Backrooms (in theaters)

“Backrooms” is very vibe-based horror. 

That off feeling you get when it seems like you’re completely alone someplace. The hallway that never seems to stop, the way that rooms seem to multiply and twist in nightmares. The knowledge that you no longer remember how you got here, and you’re not sure how to get back out.

The challenge of turning those vibes into a feature-length movie wasn’t an easy one, but the movie version of “Backrooms” pulls it off. Based on a series of YouTube videos, the movie anchors the experience of the Backrooms to a psychologist who’s trying to hunt for a missing patient. She can chart exactly what it’s like to slowly lose your mind, which gives the audience’s own discomfort a chilling shape.

The big question, though, is whether or not this is the kind of horror that works for you. There’s some variety in the scares the Backrooms offer – the only thing worse than being alone is realizing you’re not alone – but the creeping sense of wrongness is the whole point. If that doesn’t work on you, you’ll get bored. 

The movie does a good job of providing a story beyond the horror, with excellent performances from both Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Fans of the web series may lament the lack of deep-level world building, but the personal journey of these two characters feels like a more important focus for a full-length film. The movie makes sure we understand what’s going on in the Backrooms, but it’s these two characters that keep us caring the whole way. 

Grade: Three stars

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War (Prime)

Sometimes, it’s better to let a canceled series stay canceled. 

“Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War” is basically the fifth season of the 2018 Jack Ryan streaming series, squished down to fit into a movie runtime. Unfortunately, all that squishing means that nuance and character focus that made the series watchable mostly go out the window. In its place we get action that only occasionally surpasses its series roots, new characters we barely get the chance to know, and gratuitous advertising for the UAE and its related airline. Though John Krasinski solidly continues the Jack Ryan performance he established in the series, the results aren’t worth it. 

The movie is set some indeterminate time after Ryan resigns from the C.I.A., showing him working in the private sector. Unsurprisingly, he soon gets sucked back in to a new CIA conspiracy, one clearly inspired by the Nicholas Cage movie “The Rock.” Joining his team is an MI6 agent played by Sienna Miller, whose main personality features are stoicism and chain smoking. 

There are vague hints of a potential romance between her and Krasinski’s character, but the movie mostly doesn’t move much beyond significant looks. The moments of painfully clear product placement for Emirates Airlines and the UAE in general are not only jarring, but vaguely embarrassing. The action isn’t bad, but it never quite gets good enough to justify everything else. 

Overall, it’s not the worst thing that’s ever been put onscreen. Still, you’d be better served just going back and watching the series. 

Grade: One and a half stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Denver Film Critics Society and the Utah Film Critics Association. Drop her a line at [email protected].