Backrooms reviews have touched on influences from Twin Peaks to The Blair Witch Project. In fact, a lot of people are grappling to fit the new movie into a not-so-neat box, but the thing that stood out to me most when I got to preview the new A24 movie during an early screening was how much it felt like the world construed in Severance. As it turns out, I was not off my rocker thinking this. There is absolutely a reason it reminded me so much of the Apple TV+ show.
My main memories of watching Severance with my Apple TV+ subscription involve Adam Scott’s Mark entering an elevator and spending time in a long, convoluted and winding network of office spaces and rooms. Everything is stark and clean, yet eerie, and while Severance lacks the distinct yellow palette Backrooms spotlights over and over again, the seemingly never-ending yet faintly claustrophobic spaces feel alike. I don’t think anything made this more clear than that scene with Adam Scott running in the opening sequence for Season 2.
