BACKROOMS is a 2026 psychological horror thriller film, directed by Kane Parsons in his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Roberto Patino and Will Soodik. It is based on the urban legend and creepypasta of the same name that was made into Parsons' YouTube series Backrooms.
After a therapist's patient disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him.
The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell and Avan Jogia.
BACKROOMS made its debut in theaters May 29th, courtesy of A24.
Man, when you are talking hype for a movie BACKROOMS was just on an entirely new level. Just so many storylines to get excited about. First, you of course have this 20-year-old wet behind his ears director who is handed 10 million dollars by known hit maker A24, along with a legit lead actor in Chiwetel Ejiofor. I had zero clue who Kane Parsons was before all the hype started, and to be honest I tried to stay in the dark as much as I could. I knew right away there was basically an infinite rabbit hole to be entered when it came to the origins of the film, but I just didn’t want to go down that road. I felt like the best thing for me was to go in as blind as possible to get what I would consider to be a very unbiased reaction to the film. So if you are hoping for a BACKROOMS review from someone with real knowledge on the subject matter you are out of luck unfortunately, but if you are looking for the opinion of someone without a clue that just happens to love horror movies, you came to the right place.
First of all, movies like BACKROOMS that originated on Reddit and then YouTube draw a very “interesting crowd”, let me just say that. No judgment here of course, just pointing that out. I feel like people are so obsessed with YouTube and TikTok that it is impossible to not have heard about this movie. And don’t get me wrong I watched the trailer which I thought looked awesome and definitely had me intrigued, but I still only had a very surface level understanding of what to expect going in. The most important point of this review, if you can really call it that, is that I genuinely enjoyed BACKROOMS. It was very weird and I left the theater with a thousand more questions than answers, but it was super well done and had this unique identity to it and had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.
For me the hardest part was trying to turn my brain off because I kept thinking man there is so much to this I need to really lock in and figure it all out, but instead I tried to put myself in the shoes of Clark, the character played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. I wanted to try and be surprised right along with this troubled furniture store owner who basically discovers a “door” into a place beyond explanation. Right out of the gate viewers get a good feel for Clark who is a man attempting to work through his demons. Clark is divorced, owns a furniture store that seldom attracts customers that he actually lives in as he pays for the house his ex-wife lives in, and he sees a therapist who seems to have plenty of unresolved issues of her own. To be honest the way the story unfolded in terms of how it would jump from the perspective of Clark to the perspective of his therapist Mary, played by Renate Reinsve, was confusing to me mainly because we also got glimpses of what I believe was Clark’s ex-wife (maybe it wasn’t?). Anyway, I don’t think it mattered that much in the grand scheme of things, I just struggled to follow the story outside of the primary narrative which was that of Clark.
Clark ran the furniture store with what seemed to be two other employees, Bobby and Kat played by Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell, who are also a couple. Bobby and Kat are shown helping Clark film a commercial for his store, and later when Clark discovers this “new dimension” he recruits the duo and their camera to help him document his new discovery. I feel like I have to put anything about the actual BACKROOMS into air quotes because I can’t explain the majority of it. Again I did not do any research after seeing the movie, and as far as the film is concerned like I said it is very, very weird, but also extremely interesting and keeps your attention. I couldn’t quite make sense of what was going on the majority of the film, but I did gather that the deeper you go into BACKROOMS the more insane things get.
I thought the original music was absolutely fantastic, the film featured some great visuals especially considering it was mostly these dull yellow painted rooms. The set design was super unique as you would see furniture half sunken into the ground, remnants of the furniture store in random places, and sounds of voices or footsteps around each corner. When Clark explored these BACKROOMS he kept getting more and more curious until he was basically too far gone. I thought the film was super creepy and kept me uneasy which I always appreciate with horror films, and my biggest positive takeaway would be that it does not rely on jump scares and instead builds a chill factor with just the strangeness of everything. It is hard to go too in depth without giving too much away, but I felt like so much of the demons inside Clark played into whatever it was he found in there, and for me it added another level of intrigue in terms of my thoughts on the film after seeing it. I personally really liked the primary “threat” in the film that Mary finds herself taking on in the final act, and as someone who really didn’t know what to expect I loved how the film ended.
As I said I was left with way more questions than answers, but I am fine with that as long as the film does something for me and BACKROOMS left a mark for sure. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I thought all of the weirdness was interesting enough for me to want to come along for the ride. I also realize that if I tried dissecting this film with someone who actually knows what is going on, I would come across as a complete idiot. But that is honestly fine with me. Like I said I am not trying to explain or pick the film apart in any form or fashion, I am just here to tell you that BACKROOMS is a super strange but very good horror film that absolutely needs to be seen. Now I just need to find someone as ignorant as me to talk about it with so that we can share our idiotic theories without judgment.
As I was leaving the theater a young girl with a tail, yes an actual tail I’m pretty sure she was a furry, again no judgment, said to someone on her way out “what a weird movie”. I sort of thought that was the pot calling the kettle black, but hey to each their own. Now that I think about it the tail reminded me of Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog, maybe it was Tails in human form? After seeing that movie I guess anything is possible. Another person made a comment on their way out that resonated with me a bit more, and they basically said “you shouldn’t have to do 4-hours of research to understand a movie”. I thought this was interesting for a few reasons, but one reason is just the fact that people always feel like they need to know everything, or they need a film to end with a nice little bow on top in the final act.
I don’t know if this is a newer generation thing or what, but it is okay for a film to end with space for the audience to discuss further and make their own assessments. I have no issue whatsoever with open-ended conclusions to a story. BACKROOMS is a bit different I will admit, and as I said I really liked how it ended, but again it was super weird. Like the film kept heaving these questions at me and right before the credits was like a brick to the face (Obsession reference of course) all of this unexplainable weirdness I just sat through for an hour and 45 minutes. But as a viewer that absolutely loves cinema, BACKROOMS was quite an experience and for my money that is all that matters. Granted I made the decision not to do hours and hours of research, because at the end of the day I am sure it is a never-ending rabbit hole with everybody having their own theory, and as fun as that can be for some people I just don’t have the time for that. But I do love that a film like BACKROOMS can stir things up as much as it has. I mean my local theater has been selling out for pretty much every showing and that is just awesome.
THE VERDICT
An extremely strange and hard to explain psychological horror thriller with a very unique identity, BACKROOMS is a wild ride that kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat. As I said I had no clue what the heck was happening 95% of the time, but Kane Parsons brought his vision to the big-screen and the results are speaking for themselves. I couldn’t be happier about the state of the horror genre, and I say give young talented artists like Parsons more opportunities, because seeing a movie that you can talk about with your friends for hours and hours is what its all about.
TED TAKES RATING - 8.3/10
BACKROOMS is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.