Backrooms (2026)

Coming along so soon after the breakout success of Obsession, Backrooms is the most recent low-budget horror movie to be embraced by those claiming that the model for successful cinema releases is changing. That's a good thing, and I'm always happy to see horror once again being hailed for what it can do to the landscape of cinema (remember . . .  the horror genre has saved various pockets of cinema on multiple occasions). Backrooms isn't great though, despite the profit it has made.

Everyone knows the origin story by now. Kane Parsons, director of this, spent some time making short films online that explored the backrooms, spaces just behind the veil of our own reality that are abandoned and eerily silent. Until, more worryingly, they maybe don't seem so abandoned and silent. Either way, liminal spaces are a great fit for horror.

This particular story has Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) finding some backrooms in a space behind his furniture store. This is just another problem for Clark, who is trying to process the failure of his marriage and his alcoholism with a therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve). It could also become a problem for young Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and Bobby (Finn Bennett), two youngsters who Clark ropes in to helping him explore this strange and unnerving new environment.

The look and feel of Backrooms is the big plus. This is a film designed to unsettle and confuse viewers, a film that would have benefited from a narrative as strange and upsetting as the environments on display. Unfortunately, writer Will Soodik either misunderstands the main appeal of the concept or just doesn't have enough faith in how strong it is. This leads to him instead offering the kind of explanation and clumsy psychological insight that I can't imagine impressing those who have been a fan of Parsons for the past few years.

Ejiofor and Reinsve are both great choices for the lead roles, but neither is given the kind of material they can really sink their teeth into. They certainly help to sell the dialogue, but I wish they'd been allowed to do more. All of their main scenes feel incredibly basic, as if they were asked to work with placeholder dialogue that would be greatly improved later in the process, and the resolution is disappointing, at best, and non-existent if you're not willing to grasp on to the smallest grace note. As for both Maxwell and Bennett, neither are given enough to do, which is also a great shame. Mark Duplass also stars in a supporting role, but I cannot separate his character from another major weakness in the screenplay, which means I didn't appreciate his performance here at all.

There are moments here that work. The production design is impressive, as is the idea at the heart of it. Sadly, and in a way that is horribly ironic, what you get to see feels like just a hint of what you might want to see. Backrooms doesn't actually spend anywhere close to enough time pulling viewers into the titular spaces. It just presents one glimpse after another of anomalies that hint at a much better film hidden away behind this one. 

5/10

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Mubi Monday: Baghead (2008)

Although I had no idea about what to really expect from Baghead, I knew that I liked the people involved. The Duplass brothers were in charge of both writing and directing (with John E. Bryant also credited for creating a film within the film), and the cast included Greta Gerwig, currently being celebrated by almost everyone for helming Barbie and helping to turn the world happily pink, for at least a short time anyway.

The slight plot sees four people, two men and two women, head out to a cabin in the woods to relax and come up with some creative movie ideas. That’s a perfect horror movie premise, of course, and it isn’t long until someone gets nervous when they realise they are being watched by someone with who could best be described as a “baghead”, hence the title. It probably isn’t anyone outside the core group though, because who would want to get mixed up with this mass of insecurities, tensions, frustrations, and attempted betrayal. These adults often act like teens, especially when both of the men take a shine to the same woman (Gerwig).

Described in some places as a low-budget, lo-fi, horror comedy, Baghead isn’t something to rush to if you want scares or laughs. It has too few of either, although it certainly has a better blend of the two than some horror comedies I could point out. I am not trying to gate-keep here, not wanting to remove any genre credentials. I just don’t want people going in with the wrong expectations. What you get here is decent, it’s interesting, but it actually works best when looking at the ways in which people will manipulate the creative process for personal gain. It also looks at abuse of power in a small, but thought-provoking, way. 

Steve Zissis and Ross Partridge are the two main male characters, and both feel very well-suited to the Duplass brothers style. In fact, I was surprised that the brothers themselves didn’t take on these roles, but maybe they weren’t confident enough at this point in their career. Or maybe they just felt that Zissis and Partridge were better in the roles. Gerwig is as good as she always is, and she works especially well opposite Elise Muller (the older of the two, a bit more savvy, and able to deliver criticisms with a smile and a demeanour that makes them seem as if they could be compliments).  Jett Garner also has a small, but vital, role, and he does well enough, but it’s a relief that he isn’t part of the main group that we spend most of our time with.

I tend to like movies from the Duplass brothers, although I always feel as if I haven’t seen nearly enough of them. Don’t go into this if you want a horror or a comedy, or a mix of the two. Go into it if you want a Duplass brothers movie. It succeeds in that regard, with the talented duo using some genre elements to present moments that work on a couple of different layers. You could even begin to wonder if we should be as critical of what the brothers present as we are of what the men onscreen are planning, and I think that is absolutely part of the talking points being raised here. This is fun, odd, and very clever.

