Backrooms and Liminal Space Horror

 

My parents are European immigrants, and when I was a little kid, before me da' started working for movie studios (mostly Fox and Paramount..I spent a lot of time on those lots growing up) and still poor, he was a painter. Residential and commercial. On some weekends he would often be working in industrial buildings, new office buildings, and such. When I was maybe around six or seven, he would often take either me or one of my brothers with him to watch as he worked, because sometimes three sons were a handful for mom alone. Dad would be in some empty room or hall, and I would go wandering. Some of these complexes were huge, and often empty of furnishings and certainly devoid of people. So I would go off exploring, and the sound of dad and whoever was working with him, and the portable radio they were listening to, would disappear into the distance as I moved on. These were often places in areas like Marina Del Rey near the Ballona Wetlands, where Hughes Aircraft always had these huge buildings. 

I would go through carpeted office areas, down silent stairwells, and into boiler areas full of pipes and machines. I had dreams throughout my childhood of these places, sometimes nightmares where I felt an entity was near, and could hear dad singing to country tunes or whatever in the distance. I would call out and he could never hear me. I may have originally gained my fascination with mythic dungeons from these experiences. 

So when I discovered "Backrooms" and liminal space horror, I was a shoe in. AI search gives this info on Liminal space:

• Liminal spaces are transitional or transformative areas between two states or places.
• They often evoke feelings of unease or nostalgia due to their ambiguous nature.
• Common examples include hallways, airports, and empty parking lots.
• These spaces can symbolize change, uncertainty, or the passage from one phase to another.
• Liminality is often explored in art, literature, and psychology to represent personal growth or societal shifts.
• The term originates from the Latin word "limen," meaning threshold, highlighting the idea of crossing boundaries.

You have probably been in these spaces in your life, alone, as I have. Getting to work in an office building super early. Or going down an airport walkway at 3am. I have often enjoyed the eerie vibe of walking in a long wide corridor between two major Vegas casinos pre-dawn with nobody around with pop music oozing from speakers. 

You can look up the full history of this sublime horror, but it started I believe with this image:

This was a furniture store that was undergoing renovations (I think it eventually became one of those once popular model car racing track businesses). It does seem to kind of go on in an eerie way. As the concept grew, this became known as level 0. The main entrance area of the Backrooms Liminal Zones. Known for drab yellow 1970s or 80's wallpaper, humming overhead lighting, and wet shag carpet that gave off a moldy smell with each step. 

The lore iceberg has it that some old corporation was using some kind of quantum physics science to try and create an extra dimensional space to uses for storage and workspaces etc, and an existing dimension copied inner space areas from the real world to create hundreds of massive levels, often inhabited with twisted creatures whose sole food was people who accidentally "no clipped" into the Backrooms. 

This is based on the video game term "clipping." That is the code that kept you from being able to go through walls or locked doors or the floor.  People who somehow fell into the Backrooms almost always started in the moist carpet wallpaper halls, an endless maze of sameness. 

But other areas and levels were copies of real world spaces, almost always empty and where you might get stalked by something you do not want to meet. 

Empty shopping malls are a fun part
of liminal space fandom

When I first started getting into Liminal space,
I saw this image and was delighted. I recognized it
and had walked these stairs. This is from the 
Queen Mary in Long Beach, where over the years
I performed with my bagpipes at the yearly Highland
game there all over the boat. 

One of my favorite Youtube series is Infographics, which depicts current events, historical events, and fictional ideas in a cartoon point of view. They did one on Backrooms:

Not too many years ago a young man started making short films on Backrooms, sort of making the Creepy Pasta abstract concept more solid, and decidedly his. The films often featured scientists in hazmat suits, who more often than not would meet a horrifying end.

Also was turned into a video game at one point. This stuff just added to the lore and created an actual big iceberg around it. The government sponsored organization exploring and studying it, poor souls randomly no clipping into it, and many of the endless levels explained. The creatures of the spaces described and encountered:

Most of the entities in the spaces seem to be lost victims who one way or another are mutated into these forms. Often due to strange bacteria. Monsters lurk, stalk, whisper, and even sometimes howl as in great pain. Yeah, scary.

So for sure there are similarities to classic magical DnD dungeons, where the laws of physics do not always apply like they do on the surface world. And there is treasure here and there, mostly in the form of drinkable water, edible food, and strangely lots of bottles of almond milk. At least one of the odd creatures can also produce almond milk. Yeah, for sure sounds like something from the mind of a Gen Z'er with progressive, Trader Joe's shopping ideals. 

So lots of inspiration for dungeons. Or even a modern world tabletop RPG where you are lost there and must find your way out or at least survive. 

Half of my does not really like this expansionism. More and more levels, levels with the appearance of towns or even big red hued cities. And in current lore there are areas that are safer and lost people have gathered in little societies. Places with water and food, a quiet misty forest where the lost actually created village societies. Are having babies and growing the population. 

