Boogieing Down with ‘Backrooms’

June 3, 2026

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Back, back, back, back, back it up (CREDIT: A24)

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell

Director: Kane Parsons

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: May 29, 2026 (Theaters)

I’d be happy to live in the Backrooms, if you’re asking me. Honestly! Maybe I’m being a little foolhardy, but I’m pretty confident I generally do a better job of keeping my anger in check than Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character, and that seems like an important quality for survival. Although, hang on, wait a minute.

I just remembered something crucial.

I didn’t see a single goshdarn window anywhere in the Backrooms! That’s a huge no-no. I can’t settle in a permanent residence without any windows. But I still believe that it would be nice enough for regular check-ins. After all, when I saw Mark Duplass staring intently at a monitor, I was like, “I could do that!”

Grade: 525,600 Chairs out of 777,777 Doors

I’m Not Afraid to Say That I Have Some Thoughts About ‘AfrAId’

September 6, 2024

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To Be AfrAID, or to be very AfrAId? (CREDIT: Glen Wilson/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Keith Carradine, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, Ashley Romans, Wyatt Lindner, Isaac Bae, Bennett Curran, Greg Hill, Riki Lindhome, Todd Waring

Director: Chris Weitz

Running Time: 84 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: August 30, 2024 (Theaters)

I ain’t afraid of no A.I. And AfrAId didn’t convince me that I should be! First of all, it’s just a movie, so we should really just relax. Second of all, it takes a much-less apocalyptic approach than it could have. Whereas horror movie monsters are typically defeated or merely just escaped from by their story’s end, in AfrAID, AIA the A.I. ultimately brokers a compromise with its human keepers. In that way, it offers a similarly uneasy (but possibly hopeful) solution as that of The Babadook. So yeah, that’s something different than what we usually get from this genre. If that sounds kind of enticing to you, then I would go ahead and encourage you to check out AfrAId!

Grade: A.I. Don’t Love You, But A.I. Do Tolerate You