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: Black Rock (2012)

Black Rock is not, technically, a bad film. There's a decent enough main premise, a trio of good female leads, and it has a slim runtime to help it avoid overstaying its welcome. Unfortunately, it is not technically a good film either. It's just . . . there.

Sarah (Kate Bosworth), Lou (Lake Bell), and Abby (Katie Aselton) are reunited for the first time in what seems to have been many years. Sarah plans for them to spend a weekend on an uninhabited island, to reconnect with one another. It turns out that the island isn't actually that uninhabited. Three men are on there, ex-military. One of them is known to the women, which allows them to relax and spend some time together, drinking under the night sky. But things soon take a turn for the worse.

Very much the creation of Aselton, who both co-wrote the screenplay with Mark Duplass and also decided to direct again (a couple of years after her feature directorial debut, The Freebie), Black Rock is a film that clearly has good intentions. It just falls some way short of the mark when it comes to delivering whatever it is aiming for. It remains interesting enough, if only to see this familiar material in a rare case of it not being filtered through the male gaze (also check out the superior Revenge for that), but it's a case of the approach to the whole thing being of more interest than any of the actual content, which will leave viewers wanting if they think they are getting a standard revenge thriller.

Everyone does just fine in the acting department. Bosworth, Bell, and Aselton have a decent amount of chemistry between them, with no small amount of tension between the latter two, stemming from an incident in their past that they may or may not move on from. Will Bouvier, Jay Paulson, and Anslem Richardson are the men, and do fine in their roles. Initially viewed with suspicion, they are soon shown to be normal guys who don't automatically pose any threat to the women, although their appearance immediately puts the women more on edge than they would have been if left to enjoy the alone time that was planned.

The biggest problem with Black Rock is that the second half doesn't work. At all. Everything is good for the first half, and the main incident that changes the whole tone of the film is very well done, but it then becomes a much less interesting film. The characters were being developed well for that first half, which is then dropped altogether (and before any of them are truly fully-formed) in favour of something ultimately unsatisfying for those who want a drama, yet also unsatisfying for those who want a thriller. It doesn't even do enough to subvert any tropes and expectations, and each subsequent scene in the second half gets worse and worse right up to the anti-climactic finale.

I can't really point out the many ways in which this could have been improved. Sometimes these things are intangible as you view the film as a sum of its parts, sometimes there is something obvious that sticks out. All I know is that Aselton seems to have missed an opportunity to deliver something interesting and unique.

4/10

You can buy the movie here.
And here.

Netflix And Chill: Creep 2 (2017)

A lot of people loved Creep when it first appeared in 2014. I can definitely see the positives. It was independent cinema done right, in terms of main characters and the blend of naturalistic performances and everything feeling a bit off, but it also suffered from a couple of major flaws. Like so many other found footage movies, it was hard to buy into the fact that someone would keep filming while things started to get crazier. And it was just a bit too lightweight.

Creep 2 feels like a far superior sequel, despite having made the smallest of changes to the concept. Mark Duplass is back in the main role, calling himself Aaron, a serial killer who seems to derive more pleasure from the build up to the murders than the actual act itself. He has hired someone this time around, Sara (Desiree Akhavan), to document what he says will be his final video. And so begins the mind games.

I can't quite put my finger on the reasons why, but this felt easier to buy into than the first film The character of Sara is someone desperate to try and boost the viewing figures of her small internet show, so the combination of the fee and watching something play out that may draw some good traffic makes her feel like someone who can tolerate more nonsense than other people may put up with. There's also the fact that we now know the main character, unless you decided to go wild and watch this without having seen the first movie. We know that he IS a killer, and that is also clarified in the opening scene here (which basically gives a good reminder of his M.O. and manner within the first few minutes).

Director Patrick Brice has less to worry about here, not being also onscreen as he was in the first movie, and that also seems to factor in. Despite working from an outline (by Brice and Duplass), and despite the fast and loose improvised nature of most of the scenes, this feels like a tighter film all round.

It helps that there's a better, stranger, dynamic between the leads here. Duplass is still as excellent as he was in the first film, often coming close to being gleeful as he peppers his lies with some complete honesty that the person recording him just doesn't believe, and Akhavan (who has done great work on the other side of the camera, having written and directed the excellent The Miseducation Of Cameron Post) proves to be a surprisingly good match, becoming more and more intrigued by her subject as he shows more and more of his . . . oddness.

If you enjoyed Creep then you're going to enjoy this. More importantly, you may enjoy this even if you didn't enjoy the first one that much. The construction of the film may be enough to put some off, but the performance from Duplass alone makes this a brilliant watch, and he's created one of the best new killers in the past decade. What's more impressive is that he's managed it simply by being a brilliant actor.

