Christopher Rhoten
Who knew back in 2013 that Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers would herald the arrival of one of cinema’s most intriguing and popular voices? Not a filmmaker, not a star, but a studio: A24. Over a decade later, A24’s steady and successful output has carved out a sizable niche in both the arthouse world and mainstream cinema, arguably cementing it as the de facto studio to get your freaky little thriller distributed.
Which is good news for Kane Parsons, an American filmmaker/YouTuber known for his web series Backrooms, a viral web series based on the popular creepypasta. Parsons is directing the feature film adaptation of Backrooms at the unassuming age of twenty, made even more remarkable by the fact that production began in collaboration with the studio when he was only seventeen. I was struggling to learn bass guitar when I was seventeen.
The first trailer is out now, and you can watch it below. Within it, we see a man walking toward a mysterious doorway that appears in the basement of a furniture showroom. “I found a place,” he says, before he is suddenly transported to an eerie, vast maze of yellow walls and floors that threatens to house some unsavory beings. The trailer certainly looks the part; even a non-fan like me will admit that the concept fits A24’s brand of prestige horror like a glove. The film also boasts an impressive and reputable cast, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) as the protagonist’s therapist.
Liminal spaces and the horror of being in a location that doesn’t make sense geographically have been a staple on YouTube over the past decade, from video games to short films to web series. And it makes sense: teens and young adults relate to the subject matter of these stories, which often centers on the fear of the unknown and the discomfort of finding their nostalgia for the past empty. It’s also just pretty unnerving to imagine an entire location constructed with that ungodly yellow. Are the Backrooms a purgatory for failed home decorators?
Backrooms also raises interesting questions beyond the mysteries of the film’s lore. The 8.4 million views it has achieved as of this writing would seem to speak to the potential of liminal horror on the big screen. Many found 2023’s Skinamarink utterly horrifying, and Japan’s similarly inspired Steam game–sourced Exit 8 recently premiered at Cannes itself. (For good reason—you can expect a positive review of that film soon from yours truly.) And despite being the source of countless failures, found footage and even video games now seem increasingly viable at the box office.
But the biggest question of all is whether maintaining the source’s creator while bringing it to the silver screen could signal a shift in Hollywood. Adaptations are normally reworked by established filmmakers. It’s been that way forever. Alongside Markiplier’s Iron Lung, which has grossed over $50 million, Backrooms suggests there’s a new path for creators to get their work playing on projectors, in addition to laptops and phones, while maintaining the voice that attracted so many fans in the first place.
Whether you’re a fan of the Backrooms web series, horror, or A24, the studio rarely swings small. You can mark me down as optimistic for their latest fluorescent nightmare. Backrooms will be released in theaters on May 29, 2026.
