*The Back Rooms* is a psychologically intense and visually striking film that blends horror with deep character exploration. The story follows Clark, a struggling furniture store owner, and his therapist Dr. Mary Klein, whose personal traumas mirror his own, creating a rich emotional foundation. The film opens with a chilling first-person view of a grotesque, oil-slick entity, later questioned as whether it represents the same force at the film’s end—adding narrative ambiguity and deepening the mystery of the Back Rooms. Clark’s attempts to fix store problems lead to the discovery of strange, malfunctioning electrical switches in the basement, suggesting the presence of hidden, anomalous systems. These technical oddities are framed as potential evidence of an unseen research institute, implying a larger, parallel dimension beneath reality. The film effectively balances horror with psychological depth, using character backstories to explore themes of isolation, trauma, and control. While it doesn’t fully explore its characters’ emotional arcs, it succeeds in establishing a haunting atmosphere and raising profound questions about the nature of the Back Rooms—its boundaries, its entities, and its infinite scope. The movie’s ambiguous ending leaves audiences questioning whether the entity seen at the start is the same one at the end, suggesting a narrative that evolves rather than closes.
We talked about them in an episode of Red Web, and now it's time to talk about the movie featuring them.
This is The Back Rooms.
We recorded this a few weeks ago, but we're so excited to finally release this
because The Back Rooms have been on my mind for as long as they've been around.
And now that you know the history, let's break down the movie and everything we know about it,
our reactions, a bit of the plot, and some of the Easter eggs.
It is Movie Club on The Back Rooms.
Head over to redwebpod.com to listen to the full thing.
Otherwise, here's a preview of today's episode.
We see some type of large growling creature stomping towards him.
He tries to find a place to run or escape, but he fails and gets attacked by the entity.
The video then cuts as it's being viewed by a fellow scientist.
Oh yeah, cool opening.
This was a cool beginning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, true to the video games, you know, we got that first person, like, camera view, 90s style.
I was like, oh, okay, like, they know the source material.
I was curious if this was going to be the Back Rooms monster air quotes that,
kind of initially hit the lore, which I'm looking it up now.
I never knew its name.
I guess it's called Bacteria.
It's an entity.
It's all like lanky and like oily black lines, like squigglies.
I always thought it was made out of like VHS tape.
Oh, you know what?
That's a good read.
Oh, that looks like that.
But I'm like, I was curious if that was going to be the thing.
Same.
But now, you know, by the end of the movie, I'm like,
was it the creature we came to see at the end that was at the beginning?
Because.
Because it really narrows in the scope of this place.
Yeah, I felt the same way.
I thought it was going to be that creature that is, yeah,
they have the synonymous with the Back Rooms at this point.
But I had the same thought at the end where I was like, oh,
so were they retroactively establishing that that was the same creature?
In which case I don't like that because exactly what you're saying,
it limits the scope, but it also, to me,
raises even more questions that were already being unanswered and just made me,
just made me question a lot more.
More than I was already doing.
Yeah, I will say, getting ahead of myself here,
it could just be that we're exploring a very regional area of this nigh infinite
Back Rooms.
Like it feels like that the Back Rooms are this parallel dimension that underlays
all of reality and not just here local.
A furniture store owner named Clark of Captain Clark's Ottoman Empire is
struggling to keep his business afloat since he's competing with a different
store owner.
He visits his therapist, Dr.
Mary Klein, who herself frequently thinks about the destruction of her childhood
home and her mother being institutionalized.
Mary has Clark role play with her.
The issues that led to him divorcing his wife, such as his alcoholism,
which causes Clark to grow genuinely irate and bitter as he vents about his
frustration.
So here we're introduced to the two main characters of this,
which is one of the main characters actually takes a drastic turn later on,
which I was not expecting.
So I do kind of like that.
Yeah, but just giving backstory to their traumas as it does come up later on in
the film, it comes up, but so I don't want to sound like I'm just harping on it
the entire time, but like I, yeah, I liked what they were setting up of, you know,
getting those peaks into their backstories with what happens later on in the movie.
I wish that they delved more into that.
Cause yeah, I was like, oh, okay.
These are some very interesting characters.
This scene, especially I was like, God, she would tell you for such a good actor.
He's very, I love that dude.
I was almost distracted by how good he was in this scene.
Yeah, exactly.