7/10

Creep and Creep 2 are both on Netflix. A perfect little double-bill to warm you up for your October horror movie viewings.

Tully (2018)

Most Hollywood movies have a comfortingly optimistic view of parenthood and families that have to struggle to balance the household budget. You see mothers rushing around, usually in a montage of school runs and sporting events, and most people struggling with debt still seem to have a roof over their head, a car (which I know is more essential in America than it is here in the UK), and a generally decent selection of food and drinks.

Tully is a film about motherhood that impressively, determinedly, moves away from the sugar-coated outlook that appears in most movies. Charlize Theron plays Marlo, the mother of two children, one daughter and one son, with the latter having an undiagnosed condition that makes him behave in a way that others charitably describe as "quirky". And she's expecting her third child. Her husband, played by Ron Livingston, seems to be loving and supportive, but could probably do a fair bit more to help, and her brother (Mark Duplass) thinks that he will help out by gifting her the services of a night nanny. And that eventually leads to her receiving help from Tully (Mackenzie Davis), a bright and energetic young woman who helps to make a positive change in the Marlo's life.

Although still far from perfect in the way it depicts a struggling mother, and the way in which it depicts certain health issues, this is a film that has more for parents, and especially mothers, to identify with than usual. The direction from Jason Reitman is as capable as ever, the guy does solid work without ever really putting his own stamp on things, and the script by Diablo Cody is a nice balance of harsh truths and wry comedy, despite a couple of mis-steps that are easily forgiven once the end credits start to roll and you think over what you've just watched.

Theron hasn't put in a bad performance in a long time, and she keeps her streak intact here, showing a woman changed by motherhood in so many ways (mentally and physically) that she wonders if she can ever get back to finding herself under the layers of selflessness, tiredness, and auto-responses. Davis, another actress I have been a fan of in almost every role she has played, lights up the screen with almost every moment of her screentime. Her enthusiasm and energy come in at just the right time, and Davis does just enough to keep her character sweet and likeable when she could just as easily have seemed annoying, and even slightly creepy. Livingston has a lot less to do, although he's not painted in any kind of bad light until he takes time to look at himself a bit more closely, and Duplass is a lot of fun with his mix of bluntness and genuine care for his sister. Gameela Wright also does well as a teacher who has to break the bad news that the school can't really cope with the additional responsibility of one troubled young boy.

Some viewers may see where this is heading from the opening scenes (I am notoriously unable to foresee things in movies that others say are completely bleeding obvious) but that doesn't stop it being an interesting and rewarding journey. I think there's still some way to go before we see a more realistic portrayal of motherhood onscreen, if it ever happens, but this gets closer than most, which is just one of the reasons to give it your time.

8/10

You can buy the DVD here.
Americans can get a Blu here.

Blue Jay (2016)

Blue Jay is, for the most part, a two-hander of a film that allows stars Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass to show how well they can work together. If you're fans of those two then you should get some enjoyment from this. If you're not . . . well, it's certainly a riskier proposition.

Paulson plays Amanda, and Duplass plays Jim. The two meet in a convenience store, completely by chance, and viewers are quickly made aware of the fact that they used to be in a relationship. Many years may have gone by since they were student sweethearts but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of those feelings, buried for so long, aren't still simmering away just below the surface. The two settle into an easy and comfortable mix of reminiscences, play-acting, and talk about their lives in the here and now.

Blue Jay will certainly strike the right chord with some people. There are moments of honesty and melancholy that will resonate with anyone who has been in a relationship, a surviving one or a broken one. But it has the potential to aggravate others, which is how I reacted to it for most of the middle section. I blame Duplass, who also wrote the film. And when I say that he wrote the film I mean that he came up with a summary and decided to enjoy an extended improv session with Paulson. That could have worked if the conversational tangents didn't feel so obviously affected and downright actorly. Instead of a naturalism in the performances, we instead get the feeling that we are watching two people desperately trying to match one another for the approval of some guests. This is just the same as the two children who set up a curtain in the living room, lift it up to step forward and perform the little play they just wrote, and bask in the glow of proud adults. That's sweet, it's good for the kids, and often good for the adults who may not have other plans on a rainy day in November, but it's not always the best approach to film-making.

Paulson and Duplass aren't bad actors, as anyone who has seen them in other roles will know, and they manage to elevate a few moments here and there, making the whole thing almost worthwhile. There's also a small role for Clu Gulager, and I often enjoy seeing him appear onscreen. It's just a great shame that nobody warned them that a number of their scenes might come across as being a bit smug.

