Backrooms: Is A24's Liminal Horror Movie Worth Watching?

What are the Backrooms, for anyone unfamiliar with the internet phenomenon?

Before it was a movie, "the Backrooms" was one of the most influential pieces of internet horror folklore of the past several years, a creepypasta built around the concept of "liminal spaces," unsettling, in-between physical environments (empty malls, abandoned office buildings, motel hallways at odd hours) that trigger a specific, hard-to-articulate sense of existential dread simply through their emptiness and familiarity-turned-uncanny. The Backrooms specifically imagines an infinite, labyrinthine extradimensional space of endless yellow-wallpapered rooms, flickering fluorescent lighting, and the persistent damp smell of old carpet, a nightmarish "glitch" in reality that you can accidentally "no-clip" into if you happen to fall through the wrong wall in the wrong building at the wrong time.

Kane Parsons, a young filmmaker working under the YouTube channel name "Kane Pixels," began adapting this internet-born mythology into an increasingly ambitious anthology of short films starting January 2022, building out the Backrooms' visual language and internal lore across a series of videos that developed a substantial, dedicated online following well before any studio got involved. That grassroots, internet-native origin story is central to understanding both the film's creative DNA and its eventual box office success.

What happens in the Backrooms film?

The film opens with a 1990-set prologue following researcher Naren Warne, who becomes lost within the Backrooms and is killed by an unseen entity, immediately establishing the space's danger and mystery. In the present day, the story shifts to Clark, a struggling furniture store owner dealing with alcoholism and a failed marriage, who begins therapy sessions with Mary Kline, herself carrying unresolved trauma connected to the demolition of her childhood home.

While filming a commercial dressed as his store's pirate mascot, Clark discovers a glowing slit in a wall and falls through into the Backrooms itself, finding traces of Naren's decades-old belongings before managing to escape. When Clark later brings his employees Kat and Bobby into the space to document what he's found, Bobby is dragged away and killed by an unseen entity, and Clark becomes separated from Kat, seemingly trapped within the space.

The story takes an increasingly disturbing turn as Mary eventually enters the Backrooms herself, discovering a distorted version of Clark who's constructed humanoid figures from a strange edible white substance, including a horrifying discovery involving Kat's severed head. This corrupted version of Clark insists on continuing their therapy sessions even within this nightmarish space, before Mary escapes and confronts a towering, monstrous, pirate-masked version of him. Their struggle triggers a trap set by the mysterious "Async" research organization that's been tracking Backrooms activity, allowing them to finally capture the creature and extract Mary, though the film ends ambiguously, with the Backrooms themselves revealed to be a space distorted and shaped by the psychological imprints of everyone who's ever become trapped within it.

Who's in the cast?

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve represent a prestigious casting upgrade for material that originated as a free YouTube horror series, both are accomplished, internationally respected dramatic actors (Reinsve in particular earned major international acclaim for The Worst Person in the World), and their involvement signals real confidence from the production that this material could support genuine dramatic weight, not just visual spectacle and internet-meme name recognition.

• Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark
• Renate Reinsve as Dr. Mary Kline
• Mark Duplass as Phil, an Async Research Institute scientist
• Finn Bennett as Robert "Bobby" Franklin
• Lukita Maxwell as Kathrine "Kat" Taylor
• Avan Jogia as Naren Warne
• Krista Kosonen as Nora Kline
• Katharine Isabelle in a cameo appearance

How did Parsons and the production build the actual Backrooms sets?

This is one of the most impressive behind-the-scenes stories connected to the film. Production designer Danny Vermette worked from Parsons' original digital Blender-based designs (built for the YouTube series) to construct over 30,000 square feet of physical Backrooms sets across four separate sound stages, using an extraordinary 37,000 square feet of wallpaper and 29,000 square feet of carpeting. The production deliberately emphasized disorienting vertical elements specifically to make the actors' physical movement and interactions challenging to navigate, and reports from the production noted that "people reportedly got lost on set," a detail that speaks to just how immersive and disorienting the physical construction actually was.

The film's specific visual approach draws directly from the internet aesthetic that made the Backrooms concept famous in the first place: intentional architectural "errors" reminiscent of a flawed 3D modeling environment, misaligned floors, intersecting arches, objects clipping visibly through walls, creating what's been described as "architectural hell." The entities that inhabit the space are conceived less as traditional demons and more as distorted psychological "memories" of the people who've become trapped there, a thoughtful thematic throughline that elevates the concept beyond a simple haunted-maze premise.

Who's behind the production?

A24 distributes, with Parsons directing his own feature debut from a screenplay by Will Soodik (who replaced original writer Roberto Patino during development). The producing team includes major genre and prestige names: James Wan, Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Osgood Perkins among others, alongside production companies North Road Films, 21 Laps Entertainment, and James Wan's Atomic Monster. That's a stacked behind-the-scenes team for a project that began life as a free internet video series, reflecting just how seriously the industry came to take the Backrooms concept's commercial and creative potential.

