2026’s breakout horror film could be around the corner.
Directed by 20-year-old YouTuber and VFX artist Kane Parsons – aka Kane Pixels – Backrooms is the adaptation of an internet ‘creepypasta’ which he previously explored in a series of YouTube videos. It’s one of the most anticipated horror films of the year, as well as responsible for renewing fascination in liminal spaces.
A24, the studio behind Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Marty Supreme, picked up the project, thereby making Parsons the youngest director to ever sign with them. Their seal of approval has maximised Backrooms’ indie hit-in-the-making credentials, but also helped attract an impressive cast for Parsons’ debut.
The film follows therapist Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value, and the recent Palme d’Or winner Fjord) as she ventures into an otherworldly dimension – the titular Backrooms - in search of her missing patient, failed architect Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
"I found something," Ejiofor tells Reinsve in the teaser trailer, as Parsons' camera descends through a series of empty rooms. "I found a place," he continues. "It's massive in there. It just goes on, and on, and on... All these rooms. It builds them. Actually, more like it remembers them."
