. 
Then you've got your high budget

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polished cinematic lens scenes 
which you know, cover most of 

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the movie. 
And I think that it's a delicate

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balance, like it feels like 
you're watching a horror almost 

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through a high end microscope. 
And it does. 

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It manages then to keep that 
like raw shaky Cam kind of a 

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grit where it matters and where 
we're tip what it wants to ramp 

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up that horror and stuff. 
But it doesn't give you say, the

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motion sickness of trying to 
follow like a Blair witch thing 

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where it's just someone moving 
around the whole time and you're

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constantly watching it. 
It can get a bit much. 

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Even if it found horror has done
well, that can get a bit much. 

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It's a very this is almost a 
very like prestige version of 

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that kind of glitching. 
I, I, I really, really, really 

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thought he caught that balance 
well. 

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And where the kind of where it 
hinges and where we get into 

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this back ribs and stuff really 
kind of comes from the no 

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clipping mechanic. 
Like if you're into video games,

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you'll know we have this kind of
reality breaking glitch. 

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So if you've played video games,
especially an older one, there 

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was sometimes with certain 
angles, you can run out of the 

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wall and sometimes it can end up
being a shortcut, but you run 

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out the wall. 
It's not supposed to be there. 

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And instead of collision, you go
through it and you end up into 

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this just negative never space 
black void hole, which sometimes

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gets you to a bonus level or 
finish a Mario Kart race shorter

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than you should. 
Or sometimes, sometimes you have

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to just reboot the whole reboot 
your whole system. 

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And I think that this it kind of
the movie kind of treats it like

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that's what it is, that it's one
big cosmic accent accident. 

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You know, like one second you're
here real world and the next 

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you've slipped through the 
cracks of existence into this 

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junk drawer reality. 
And and yeah, it's it's OK. 

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I think the clip is just a good 
piece of of jargon, but it's a 

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it's a really accurate way of, 
of showing that terrifying oops 

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moment that ruins their lives is
just crossing through this 

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barrier that shouldn't be there.
Now, like I said, if you're a 

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fan of the shorts, you're going 
to be able to be prepared for a 

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bit of a shift. 
Like if you're expecting a dive 

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and learning, finally learning 
more about this async 

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corporation and what their well,
I don't know what their kind of 

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plans and motivations are. 
You might be slightly kind of 

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disappointed. 
Like this is very much a much 

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vaguer about the why itself. 
It's much more vague. 

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This strips away the async 
corporation to a bare minimum. 

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So there's not, you know, no 
technical manuals or no pictures

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of the machines that they use or
anything like that. 

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So instead of being like tech 
horror, it leans more, leans 

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harder into being the basic 
human story. 

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So less about the science of the
portal and more about the trauma

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of the people that actually get 
stuck inside it. 

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And honestly, I think it was the
right call. 

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It keeps people focused on the 
the nightmare itself rather than

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the paperwork, I guess around 
it. 

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And to that, like you have to 
have the sound. 

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I think that's what makes this, 
you know, really, really work 

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because we're talking about big,
huge, empty yellow fucking 

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always. 
And so we need to talk about the

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sound design and how it works. 
Like in background. 

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It's not just background noise. 
And we say it on the podcast a 

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lot, but it is essentially a 
character like it's, it's, it 

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00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:53,760
might even be the scariest part 
of it because Kane Parsons uses 

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the this relentless hum that we 
get of the of, of electricity 

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00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,080
and of the fluorescent lights. 
And you know, sometimes you 

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forget it's there and sometimes 
it kind of comes back and, and 

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it's almost like it's just 
burrowed into your brain 'cause 

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it's constantly there and it 
creates this constant low level 

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anxiety of it just being and it 
just doesn't go away. 

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00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,880
And, and it, it's almost, it's 
kind of unnerving. 

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00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:24,320
And like I by the time the the 
but it does cut away. 

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What you do get is silence, 
'cause there isn't a massive 

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00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:31,000
amount of music in this, in this
movie and the silence is almost 

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00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:32,720
as bad. 
Like it's just very smart with 

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00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,480
it's, with its minimalism, like 
the, it's not just constant 

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00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:38,720
noise. 
It's, it's, it's the way the 

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00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,880
music can drop out entirely and 
then we can hear footsteps or 

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00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:45,600
some sort of banging off in the 
distance, but we, we have no 

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00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:47,360
idea where it is. 
We know it's closing in. 

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00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,040
And even though the camera's 
facing in the direction, it's 

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00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:53,040
all yellow walls, but walls and,
you know, cut off points in 

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00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,840
different directions and you can
hear the noise but but, but 

301
00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,080
never quite see it. 
And it really is it's kind of 

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00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,080
that old adage of the IT it, 
it's the what you don't see is 

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00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,880
worse than what you do see kind 
of horror technique. 

