D.W. Waterson’s ‘BACKSPOT’ (2024) – Movie Review

I can fully admit that Backspot, though not horror, made me think of my kids and what they will face. As a worried dad with anxiety and more, I do my best to stay in touch with the social standards. So I didn’t know how it fits in, but after watching it, I can easily say it got into my brain and I completely enjoyed it. Being the weird kid in my school. At first, I found this kind of unfair, Cheerleaders, sucked when I was a kid. They came up with the best names to call me, and I still remember them, even though I had all these bad experiences 20 years ago. Despite these reservations, I gave it my best shot and it turned out well.

Synopsis

Riley (Devery Jacobs Rhymes for Young Ghouls 2013) pushes very hard to become a competitive cheerleader. She gives up everything with the choice to become a leader of the team. She struggles with her dedication to the team after letting someone fall on her last team. Riley starts climbing the ladder by impressing her coach, Eileen (Evan Rachel Wood West World). Riley starts to let anxiety control her. With a demanding coach and trying to keep up with the rest of the world. Can Riley survive the gripping pain of becoming a competitive cheerleader? 

Backspot, was directed and produced by D.W. Waterson. written by  Joanne Sarazen, and executive producer Elliot Page.

How It Starts

I have already gone off enough about school and cheerleaders. Backspot is a good look at the underworld of cheerleading. All the pain, bruises, and blisters show. It’s a very interesting story that kept me focused on screening the movie. It may not be horror, but in a way, it is: the horror of people falling and getting injured is a scary thing. I can easily say that after I almost died in a garage years ago.

After falling in front of the observers looking for a winning team. Riley just keeps plugging away.  Riley’s anxiety issues reach out to me, being mentally ill with crippling anxiety. I felt in my bones how much I had advanced out of my anxiety and going out in public, I was emotionally exhausted by the end of it and I just wanted to sleep. However, Riley and her best friend/girlfriend Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo) make a great team that pushes through. I felt for their relationship as it was tested time and time again.  

My Takeaway

I normally would have avoided this movie had I not been given the chance to experience it. It made the characters look human and vulnerable and that’s completely worthy of a story in itself. I think it made Backspot more relatable for everyone. We are all weird, and broken, and unprofessional sometimes. Some of us outgrow it, some don’t. The message was a deep one for everyone. This is the world we live in today, and I’m an ally to keep pushing for change.

We are all human, this is just how it goes. The sooner people accept that the better off the world will be.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Growing up as a closeted queer kid in the middle of suburbia, I was raised in a sports household that worshiped hockey, football and racing. Being a music and film lover who locked myself in the basement, watching the latest indie movies from Blockbuster, it blew my mind how something like sports could completely take over my family and each of our dynamics; my mom was overbearing in her love and support for my brother’s hockey career, and my dad, if not coaching, was glued to his televised games.

After escaping to the city as quickly as I could muster, I came out as queer and began performing as a DJ and music artist upon graduating from film school. Wearing a bright purple cheerleading uniform on stage, I DJed and drummed, feeling powerful and punk as I moshed and pounded my drums on stage.

But it was when I came across cheer as a real competitive sport that it blew me away; I’d always regarded cheerleaders as pom-pom-slinging side entertainment, cheering on the sports teams my dad watched. But I quickly learned how they are elite competitors whose talent and strength rival that of Olympic athletes, and how they command respect.

D.W. Waterson

By combining my upbringing surrounded by a sports-obsessed family, with the badassery of cheerleading. Also the manic energy of the electronic music I played. This inspired me to create the story behind Backspot. I filmed a proof-of-concept in 2017 and worked closely with Cheer Fuzion All-Stars (CFA), the only Black-owned squad in all of Canada, to further understand the world. For five years, I collaborated with my co-producer Devery Jacobs, and our talented writer Joanne Sarazen, carving out and developing this story into a feature.

Stylistically, I was influenced by everything from Jean-Marc Vallée’s emotional editing in Café de Flore, to Baywatch’s beachside montages and Bend It Like Beckham. I drew inspiration from countless music videos and fan-edits ripped from iconic queer couples’ storylines in mainstream film and TV, from Floria Sigismondi’s The Runaways to the UK teen series Skins. I wanted to tell an honest story that deals with anxiety and generational queerness. One that highlights how silly and playful young people can be. That takes the sport of cheer as seriously as it should.

But ultimately, with Backspot, I made the movie I wanted to see growing up.

– D.W. Waterson, Director/Producer