This would all be fine for an ongoing rpg or whatever. But the other half of me wants the horror of loneliness and sameness. Being alone in an endless maze of yellow wallpaper and moist carpet. The occasional stalking from and entity. Hopelessness. "I will never see home again." 

This is all on my mind because I heard last week a movie is coming out based on Backroom lore. It looks pretty good, thought the hero seems to be able to move in and out of the spaces (and of course he has to go talk to a therapist about it). These low budget horror films tend to do  well, so odds are very good a franchise will grow here. It will dull the chilling vibe of liminal area terror. But what the hell, I am all in for the rest of the Backrooms ride. Check out the trailer. Cheers.

Superman Review and yeah some spoilers

 

As a kid and into my teens Spider Man was my favorite superhero, the comic I collected the most of, and the collection I much later made a lot of money on in the early days of Ebay. I was a Marvel kid for sure, but at swap meets and thrift shops I encountered and took possession of a lot of DC. I would not actually collect DC until I was into my 20's, and those were very specific. Suicide Squad and Johan Hex were almost complete sets I had.

But the big three, you know, Superman, Batman, and even Wonder Woman were in my collection. At some point as a young man Superman became my favorite overall hero. Whether a big blue boy scout, or a troubled and alienated being, Supes in any flavor was OK by me. 

What we get in James Gunns Superman is a mildly flawed, kind of corny and loveable Man of Steel. He really comes off less like the 70's Reeves Superman, and more like that films goofy Clark Kent. This movies Clark actually seems cooler than his Superman identity. 

Superman starts the movie off all beat to shit, and his cousins dog Krypto drags him to the Fortress of Solitude where Supes assistant Robots put him on a gurney and expose him to magnified sunlight to bring him back near peak. Yes, if this all sounds very 50's and 60's Superman then you are on the nose. James Gunn is looking to vintage and kind of cartoony DC for his inspiration. Anyway, Supes is right back in action and back to getting his ass kicked. All up and down Metropolis. 

Nick Holt is a great Luthor. Both evilly funny and at times terrifying. Though he seems to be a good boss to his assistants. He doesn't hit anybody like you might expect from this Luthor. He just breaks a glass and tells them to clean it up. They hop right to it so they must be well paid. And the most abuse he heaps on his girlfriend Miss Teshmacher is throwing a pencil at her. But at some point he does jail her in his prison dimension where what appears to be another former gif is already imprisoned. So yeah, that seems kind of dark. 

So Luthors scheme is to out Superman as a fraud or something, and when he unscrambles the speech by Supes Krypton parents where it is heavily implied they sent him to rule (Gunn ripping off Invincible it seems) rather than protect. When humanity is supplied the scandalous info (confirmed to be genuine by Mr. Terrific) they turn on Superman. This rewriting of Supes parents is probably the most controversial addition by Gunn. But it sets up an incredible montage of how great Clarks Earth parents were to him growing up, and how they inspired him to be good, not some prince of aliens from an ice planet on the other side of the galaxy. I actually got misty at that point. Gunn got me. 

My toxic fandom cronies online are not going to like how much I like the movie. It is not as woke as I feared. Any political stuff is blurred enough that you can add what you like. The foreign war portrayed could be Israel, or it could be Ukraine. So pick your preferred flavor of global injustice. 

The back up cast is pretty good. They are all there. Lois, pal Jimmy (who it turns out is a dork who somehow gets unbelievable supermodel sniz on the reg)

 Perry White (who nowadays is ironical black), office slut Cat Grant, and others.

Of the other heroes Guy Gardner is good, Hawkgirl may as well not even be there (though she gets her own wicked moments on the battlefield), but Mr. Terrific is, well, Terrific. The most obscure of the bunch, I loved him in the comics. Worlds smartest man as well as super athlete. His abilities, and technology, and attitude are right out of the comics. He might be the most accurate portrayal of a comics hero ever. He needs his own movie. 

Everybody loves a nutty dog, but Krypto gets annoying at times. Cousin Supergirl, played by the chin girl from House of the Dragon, shows up for like a minute at the end to collect her dog, and is clearly drunk. When she leaves she calls Supe a bitch, which I thought was funny. She is a party girl. This is all a reference the Woman of Tomorrow graphic novel where Supergirl likes to go to yellow sun planets so she can actually get drunk, and a story that the upcoming movie will be based on. 

Superman starts and ends the movie beat to shit. There is a certain lack of the respect the character gets in other media. Authorities and other heroes treat him more like the popular high school quarterback than a demigod. And it's OK. This is Superman early in his career. There is room to grow. 

Oh yeah, some pretty good songs selected like James Gunn do. 

So yes, I do recommend it. It's a good time at the movies. 

Cheers.