Backrooms Review: Kane Parsons’ Beautifully Constructed Liminal Horror Hellscape is a Sight to Behold
Kane Parsons adapts his viral YouTube series in this A24 feature starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve
by Alex Kaan 27 May 2026
A24
Horror cinema is changing fast. Less than two weeks ago, YouTube sketch comedian turned genre film director Curry Barker released Obsession, an original “monkey’s paw” reimagining exploring modern dating and unrequited love that has strongly resonated with Gen-Z audiences and pulled off the extraordinarily rare achievement of its second weekend at the box office ($22 million excluding Memorial Day) outperfoming its first ($17 million). Backrooms likewise has its roots in the internet: Kane Parsons adapts his own hit YouTube series of computer-generated liminal horror exploring a maze of endless office space, which in turn was inspired by a Creepypasta posted to 4chan.
Parsons’ viral work was enough for A24 to give the 20-year-old creative the keys to a $10 million feature, which he directed in lieu of going to college. With recycled IP and iterations of trusted formulas defining 2020s Hollywood, a studio like A24 trusting Parsons with the job is a noteworthy risk, but one that has paid off and then some. A masterful feat of worldbuilding fuelled by breathtaking practical sets and eerie analogue horror, Backrooms seamlessly translates Parsons’ web series to the big screen in a remarkable directorial debut that makes one thing certain: you are witnessing a new kind of horror filmmaking.
A24
Set in 1990, Backrooms finds its protagonist Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) stuck in a rut. Plagued by the failure of his marriage and career as an architect, he’s found himself running a struggling furniture showroom in the Santa Clara Valley called Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire with his two employees, young crop-top-sporting couple Bobby (Finn Bennett) and Kat (Lukita Maxwell). As Bobby points out while they shoot a hammy TV ad about good deals that will “shiver your timbers”, business surely isn’t being helped by the confused theme (Is he supposed to be a pirate or a sultan?). Clark discusses his problems with Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), a frigid therapist who clearly hasn’t resolved her own emotional baggage. But when he discovers a vast world behind an invisible door in his store’s basement, both characters are drawn to the backrooms.
Backrooms lives and dies on the strength of its liminal space set pieces, and for viewers familiar with Parsons’ web series (generated using 3D creation software Blender and Adobe After Effects), there is a distinct thrill in seeing his CG worlds brought to life in tactile sets, made in collaboration with production designer Danny Vermette and realised with — as the film puts it — the skill of construction workers “on acid”. The film’s highlight is a found footage sequence that, through the framing device of a camcorder recording the backrooms for research, immerses the viewer in the hellscape and recreates the POV charm of Parsons’ series. In the maze and beyond, cinematographer Jeremy Cox captures the proceedings in rich, dreamy detail, with the real world drenched in a diluted dose of the backrooms’ off-kilter ambience.
A24
The destabilising liminal pleasures of Backrooms, influenced both by Lynch and Creepypastas, are grounded by the inspired casting of its two leads. Chiwetel Ejiofor is phenomenal as a resentful, manic failed architect, in a performance matched by Renate Reinsve’s turn as his emotionally stunted therapist. Acting alone for large stretches of the film, the pair are electric, while Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell liven up the film with a humorous youthful energy, and Mark Duplass excels in a role best kept secret.
It is worth stressing how surprisingly funny Backrooms is. The corny TV ads, from Clark’s pirate/sultan debacle to a tranquil promo for Mary’s self-help book, deliver big laughs while still contributing to the film’s pervasive sense of analogue retro unease. There’s also a dry humour throughout that effectively undercuts tense moments.
The one conspicuous flaw of Backrooms is a script that, on occasion, overdoes the ‘elevated horror’ and turns the titular labyrinth into a heavy-handed metaphor for self-destructive loops. Yet, when it does stumble, the film recovers quickly thanks to a commitment to unconventional, atmosphere-driven storytelling.
While the rich mythology and liminal horror of Backrooms recall media like V/H/S/, House of Leaves, and Skinamarink, Parsons’ voice is unmistakably his own, and watching Backrooms brings with it the sense that a groundbreaking young talent is actively reshaping the genre. With much of his dense lore wisely left unexplored, the inevitable sequels will be more than welcome.