All photographs used per the official A24 website and IMDb.
The Backrooms have been an extremely popular internet creepypasta for over half a decade, and it provides the perfect basis for a movie. If you have been active on the internet since the 2010s, the odds that you would have run into a form of the backrooms are extremely high. Its popularity skyrocketed in 2022 when Kane Parsons began releasing a series of short films that explored the backrooms and expanded its lore.
This caught the attention of A24, as in 2023, the studio greenlit a feature film adaptation of the series featuring Kane Parsons as the director. At just 20 years old, he is the youngest director to have the No. 1 spot in the box office, toppling recent releases The Mandalorian and Grogu and Obsession.
The film starts with a sequence that follows the style that fans of the series are familiar with: analog horror. The VHS/camcorder style truly immerses you in the opening sequence and was something Parsons wasn’t scared to use throughout the film (spoiler alert: these were consistently its best moments).
We’re then introduced to the main characters, furniture store owner and architect Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and his therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve). Clark is an angry and aggressive “protagonist,” as we get a glimpse into his life before entering the backrooms. Kicked out of his house by his wife, he now lives in the furniture store that barely makes enough money to stay afloat. As for Mary, we see hints of her past, however we don’t get as clear a picture of it. One night, Clark is sleeping at the store when the power goes out. He then goes to the basement to investigate the issue and discovers a “no-clip” zone, which allows him to phase into the backrooms.
This discovery is horrifying, as there also seems to be a monster in this place. He quickly returns to tell Mary, taking viewers into the bulk of the movie. The film also features some interesting side characters ripped straight out of 1980s and 90s horror films: Clark’s employees, Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and Bobby (Finn Bennett).
The sequence that follows once again goes back to that horror analog style and is easily the best portion of the film. For about the first 60%, it leans hard into the horror of the situation, and had me wondering how my brother could ever say this film was not scary.
On the other hand, after the reveal of the monster, the movie starts to unravel, and my enjoyment decreased dramatically. Once all the suspense went out the window, Parsons really lost his footing here. In many ways, it felt like it was trying hard to set up a sequel, which will probably happen, but makes it hard to enjoy this film as its own. It’s clear he is trying to set up a universe here that’ll explore the backrooms and what they are more than what he did with his YouTube series, but I think it would’ve been better to let that come naturally with later films.
This should have purely been a film exploring the backrooms — with a majority of it in that VHS style — and he should not have even introduced the organization that was present here. At least not in the way they were featured.
When the film ended, I looked over at my friend and said, “That’s it?” Admittedly, part of me was a little disappointed because of the hype it had received.
Fans of the YouTube series will tell you that this was made for their community. However, I would argue a major film release like this should steer clear of only appealing to its specific fandom. This should be an easy way for non-fans to get into the series, which it is to a degree, while it equally expects you to already have a fair amount of knowledge of the backrooms lore. That part slightly disappointed me.
Another thing I want to point out is this film’s eerie resemblance to the Silent Hill video game series. There were many points where I almost felt like I was watching an adaptation of Silent Hill 2, and I actually enjoyed that aspect of it. In a way, it spoiled some twists that would occur in the latter half of the film, but the dread both pieces fill you with is on another level. I really feel like some inspiration was taken, even if I can’t prove it. But that doesn’t take away from Backrooms in my opinion.
On a technical level, I thought they did a fantastic job with the cinematography and especially the music. I love that the studio was able to essentially build a real version of the backrooms, and the set was around 30,000 square feet. It shows that there is still dedication to creating practical sets, which almost feels like a dying art. I think this is a huge statement for the film industry and shows that original stories can still perform well at the box office in 2026 and in the future.
In the end, I thought Backrooms was fascinating with some interesting ideas introduced, but it wasn’t able to stick the landing. A weak final 20-30 minutes takes away a lot for me. With that being said, I rate Backrooms a 7.5 out of 10.
Jayden Pinto is The Eight30’s lead entertainment columnist. Find him on Letterboxd for more immediate reactions on new releases: @JaydenP0205
