Backrooms (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. Kane Parsons has crafted a unique horror film that is loaded with style, patience, and memorable imagery. 
2. It’s neat that Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell signed on to support Kane Parsons.
3. A24 should be applauded for giving a young director a chance. 
4. A24 should be applauded again because they realized Parsons’ potential (and saw the massive view counts on YouTube), and figured it was a wise business decision
5. Want to know how to survive the Backrooms? I co-wrote a Film Theory episode back in 2022 that tackles the issue.
6. I would’ve taken all the Backroom furniture and sold them in my store. Free inventory!
7. Grade – 7.7 Backrooms out of 10.

There’s a moment in Backrooms in which Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve put on an acting clinic as their characters role-play during a therapy session. The moment put a smile on my face because it was neat to watch two Academy Award nominees go head-to-head in a horror film directed by a 20-year-old who made a name for himself on YouTube. It’s wild that the two excellent actors signed up to appear in a horror film influenced by internet creepypasta, and that the A24 film will now get a wide release around the world. If that doesn’t influence future filmmakers, nothing will. 

Set in 1990, Backrooms follows a deeply unhappy man named Clark (Ejiofor), who discovers a portal in the basement of the furniture store he owns. Clark is a divorced alcoholic who sleeps in the store and occasionally drives to his ex-wife’s home (that he paid for!) so he can glower at his former house. He’s unhappy, unfulfilled, and gets nothing from his therapy sessions with Dr. Mary Kline (Reinsve). To make matters worse, the electricity in his store keeps going out, and while checking the breaker, he notices two new switches that shouldn’t be there. Late one night, his whiskey drinking (funny moment) is rudely disturbed when he hears noises that lead him to a section of the basement wall which allows him to enter a mostly empty office building lit by yellow fluorescent lights (coming from a drop ceiling). The creepy yellow-carpeted “offices” are home to an endless amount of hallways, rooms, tunnels, and pieces of furniture. Instead of taking the furniture and reselling it for extra cash, he ventures further into the endless maze in a quest to map it. His mapping quest is interrupted when he hears a loud creature rampaging through the hallways (a nice callback to the first Backrooms episode). Things go sideways when he asks his employee, Kat (Lukita Maxwell – watch Shrinking!), and her boyfriend, Bobby (Finn Bennett), to film the cavernous space. The exploration ends violently, and their disappearance forces Mary to enter the backrooms when Clark doesn’t show up for his appointments. While there, Mary and Clark are forced to deal with past traumas and a murderous monster. 

In the press notes, Parson mentions that his love of Alternate Reality Games (ARG) influenced the story he co-wrote with Will Soodik (Ash vs. Evil Dead, Westworld). There’s a narrative, but it trades propulsion for a feeling of dread and mystery. This is good and bad, as it’s clear Parsons wasn’t interested in a stock story involving teenagers being harassed in a gross world. However, the flashbacks, isolation themes, detours, and David Lynchian vibes give off experimental film energy that won’t appease mainstream audiences looking for carnage. That being said, it’s admirable that a young director wanted to create a world that isn’t safe and can potentially blow the minds of younger viewers who are seeing something like this for the first time. 

The production design is gorgeous, and praise should go to Danny Vermette (Longlegs, The Monkey) for creating a cavernous system of rooms. Vermette and Parsons worked closely to get everything right, and the end result is gorgeous. To get the wallpaper color  right (which is very important), Vermette and cinematographer Jeremy Cox (The Monkey, Longlegs) shot 50+ camera tests to ensure the actors didn’t get lost in a sea of yellow. Vermette and art director Alan Derksen created 27,000 square feet of carpet, 32,000 square feet of wallpaper, and oversaw the construction of 30,000 square feet of Backrooms that spanned four soundstages.

Final thoughts –  It is really cool that A24 and producers James Wan, Oz Perkins, and Shawn Levy, backed Parsons, and the world is about to get an ambitious arthouse horror film that will pull in a lot of money.