It's such a complex scene when you really think about it.
It's like you're an actor and then you're acting that you're acting.
Yes.
Yeah.
It's like, how did this actor convince me that he's acting right now?
You know what I mean?
Right.
Yeah.
Like acting a scene.
Like, it's crazy, but very good.
Clark tries to film a promo with his assistant manager, Kat, and her boyfriend, Bobby.
But it goes wrong when a chair that Clark sits on breaks.
Later, he deals with the store's electrical problem and meets with an electrician.
They go into the basement of the store and find the electrical panel.
But they discover three switches set up dialing that seemingly do not connect to the rest of the store.
I love this dude.
He's like, oh, there's your problem.
You know, that shouldn't be there.
And he just points to these, like, crooked, different fuses.
And I'm like, I don't know.
I love that.
Don't they just keep flipping it, too?
Yeah.
He just keeps going, bang, bang, bang, bang.
And I just picture the Async Institute, wherever they are, trying to do research.
And the lights are popping on and off.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The movie *The Back Rooms* opens with a terrifying first-person view of a growling, oily black entity, evoking the lore of the source material and drawing on 90s-style video game aesthetics.
The creature initially appears to be a central entity known as "Bacteria," with a surreal, VHS-like appearance that blurs the line between horror and sci-fi.
A key narrative ambiguity arises when the film questions whether the entity seen at the beginning is the same one that appears at the end, suggesting a possible thematic narrowing of the Back Rooms' scope.
The story centers on Clark, a furniture store owner struggling with financial and personal issues, and his therapist, Dr. Mary Klein, whose own traumatic past is revealed to mirror Clark’s emotional struggles.
Clark’s attempts to film a store promo and investigate electrical issues in the basement lead to the discovery of strange, non-functional switches, hinting at hidden, anomalous systems within the environment.
The film blends psychological depth with supernatural elements, using character backstories to enrich emotional stakes and explore trauma.
The electrical anomalies and unexplained switches evoke a sense of an unseen research institute operating in the background, suggesting deeper, systemic forces at work.
The movie raises compelling questions about the nature of the Back Rooms as a vast, infinite parallel dimension, rather than a localized phenomenon.
Summary:
*The Back Rooms* is a psychologically intense and visually striking film that blends horror with deep character exploration. The story follows Clark, a struggling furniture store owner, and his therapist Dr. Mary Klein, whose personal traumas mirror his own, creating a rich emotional foundation.
The film opens with a chilling first-person view of a grotesque, oil-slick entity, later questioned as whether it represents the same force at the film’s end—adding narrative ambiguity and deepening the mystery of the Back Rooms. Clark’s attempts to fix store problems lead to the discovery of strange, malfunctioning electrical switches in the basement, suggesting the presence of hidden, anomalous systems. These technical oddities are framed as potential evidence of an unseen research institute, implying a larger, parallel dimension beneath reality.
The film effectively balances horror with psychological depth, using character backstories to explore themes of isolation, trauma, and control. While it doesn’t fully explore its characters’ emotional arcs, it succeeds in establishing a haunting atmosphere and raising profound questions about the nature of the Back Rooms—its boundaries, its entities, and its infinite scope. The movie’s ambiguous ending leaves audiences questioning whether the entity seen at the start is the same one at the end, suggesting a narrative that evolves rather than closes.
FAQs
The main creature is called Bacteria, described as a lanky, oily, black entity with squiggly, VHS-like lines. It resembles a creature from the original Back Rooms lore and appears in a first-person camera view reminiscent of 90s video games.
Yes, by the end of the movie, it appears the creature from the opening scene is the same one seen later, suggesting a narrowing of the Back Rooms' scope. This raises more questions and deepens the mystery rather than resolving it.
Clark, a furniture store owner struggling with business and personal issues, and Dr. Mary Klein, his therapist who has her own traumatic past involving her mother's institutionalization.
Clark role-plays his issues, including alcoholism and marital problems, leading to an intense and emotionally charged scene that reveals his bitterness and personal struggles.
The electrician finds three strange, unconnected switches and faulty fuses in the basement, which resemble experimental or malfunctioning systems, hinting at deeper, possibly supernatural or scientific anomalies.
The scene reflects the mysterious nature of the Back Rooms, suggesting that the store is an entry point to an alternate reality where systems behave erratically, echoing the broader themes of the franchise.
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