Rating 7/10
Long before it became a movie, Backrooms originated from the internet’s preoccupation with “liminal spaces.” Users began sharing photographs of normally crowded areas, like malls, school hallways, and office buildings, that became strangely anxiety-inducing when deserted. These pictures weren’t traditionally frightening, but they evoked a peculiar mix of loneliness and unease. The liminal space aesthetic known as the Backrooms grew directly out of that fascination.
The premise began as an online urban legend, but it was filmmaker Kane Parsons who transformed it into a cultural phenomenon when he was just 16 years old. He gave visual form to the nightmare, expanding a single eerie frame into a richly imagined world through viral found-footage shorts. Those videos eventually caught Hollywood’s attention, leading Parsons from YouTube creator to feature-film director.
The result is a feature-length descent into the unknown built on an enduring modern internet myth. At the center of this story is Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a struggling furniture store owner. His failing business and personal frustrations have left him barely holding things together. During therapy sessions with Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), Clark’s bitterness over his divorce and alcoholism begins to surface. Mary is also haunted by memories of her childhood home being destroyed and her mother being institutionalized. One night, Clark discovers a strange passage in the basement of his store that leads into a bizarre maze of vacant, fluorescent-lit rooms. His insistence that the place is real leaves Mary questioning whether he has found something extraordinary or is losing his grip on reality.
Backrooms is effective because it understands the appeal of the original legend. Jump scares and creatures are lurking in the shadows, but the production’s greatest weapon is the nagging feeling that something is fundamentally wrong. Parsons fills the impossible maze with endless hallways, forgotten objects, distant noises, and horrors lingering just beyond view. Despite embellishing on a concept born from a single image, the saga remains compelling throughout its 110-minute runtime. This strange realm is the star of the show. The world is both familiar and alien. Screenwriter Will Soodik, whose credits include HBO’s Westworld, builds on the internet sensation that developed from Kane Parsons’ wildly successful YouTube shorts. He provides the context needed to expand the viral hit into a feature-length film.
The story is less successful the more it tries to explain that mystery. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve give committed performances that provide an emotional anchor amid the surreal horrors. Meanwhile, the material involving Mark Duplass as a researcher tries to shed light on the otherworldly environment. Those explanations are never as fascinating as simply wandering through the environment itself. The more the script attempts to define and categorize its central enigma, the less powerful it becomes. The ending suffers from this problem. While not enough to undermine the overall experience, it doesn’t have the necessary impact to bring the narrative to a satisfying close. The nerve-rattling journey that precedes it is so much better.
This all started because of one photo. In 2019, an anonymous user on 4chan’s paranormal board posted a snapshot of an empty office space with yellow walls and fluorescent lights. The image seemed to capture the nightmare of a setting. Backrooms succeeds because it embraces this same fear of the unknown. Kane Parsons has expanded a simple internet horror myth into a genuinely creepy big-screen adaptation that frequently gets under your skin. The answers may not be as riveting as the ambiguity, but this odyssey is one worth experiencing.
05-28-26