Director Alex Lehmann, making his feature debut, does what is asked of him. Or what he's told to do. There's no escaping the fact that this feels like a product more controlled by the Duplass brothers than anyone else involved, which should have been a big plus. Unfortunately, this is a well-intentioned misfire that serves more as an inspiration to other low-budget film-makers out there than as an actual entertaining movie.

4/10

You can buy it here.
Americans can buy it here.

Table 19 (2017)

Weddings can be stressful affairs. Stressful for those planning the whole event, and sometimes almost as stressful for those attending. What do you wear? What gift should you get for the happy couple? What table will you be sitting at? What can you do to avoid the best man, who you were going out with until very recently? Okay, maybe that last one only applies to one or two individuals, including the character played in this movie by Anna Kendrick.

Kendrick is Eloise, a young woman who ends up at the titular table at the wedding of her good friend. She ends up alongside Jo (June Squibb), who used to be the nanny to the bride, a young man named Renzo (Tony Revolori), a married couple (Bina and Jerry Kepp, played by Lisa Kudrow and Craig Robinson, respectively), and a man recently released from prison by the name of Walter (Stephen Merchant). This ragtag bunch start to learn a lot more about one another as the wedding day goes on, becoming more supportive and defiant in the face of dictated wedding roles. It's likely that these individuals will find themselves changed by the end of their experience, or it's equally likely that they will accept qualities they once thought they HAD to change.

Written and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, based on a story that he worked on with Mark and Jay Duplass, Table 19 is a film that manages to embrace the dramedy/rom-com tropes it is using, while also throwing in one or two minor surprises that should make viewers smile. The tone is pitched perfectly, as is the way in which awkward moments aren't overdone. This material could have easily been far too cringe-inducing, or broad, or too bitter, but it isn't. There's no real substance to it either, mind you - these people always feel like movie characters in movie situations - but it's nice and simple entertainment.

The cast helps a lot. Kendrick can play this kind of role blindfolded, Wyatt Russell adds another solid performance to his growing, impressive filmography, playing the best man who is painted in a bad light by Kendrick (but is that really who he is?). Squibb is lovely, Revolori and Merchant provide a lot of laughs, and Robinson and Kudrow work well alongside one another, with Kudrow delivering a performance that might well remind viewers that she should really be given more roles like this, in terms of screentime and substance.

There's not much more to say about this. It's a small film that never really feels hampered by any of the decisions made (in terms of budget and shot choices, etc), and it's something that should work well enough for any couples looking for a choice to settle on for "date night". But I'm sure it won't often be cast up by anyone involved when they're rattling off highlights of their career. Pleasant and unspectacular would be the two main adjectives to apply here.

6/10

Folks can pick up Table 19 on DVD here.
Americans have the Bluray option here.

The One I Love (2014)

Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss star as, respectively, Ethan and Sophie. They're a married couple currently going through a bit of a tough patch. In an effort to help them improve their relationship, their counsellor (Ted Danson) sends them to a lovely getaway cottage for a weekend break. And it looks like it might work some magic on them. But then things start to get a bit strange. And then even stranger.

I can't say any more about The One I Love without spoiling the premise, so this is going to be a pretty difficult review to write. I will start by simply saying how good Duplass and Moss are in their roles. Being allowed to show their characters in varying degrees of love with one another allows them to work together in creating a relationship that feels very real. It's not perfect, and those imperfections end up somehow making you root for the two of them to work things out. Because few relationships, if any, are perfect. They all need to be worked at, which is often easier said than done. Sometimes you just want to forget things and move on, but the harder option can make the relationship stronger. Duplass and Moss reflect those feelings perfectly. Fans of Mary Steenburgen should keep their ears peeled for a vocal cameo, and Danson does well with his small role.

Director Charlie McDowell does a great job, putting all of the pieces in place before leading viewers to a third act that's filled with a surprising amount of tension (I know, I know, you're curious now . . . . . . . well, you'll just have to check it out for yourself), and Justin Lader helps out a lot by providing a script that is, by turns, smart, amusing, unnerving, and very interesting. The premise may veer into the fantastical, but it's full of many recognisable moments, from the awkwardness of a couple trying to deliberately act relaxed and happy around one another while tensions simmer to the way in which people can remember just why they love their other half, despite being infuriated by them.

There's really very little else that I can say about the movie. The technical work is great, with particular praise due to the editing, the tone is pitched perfectly, and it's an enjoyably unique experience. Some people will undoubtedly find the whole thing a bit too weird. They will give up or describe it to other people as "that crazy film we watched the other night". But those who respond to it will, I think, respond strongly. It's destined to find a relatively small, but loyal, fanbase.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/One-I-Love-Blu-ray/dp/B00NG4HAX2/ref=sr_1_2_twi_2_twi_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1420922910&sr=1-2&keywords=the+one+i+love

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