HOLLYWOOD—I had to ask myself several times while watching the movie “Backrooms” what the hell am I watching? For a movie that cost almost $10 million to make I expected the visuals to be a bit crispier and brilliant, I mean it opened to more than $85 million and that is huge for a film that is rated R.

What is the movie about? That I am still trying to figure that out. The big lure “Backrooms” has to it is that it’s a mystery and as a spectator that immediately draws you into a narrative where there is not always something going on. We open to a man getting lost in these so-called ‘Backrooms’ before something appears to capture him. What that thing is, the audience doesn’t know, but the audience gets a glimpse of a group of people in lab coats, likely scientists watching this unfold from a safe distance.

That soon transitions the audience to Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who is a struggling architect, who operates a desolate furniture store in the middle of nowhere. Clark is an alcoholic who finds himself in a marriage where he is not happy. This explains why he is seeing Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), a therapist that helps him talk thru his issues.

While at his furniture store late at night, Clark spots something out of the ordinary behind a wall and goes to investigate and discovers a maze-like structure full of rooms and stuff but soon vacates when he discovers he is being chased by something.

Now, this is where the movie loses me because it reminded me of “Paranormal Activity” or a multitude of other found footage horror flicks, at least that is what director Kane Parsons presents to the spectator. It is a movie, but it felt like I was watching a footage trying to figure out the big mystery and it fails to deliver after all the anticipation it builds.

I refuse to spoil what the big reveal is, but all I can say is upon discovering what this ‘mysterious thing’ is, I was scratching my head. What the hell is it and what the hell is the overall purpose here? “Backrooms” delivers a clever concept, but the payoff is not worth it for the viewer to be honest.

You have this middle portion where not much happens just people exploring rooms, and then you get this third act, where Mary becomes entangled in this mystery in a way that just isn’t plausible. Ejiofor and Reinsve do solid work with their performances with the minimal material given to them. They are literally acting stunned and shocked in what is a massive maze that leads to more and bigger mazes, but what else are they expected to explore with all honesty?

Watching “Backrooms” I found myself frustrated, perhaps annoyed more than anything that I wasted almost 2 hours watching a mystery unfold and I still have no clue what the overall arch of the movie was or what it was trying to say. The movie is like a big maze, what that lures you in, but doesn’t give you the conclusion you want. Yes, “Obsession” was an effective thriller, but if you think “Backrooms” lives up to that level of hype you will be greatly disappointed with the result.