Principal photography took place July 7 to August 14, 2025, in Vancouver, Canada, under the working title "Effigy" to help keep production details under wraps ahead of release.

How did the film perform commercially and critically?

Remarkably well on both fronts. The film grossed $394.1 million worldwide against a budget reportedly around $10 million, with an opening weekend of $81.5 million domestically and $118 million worldwide, making it A24's highest-grossing film to date and the second-highest-grossing horror film of 2026. Critically, it holds an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes across 311 reviews with a 7.4 out of 10 average rating, alongside a 76 out of 100 "generally favorable" Metacritic score. Critics specifically praised Parsons' assured directorial debut and the film's mood-building through sound design and atmosphere rather than conventional jump scares, with comparisons drawn to Eraserhead, The Shining, and Skinamarink, prestigious horror-cinema reference points for a film adapted from a YouTube creepypasta series.

An extended cut released July 3, 2026, adding roughly 15 additional minutes, before the film hit digital platforms July 14, 2026.

What's next for the Backrooms franchise?

Following the film's success, Parsons has confirmed plans for a sequel, though as of initial reports, no screenwriter had been formally attached yet. He's also expressed interest in developing a Backrooms television series, and the original YouTube web series is expected to continue running in parallel with these larger theatrical and potential television projects.

My honest take on Backrooms

I think this is one of the most fascinating recent examples of internet-native content successfully making the jump to prestige theatrical filmmaking, and the specific numbers here are worth sitting with: a filmmaker who started out making free horror videos on YouTube directing a feature that became A24's highest-grossing release ever, on a budget of roughly $10 million, is an almost unprecedented trajectory that speaks to something real about how horror fandom, and Gen Z audiences specifically, engage with content and creators outside traditional studio pipelines.

What impresses me about the critical reception is the specific comparisons being drawn, Eraserhead, The Shining, Skinamarink. Those are films celebrated specifically for atmosphere, dread, and formal experimentation rather than conventional horror mechanics, and getting a debut feature adapted from an internet meme compared favorably to that particular lineage suggests Parsons brought genuine directorial vision and craft to material that could very easily have been executed as a shallow, jump-scare-driven cash-in on a popular internet concept instead.

The thematic reframing of the entities as psychological "memories" rather than traditional monsters is exactly the kind of creative choice that elevates source material with inherently limited narrative structure (the original creepypasta is essentially just "a scary empty place exists") into something with genuine emotional and thematic depth. Connecting Clark's guilt, addiction, and marital failure, and Mary's childhood trauma, directly to how the space itself manifests and distorts around them gives the film real characters to actually care about, rather than just disposable victims wandering through an elaborate haunted maze.

I'm also struck by the sheer physical ambition of the production design. Building over 30,000 square feet of intentionally disorienting physical sets, to the point that crew members reportedly got lost navigating them, represents a genuine commitment to practical, immersive filmmaking craft in an era where a lot of comparable horror content might have leaned much more heavily on digital effects and virtual production techniques instead. That physical commitment likely contributes directly to why critics have praised the film's atmosphere and mood specifically; there's a tangible, load-bearing weirdness to constructed, physically disorienting spaces that's difficult to fully replicate through digital means alone.

Given the exceptional critical reception, the massive commercial success, and a filmmaker who's clearly brought real thematic ambition to source material that could have easily been treated as a disposable internet-meme cash-in, this belongs on any serious list of the year's essential horror releases, and I'm excited to see where Parsons takes the concept next.

Do you need to have watched the original YouTube series first?

No, the film is designed to work as a standalone narrative experience, though fans of Parsons' original "Kane Pixels" YouTube series will likely appreciate seeing the visual language and mythology he developed over several years finally realized at full theatrical scale and budget.

Frequently asked questions

When did Backrooms release in theaters? It premiered May 7, 2026, with a wide US release May 29, 2026.

Who directs Backrooms? Kane Parsons, in his feature directorial debut, adapting his own YouTube web series.

Who stars in the film? Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark and Renate Reinsve as Dr. Mary Kline, with Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, and Avan Jogia.

What is the Backrooms concept based on? An internet creepypasta about liminal spaces, originally adapted into a viral YouTube series by Kane Parsons starting in 2022.

How much did Backrooms make at the box office? $394.1 million worldwide against a reported budget of roughly $10 million, making it A24's highest-grossing film ever.

What is the film's Rotten Tomatoes score? 86%, with a 7.4 out of 10 average critic rating.

Is there an extended cut? Yes, released July 3, 2026, with roughly 15 additional minutes.

Where was the film shot? Vancouver, Canada, in summer 2025.

Is a sequel planned? Yes, Kane Parsons has confirmed sequel plans, though no writer was formally attached as of initial reports.

Do I need to have seen the YouTube series first? No, the film works as a standalone story.

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