leebutler Horror, Review, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Backrooms (2026) – Back To Yellow

Released: 28th May
Seen: 24th October

It all started with a single image posted to a forum in 2019. 4Chan, a site with a controversial reputation (to put it kindly), had a paranormal forum, and one day someone posted a single image. This image

A room with yellow wallpaper, seemingly empty with a strange pattern on the wallpaper, a carpetted floor that appears well worn and several overhead lights

This simple image of a strange set of rooms with mismatched off-yellow wallpaper and a carpet that looks like it’s made friends with every incontinent animal on the planet became known as The Backrooms, a piece of internet folklore (AKA A creepypasta) that soon took on a life of its own. It began as a series of stories, people making up an elaborate history for this world until a young filmmaker named Kane Parsons made a YouTube video that imagined what would happen if someone with a camera got lost in the Backrooms and something was coming after them. These became so popular that it was seemingly inevitable that they would lead to a movie being made about this liminal space; what was less inevitable was that the film would actually be good.

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leebutler Drama, Review

Sentimental Value (2025) – Intriguing

Released: 25th December 2025
Seen: 28th February 2026

It’s often hard to figure out how to open these reviews; the style developed almost a decade ago out of an understanding that a single paragraph would be placed above the fold, and I’ve just carried that on like it was a standard element of writing. Something that just happened several years ago for no particular reason is now locked in, will probably be standard until something dramatic changes, and I’m forced to re-evaluate how things are done… You could consider that process to be something of an imperfect metaphor for Sentimental Value, a film that revolves around the idea of how things that happened in the past can still have a massive impact on people several years later. Is it the best metaphor out there? No, is it the best I could do for this opening paragraph that inevitably means nothing other than tone setting for the rest of the review? Also no, but it’s what we’ve got.

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leebutler Comedy, Drama, Review, Thriller

A Different Man (2024) – A Better Man

Released: 24th October 2024
Seen: 2nd Feburary 2025

Every year that I’ve done this blog, there’s this weird little period around February-March where I go back to the year before and review a few films I missed just because they got nominated for Oscars. It’s always a little odd because sometimes I’ll stumble on a movie that should’ve been on the best list or maybe get some context for a cinematic trend that wasn’t quite making sense or even just have to ask “Why is this film only nominated in one category”. A Different Man was only nominated for a single Oscar this year – for Makeup and Hairstyling – but having gotten the chance to watch it, it feels genuinely stunning that it wasn’t in more though it’s also probably going to play a role in its lead actor’s chances of an award this year.

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