The massive horror hit Backrooms, from director Kane Parsons, the teenage wunderkind who took the internet by storm by turning a viral YouTube creepypasta series into a bone-chilling cinematic universe.
If you missed the theatrical chaos, the film features a surprisingly stacked, high-caliber cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell.
Yellow Wallpaper, Green Cash
To say Backrooms cleaned up at the box office would be a massive understatement. When the film debuted back on May 29, it absolutely routed the competition, pulling in a staggering $81 million domestically in its opening weekend alone. For context, that massive haul came in against a modest $10 million production budget, according to the box-office data site The Numbers.
But the victory lap doesn’t stop at a massive return on investment. The film officially made cinema history, with A24 confirming to ABC News that the 19-year-old Parsons has become the youngest director ever to helm a No. 1 box-office film globally.
Not bad for a kid who started out messing around with Blender animations in his bedroom.
The Nightmare
The nightmare begins with Clark, a struggling furniture store owner whose life is already completely in shambles thanks to a messy divorce, a losing battle with alcoholism, and the wreckage of his dead-end architectural dreams. But things go from depressing to downright surreal as he inspects faulty wiring in the back of his shop.
There, hidden among the inventory, Clark discovers a glowing, anomalous slit in the drywall. It turns out to be a literal tear in reality—a portal that drops him headfirst into the Backrooms. Suddenly, he’s trapped in a staggering, liminal underworld defined by an endless maze of damp yellow wallpaper, buzzing fluorescent lights, random pieces of discarded furniture, and mind-bending corridors that completely defy the laws of physics and human purpose.
Watch it Now
If you’re ready to get lost in an endless maze of fluorescent lights, damp carpets, and existential dread, Backrooms is available to rent or purchase on all major digital platforms right now. Just try not to look directly at the entities.
This Is Just the Beginning
For fans of the movie, we’ve got good news: a sequel is already in the works. Parsons has made no secret about his grand architectural plans for the liminal spaces; during his press tour, he openly stated that he has pushed the IP as far as it can go on a computer screen and fully intends to expand the franchise into a sprawling, feature-length anthology series.
