Is Backrooms The Beginning Of A New Generation Of Hollywood Auteurs, Or Just Another Horror Movie?

In just a week, Backrooms—the movie based on a YouTube series (which, in turn, was based on a 4chan meme)—has become A24’s highest grossing film ever in the United States. Many have heralded it as a breath of fresh air compared to the slurry of sequels and superheroes that have been forced down our throats for the past decade. But it is still, at its core, a horror movie, and it leans on tropes like any other. So, for that matter, is Obsession, the other hit movie directed by a YouTuber making headlines right now. Why does horror have implicit permission to expand its horizons where other genres don’t? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we try to scare up an answer.

This time around, we’re joined by musician, writer, and game developer Liz Ryerson hot on the heels of counterprogramming Summer Game Fest with the second annual Unearthed Treasure Room showcase. The basic idea? SGF is made up of nearly 20 showcases of games yet to come—too many, frankly!—but there are countless already-released games that deserve another shot. We discuss why it’s important to counterprogram something as commercialized as SGF despite a relatively tiny viewership, as well as what games can look like when they’re less constrained by the bounds of specific genres. 

Then we get lost in Backrooms. How does the movie draw on video game aesthetics to create something that feels fresh? And is this new crop of YouTubers turned filmmakers—as also demonstrated by Obsession—the injection of new life Hollywood has been looking for? Or is this another, perhaps slightly more subtle example of popular people and properties being squeezed into tired molds? Lastly, in honor of God Of War’s magnificent new gelatinous cube, we discuss other shapes we’d like to see anthropomorphized in games. 

You can find this week’s episode below and on Spotify, Apple, or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can someday build a massive Aftermath headquarters replete with all sorts of unnerving liminal spaces to frighten away young people.

Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity):

Liz: That’s the other narrative that’s going right now: YouTubers are taking over. Because Backrooms is really successful, it’s gonna spawn other [similar] things.

With [Backrooms director] Kane Parsons’ series, he was a YouTuber, but he wasn’t really a YouTuber personality. I think there’s a difference between that and the parasocial stuff with Markiplier; the ideal form of a Markiplier video is one that he’s in and commenting on, whereas Backrooms is Kane basically making a movie version of what he already made on YouTube.

But also, these are all horror movies. At some point, the question needs to be asked: Why do we have to keep shoehorning interesting, novel concepts into horror? That’s the thing with Haunted PS1 as well. There are a lot of interesting game ideas that came out of it, but it keeps having to be shoehorned into horror. You keep having to call things “horror” so that people will actually buy them. That’s been a consistent theme across the years.

Nathan: Why is that, do you think? Why is horror the genre where people are allowed to experiment a little more versus other types of blockbusters and things of that nature?

Liz: It’s just the unknown. It has a built-in appeal. But I don’t think you can call [this moment of YouTubers making popular movies] a flowering of new talent or whatever if they’re just making horror movies. It has to go beyond that.

Chris: Also, everyone talks about this like there’s a renaissance, but name some movies that are as good as… I don’t know—

Liz: L’eclisse? 

Chris: Or even name one that is as good as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It’s one of the best movies ever made.

A lot of these [modern horror movies] are bad or fine. People are like “Watch Longlegs.” Longlegs isn’t good. Weapons is fine. 

Nathan: To bring things full circle, you wanna know who’s directing a new version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Curry Barker, who just directed Obsession.

Chris: Oh, motherfucker. Get away from her!

I don’t know, the reason why horror does well is because you can make it with five dollars, and five million metal guys with goth girlfriends who have Etsy stores will see it. It puts butts in the seats. Like, you’ll go into [a theater where people are seeing Terrifier], and it’s a crowd of the nicest people who are bringing their children, and you’re like “Wow, you guys are really into this. Good luck.”

I’m not anti-horror. I love horror to death. But we’re gonna have to keep lying and saying stuff is horror just to trick people into seeing interesting movies. And it’s depressing a little bit.

Liz: It’s like the endless version of those 1950s movies like The Blob or The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers; it’s considered socially acceptable to deal with whatever taboos or anxieties people have in that form. Even people who are more conservative consider that culturally accessible, whereas stuff that is more confrontational or takes a more explicit approach I think has a much tougher time.

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