Ten years ago, no one knew what backrooms were. Now, they have not only become an online phenomenon, but they also have their own movie that, to top it off, is going to dominate the box office over The Mandalorian and Grogu. And I assure you that no one at Disney saw this coming. However, this is not the first time an Internet phenomenon has made the leap to the big screen, usually with rather laughable success but, on rare occasions, managing to create something that goes beyond the meme. Shall we dive into the backrooms of the strangest and, at the same time, most incredible meme-movies in history?
Slender Man
On June 10, 2009, a user from Something Awful uploaded two montages of children with a strange creature behind them. Slender Man was born, unknowingly. Just four days later, there were already fanfics written about him, and the fandom began to grow monumental and uncontrollable. And, of course, he made it to Hollywood with a low-budget movie ($10 million) that grossed five times more. Everyone was happy, except for one thing: the character is not owned by anyone, which means there are dozens and dozens of low-budget movies featuring him as the protagonist.
There are a good handful of The Slender Man and Slender, with variations like Mystery of the Slender Man (which is a trilogy), Slender Man Stabbing, Slender: Demoniac, Slender The Arrival, Slender Man 2: Curse Book, The Slender Case, Beware the Slenderman… You might be wondering if any of these are good, and you can imagine the answer: not at all.
Karen
Surely you have heard the phrase “You are a Karen” or “She behaves like a Karen” at some point. The term originated in 2015 after the viral phrase “There’s always a Karen,” and even today it remains well-known and derogatory. Enough for movies to have been made about it, such as Karen, by Coke Daniels (which many confused with a bad sketch from Saturday Night Live), Amytiville Karen (where a “Karen” ends up possessed by a demonic spirit), or A Christmas Karen (which is basically the same, but at Christmas). To watch and forget.
This Man
All my life I have lived terrified by the idea that there is a man who appears to us in dreams and whose face we all remember. The idea was brilliantly exploited in Dream Scenario, with Nicolas Cage, but it was actually an idea from the Italian designer Andrea Natella, who first brought it to light in 2009 and it continues to this day. Surprisingly, the drawing of This Man gained international fame, and in Japan, a movie was made based on it titled, precisely, This Man, and there was even a Spanish-Italian co-production called Heste Hombre. Neither of the two gained relevance, and Dream Scenario overshadowed them forever. No one can compete with Nic Cage.
Grumpy Cat
In the early days of the Internet, when we were still satisfied with little, everyone was amazed by Grumpy Cat, one of the first memes that had the iconic combination of text above and text below: the cat’s constant angry face led to extrapolating it to hundreds of everyday situations. In fact, the cat was named Tardar Sauce and his face was the result of a disease. The cat lived only seven years, during which he became an Internet star and starred in his first (and only) movie, Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever, in 2014, where he appeared alongside Aubrey Plaza, who also provided his voice. Not many people liked it, and Grumpy Cat faded into the background, making his owners rich until today, where comics about him and his brother are still being published.
The Dancing Hamster
If you’ve been on the Internet as long as I have, you surely remember the dancing hamster with a song from Robin Hood, Whistle-Stop. The dancing hamster (sorry, “hampster”) was born in 1997 with the intention of making it an Internet star, and boy did it succeed, becoming one of the first and most satisfying memes in history. It even had its own album, digital hamsters were offered to celebrate all kinds of parties, and in 2009, years after it should have, How the Hampsters Saved Winter was released on DVD, selling only 2000 copies, which led it to become “lost media” until 2022, when someone uploaded it to YouTube. For better or for worse, once seen, it’s bad. Ew.
