With 'Backrooms' and 'Obsession,' the Changing of the Guard Is Upon Us, and Gen Z May Be the Captain, Now

Happy Tuesday, folks!

On Sunday night, I watched the Euphoria finale, which had me on the edge of my couch. I plan to give the HBO series a proper eulogy later in the week, so hang tight.

Last night, I attended an AMC Screen Unseen screening of Lionsgate’s high-octane martial arts movie The Furious, which featured some pretty jaw-dropping action sequences, I must admit. The film lacks the style and brevity of The Raid, but it’s a fantastic fight film on its own, so if you’re looking to see lightning-fast fists of fury in action, check out The Furious when it hits theaters on June 12. Hopefully, the movie will open doors for veteran Japanese director/action choreographer Kenji Tanigaki.

I also watched Over Your Dead Body, a remake of The Trip from director Jorma Taccone and starring Jason Segel, Samara Weaving, Timothy Olyphant, and Juliette Lewis. I had a lot of fun with the gory movie, which is the best of the three films Weaving has led in the first half of this year. She also has Carolina Caroline hitting theaters this Friday, but sadly, the film isn’t quite on the level of writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier’s earlier work.

Finally, a couple of buddies and I ventured out to theaters on Thursday night to see Kane Parsons’ A24 movie Backrooms, which opened to more than $80 million at the domestic box office this weekend. Its performance, coupled with the success of Curry Barker’s thriller Obsession, has led to a veritable tidal wave of headlines about the ascendance of YouTube directors in Hollywood, which is the subject of today’s newsletter.

Premium subscribers may now enter the Sneider-Verse to read 6000 more words about two relatively small movies that have nevertheless taken the world by storm… and one of the movies vying for Inde Navarrette’s services.

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