The Diligent

Priyanshu Dey The horror genre was always an expression of the anxieties felt by society. The monsters of the twentieth century were expressions of societal anxiety related to war, nuclear accidents, sickness and change. It appears that the resurgence of the horror movies at present is a reaction to societal anxiety of another kind altogether. Rather than expressing anxiety related to creatures from outer space, contemporary horror movies express anxiety related to loneliness, identity crisis, involvement in unstable relationships and the uncanniness of everyday reality. Both ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms’ do not have any political connotations, yet they are products of culture created through the reality of their makers who grew up in the neoliberal era.  One thing both these films share is a focus on alienation. ‘Backrooms’ capitalizes horror from perpetual liminal spaces - hallways, empty rooms, bureaucratic spaces that feel uncannily familiar. Horror comes from a space void of l...