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00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:08,240
But I think they really, really,
they really, really nail it well

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00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,480
here. 
And it just, it makes you feel 

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00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,440
like you're trapped in the space
with them, which I guess is 

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00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,040
ideally exactly what you want 
from a movie like this. 

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00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,079
I think that watching this in a 
theatre for me was the most it 

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00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:25,280
was only like what maybe I think
2:00 to three other people in 

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00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,520
the screen with me and I still 
felt that claustrophobic feel 

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00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:31,400
despite being in there 
essentially on my own. 

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00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:36,920
So it's, yeah, it really is, 
it's it, it's really is a 

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00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:42,120
masterful use of of sound. 
And I'm glad that he took the 

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00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:44,560
helm himself when it came to 
that because it really shines 

315
00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,840
through. 
I suppose then I don't want to 

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00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,200
keep rattling on because I am 
just one dude talking to a 

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00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,680
camera. 
So I, I'm going to give it a 

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00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,440
star rating. 
I and I think that first, I just

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00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,800
want to say that I again, it's 
the Hammer Holmes. 

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00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:00,400
I do think that you should see 
this in the movie. 

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00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,040
And I'm not just saying that as 
a movie snob. 

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00:18:02,360 --> 00:18:04,000
I think you should see it in the
cinema. 

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00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,680
It's it, it really does kind of 
live and die by its design. 

324
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,960
Like if, if that all that, the 
buzzing and all the rhythmic 

325
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:13,640
sound and footsteps I'm talking 
about. 

326
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,680
You really need a high end 
stereo system to really feel 

327
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:17,960
that. 
And yes, maybe you've got some 

328
00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,800
set up at home and you'll get 
something of it, But I think on 

329
00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,600
a standard TV setup or on a 
laptop, you're losing half of 

330
00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:27,440
the movie because it's really 
the heartbeat of it. 

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00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:32,240
I do want to finish on the 
downside because as much as I'd 

332
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:35,240
enjoy it, I and I think this is 
a fair enough downside. 

333
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,920
Is that it? 
Although I've said that they've 

334
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,080
been tight lipped on the lower, 
I think they were maybe too 

335
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,760
tight lipped. 
And I, I, it's, it's just 

336
00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,240
because if, if you have haven't 
seen the YouTube shorts, you 

337
00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:51,040
might walk out of this question,
this movie more way more 

338
00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:52,440
questions than really you 
should. 

339
00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,480
Because we do get to meet this 
faceless corporation. 

340
00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,120
But you this async, we were kind
of pulling the strings in the 

341
00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:03,560
background and stuff. 
We get such such small amounts 

342
00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,120
from them, but the stuff that we
do get doesn't really give us 

343
00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:09,040
that much info. 
Like we're what you're left with

344
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,720
questions like why these are 
what a company that used to make

345
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:15,800
MRI machines, Why are they now 
dabbling in like cosmic 

346
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,040
nightmares in in the basement? 
It it's just, it's a little tiny

347
00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,720
bit more that would have been 
nice a little bit maybe a scene 

348
00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,360
here and there, a flashback or 
something like something to give

349
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:29,520
us a little bit more to chew on.
But it's a small gripe. 

350
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:33,040
I think overall the way this 
movie's made, it's it's it's 

351
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,120
just been great. 
It's just, I think that it's 

352
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,480
obviously nice to have general 
mystery and I think just a tiny 

353
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,160
bit would have gone a long way. 
But that said, even if you're a 

354
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,640
little confused by the why, if 
everything is happening, the 

355
00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:50,600
hell, the acting and the sets 
and the sound and everything 

356
00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:52,280
else just makes it a trip we're 
taking. 

357
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:54,880
So I'm very happy with it and 
I'm going to give it. 

358
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,440
I'm going to give it a solid 44 
out of five. 

359
00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:58,720
I think it's definitely worth 
seeing. 

360
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,400
It's such an inventive horror. 
We are having a killer week for 

361
00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,000
or a killer year for horror 
movies. 

362
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,960
We're in a killer period for 
horror movies right now, which 

363
00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:09,920
is just wonderful. 
And yeah, please, may you 

364
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:11,640
continue. 
Great job, Ken Parsons. 

365
00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,120
I cannot wait to see what he 
does next and where he goes from

366
00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:18,280
here because I'll be watching on
with great interest. 

367
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,760
So yeah, thank you very much for
tuning in this week and for 

368
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,520
listening to Little OLD ME. 
Next week I'll have my partner, 

369
00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,240
partner in crime back with me 
and hopefully we'll be doing 

370
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,200
Masters of the Universe, some 
nice cheesy he man awesomeness. 

371
00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,560
And so look, keep liking, 
subscribing, sharing, 

372
00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,800
commenting, all that good stuff.
Look after each other and we 

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00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:39,480
will see you on the next one. 
Take it easy.