The trailer for A24’s Backrooms movie was released on February 24th, fueling the hopes of fans all around. The trailer pans down, portraying a regular room as it shifts into something many will recognise as a “liminal space” known as The Backrooms. The plot is said to be centered around a therapist who ends up in the backrooms searching for a missing patient. It will star Mark Duplass and Chiwetel Ejiofor as well as Renate Reinsve.
This movie is based on a “creepypasta” of the same name started in 2019 on 4chan. One simple image started it all, portraying yellow-wallpapered, carpeted rooms with nothing inside. This simple picture and story has evolved into more “levels” over the years such as The Poolrooms and The Courtyard, with entities like smilers, partygoers, kitty, and classically, “The Lifeform.” The Lifeform is what was portrayed in Kane “Pixels” Parsons’ iconic 2022 video, Found Footage. The Backrooms movie to be released is being directed by Kane Parsons himself, the creator of this video, giving many high hopes that the movie will stay true to classic backrooms levels, rather than the extra of the newer adaptations.
The directing of Parsons holds promise for the film, especially because of his prior experience with the Found Footage video. It is believed that he will stay loyal to the previously established lore, not straying far from the original idea. Some fear that the movie will be low quality, poorly written, or merely not serving justice to the established storyline. Others are hopeful, believing that the directing of Parsons will live up to the expectations.
If the movie is a success, this could mean big things for the film industry as a whole. Kane Parsons is 20 years old, making him the youngest director in A24 history. This could mean big things for the future of filmwriting and directing if the movie goes over well. For years, movies have been made solely by big corporations and can be regarded as purely moneymaking opportunities with no thought put into development. However, with the director working purely from passion, the project having been greenlit when he was only 19, this opens up more opportunity for other young artists to explore work with production studios like A24. More indie projects and studios have been gaining popularity within the past few years such as Glitch and Blumhouse, showing this potential for small creators’ success.
With high hopes and expectations, Backrooms is to be released on May 29 of 2026.
