Gthere liminal spaces I am places of transition: stairs, corridors, elevators, schools, airports. The term limenin Latin means “theshold”, “confine” and suggests an intermediate condition between one state and another. In a broader sense, it is about suspended environments, often abandoned or devoid of function, impersonal and disorienting: something very close to theory of “non-places” Of Marc Augé.
Here, these environments have become the basis of the horror aesthetic of recent years. The success of Backroomsfilm by the young American YouTuber Kane Parsonsplays on the emotions that these spaces arouse: fear, disorientation, anxiety and restlessness.
Backrooms, the cult phenomenon born on the web
Backrooms it is without a doubt the most successful horror of the year. In the imagination created by Kane Parsons (known online as Kane Pixels), le backrooms are represented as a potentially infinite network of empty environments: anonymous corridors, yellowish rooms and narrow passages that seem to belong to a parallel dimension, accessible in an accidental and inexplicable way. The project takes shape in 2022 with a series of videos (found footage)achieved through 3D graphics and post-production techniques which simulate old analog recordings. But already since 2019 the aesthetics of backrooms explodes and transforms in a true collective cult phenomenon on the Internetpowered by videos and games posted on YouTube, TikTok and Roblox.
The success of the “back rooms”
Parsons’ film, essentially born from an online memegrossed more than Devil Wears Prada 2. Together with the American independent production and distribution company A24the YouTuber did his directorial debut trying to develop the concept of in a narrative and cinematic way backrooms: abandoned but not uninhabited places. The success of the film demonstrates how many viewers are looking for stories capable of conveying bewilderment, claustrophobia and fear of the unknown. For those who loved the endless yellow corridors and the surreal atmosphere of the film, here it is some titles that explore similar themes between altered reality, parallel dimensions and psychological terror.
Cube (1997)
With Cubecinema introduces one of the most powerful ideas of modern horror: a space that doesn’t seem to have any function. The characters find themselves trapped in one structure composed of rooms all the same, connected to each other in a potentially infinite way, without knowing who built it or why. The restlessness arises precisely from this void of meaning: architecture exists, but it is no longer useful. It is an autonomous system, without origin and explanation. Just like the Overlook Hotel in Shining, perhaps the most important liminal work never realized.
Pulse (2001)
In the cinema of Kiyoshi Kurosawaand in particular in Pulsehorror is not only linked to a threatening presence, but above all to absence. Empty apartments, deserted offices, cities emptied of people become the true center of anxiety. The dominant sensation is that of a world that continues to function even without those who inhabit it.
Vivarium (2019)
In Vivariumanguish arises from an extremely simple idea: a residential neighborhood identical in every detail, which repeats itself endlessly. Any escape attempt always leads to the same point. There is no need for supernatural elements to generate anxiety: repetition is enough.
Skinamarink (2022)
Skinamarink takes the concept of fragmented sensory experience to the extreme. Traditional narration almost disappears, replaced by partial images, distant sounds and barely recognizable domestic environments. More than telling a story, the film tries to reproduce a sensation: that of a familiar world that slowly disintegrates, becoming unrecognizable. It is perhaps one of the closest examples, in the cinematographic field, to the emotional experience associated with Backrooms: loss of orientation, absence of explanations and immersion in a space that seems to exist outside of reality.
Severance (2022)
Severance brings the idea of liminal space into the most everyday and recognizable environment possible: the office. The series set in the world of Severance (split) imagine a society where employees’ memories are surgically separated between work life and private life. Inside the company, the corridors are perfectly tidy, the rooms white and aseptic, the lights cold and constant. There is no element to indicate time or the outside world. It is a space closed on itself, where people exist only for the sake of work, without past or future.
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