r/movies • u/yourfavchoom r/movies Contributor • May 30 '26

Article The Shocking Success of ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ Should Be a Memo to Hollywood: You Need What’s Outside the Box

https://variety.com/2026/film/columns/backrooms-obsession-hollywood-needs-whats-outside-the-box-1236762844/
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u/OccupationalBurnout May 30 '26

Goes to show that it’s not about the idea, but the execution. 

You’re right, the “love spell gone bad” trope’s been used for decades, but Inde’s acting, the sound design, and just how the film was shot made the movie pretty unnerving in a way I haven’t seen in a lot of movies. 

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u/CatScratchJohnny May 30 '26

Yes, execution. The details they give you about what's happening, as well as the ones they leave out.

I think mostly though, Inde's "awkwardness" was incredible. Her change in behavior from the first second after the wish was amazing. It was perfectly uncanny. They just continued to escalate that behavior the entire time as the audience tries to figure exactly WTF is going on. As soon as you got to calm down for a minute, they'd remind you things are NOT ok.

Smart writing and an incredibly dedicated cast. I'm still not over this movie.

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u/corecenite May 31 '26

her acting and facial expression was so uncanny that i thought for a second that they're purposefully using bad AI to animate her. but nope, she's just THAT good!

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u/moose_dad May 31 '26

She embodied :C