Exploring two new releases

In this past year, we have seen an uprising trend that some media channels have dubbed “Gen Z” Horror. This refers to the new wave of young directors bringing new ideas and movie concepts to the horror and film industry as a whole. Just this past month, we have seen two new releases that have gained widespread popularity.  Obsession directed by Curry Barker age 26, and The Backrooms directed by Kane Parsons age 20. These two films bring new, refreshing concepts to horror, while also using the genre to explore and comment on societal issues we see today. 

Obsession is a film that follows our main character Bear, who desperately wants to confess his feelings towards his co-worker and friend Nikki. In this desperation, he buys a magical item called a “One Wish Willow” and wishes for Nikki to love him more than anyone else. This wish doesn’t go exactly as planned and the movie explores Nikki’s newfound “obsession” with Bear’s life. 

The film comments on men’s inherent need to control women entirely. Bear, our main character, presents himself as a “nice” guy who is simply shy. The insecurity that serves as an obstacle, blocking Bear from confessing his feelings is the very thing that motivates him to essentially take Nikki’s autonomy away. He forces her into loving him because he cannot bring up the courage to do it himself. Throughout the movie, Nikki slowly starts acting violent, irrational, and out of character. We later find out that the “real” Nikki is trapped by the spell, unable to act out of her own free will. She is trapped in a version of herself that she can’t escape from. Despite this, Bear does not wish to try and break the wish. This directly tells us that he does not truly love her, he has no regard for her wellbeing as long as she keeps on loving him. This is a common theme we see in society today. Men always want the idea of a woman until they actually get her. Seeing the flaws and not idealized traits breaks the illusion and unrealistic expectations men have of women. In the media, this is known as the manic pixie dream girl trope. A character trope describing a fun, unpredictable woman that exists solely to help the protagonist find happiness without having any personal goals or romantic needs of her own. Bear cannot see himself as being the bad person in this situation, he constantly deflects the blame off of himself. The first night after the wish is enacted, Nikki breaks out of the trance momentarily. She is freaked out and instead of consoling her, Bear yells “you came onto me!”. Such a hypocritical statement knowing he is the one who put her in this situation. He continuously chooses his own selfish desires instead of Nikki. This is the heart, the overall message of the film. Insecure men will always take their inadequacy out on women, never seeing their issues as internal. 

Backrooms, although a very different concept also ends up commenting on societal issues regarding men. It follows our main character, Clark, who is a lonely furniture store owner. He has recently divorced his wife and his business is failing. He feels inadequate in his life and communicates this with his therapist, Mary. He is an angry man who blames his wife for ruining his life. He gets violent when speaking about her, calling her awful names. One night, he finds a “place” in his store, it resembles an old office building that seems to go on for miles, but, something about it is off. These are known as the “backrooms”. A liminal space that distorts memory and time. 

As the film progresses, Clark becomes fixated on exploring the backrooms. He tells Mary about the place he had found, and she does not believe him. This only furthers Clark’s motivation, wanting to prove himself. He convinces his only two employees to come into the backrooms to help him film, leading to both of them dying to an unseen entity. Mary comes to investigate only to find that Clark has chosen to stay in the backrooms and has been living in them for months. He has lost all sense of reality and traps Mary to stay with him. His actions pack a powerful message, Clark chooses to stay in the backrooms because it has become a place that allows him to live with all his flaws. Instead of dealing with his anger, he chooses to live in it (literally). We learn that Clark does not want to change, he sees no problem with living how he is. Oftentimes, in society, we don’t punish men for their actions, allowing them to live with their bad behavior and traits, seeing no need to change. It’s at this moment that we find out who this hidden entity is that is killing people in the backrooms. It’s Clark, or a version of himself. The backrooms deal with people’s memories. There are versions of everyone lurking in there. We meet versions of Mary, Clark’s wife, and finally Pirate Clark. Clark lives in his store, every night he “gives” the backrooms more of himself, his memories, his flaws and desires. Pirate Clark, is the only entity in the backrooms that attacks and kills people. This is a direct commentary on Clark himself.  He was the only person in his life who was violent, everyone else is trapped and afraid of Pirate Clark, who is the representation of all of real Clark’s anger. The backrooms and everything they represent serve as the message of this film. They are the externalizations of human flaws, a reflection of human consciousness. 

Both films serve as commentary on societal issues regarding relationships between men and women. They serve as a crituque of the “modern man”. Both Bear and Clark are opposite ends of the scale, one is seen as shy and harmless, while the other is overly violent and agressive. Despite these differences, they both externalize their issues at the expense of women. Perpetuating the overall message that insecure men use control and anger to cope with their own issues/failures.