Backrooms (Kane Parsons, 2026, USA/Canada)

Backrooms is the feature film debut of Kane Parsons, the 20-year-old wunderkind who popularized the “backrooms” phenomenon on YouTube. The backrooms, which originated as an online creepypasta, were brought to life by Parsons in a series of YouTube shorts that went viral over the last few years. Numerous producers attempted to court Parsons to make a feature film, and A24 ultimately secured the rights. Now approaching $320M in worldwide box office on a $10M budget, Backrooms is one of the most successful films of the year and has also become a milestone for its young director, the youngest director to have a number-one film at the box office.

Will Soodik’s script attempts to marry the original YouTube phenomenon with an appeal to viewers who have no idea about this phenomenon. In effect, the film serves as something of an origin story for the backrooms themselves. The film centers on Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a failed architect, estranged from his wife, who runs a furniture store. When Clark discovers a mysterious world of strange rooms through a hidden portal in the furniture store basement, he reveals this to his therapist, Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), who is then brought into Clark’s strange new world.

Backrooms is by no means a perfect film, but it must be appreciated for both its ambition and scope. Interestingly, far from indulging in numerous jump scares, the film is surprisingly restrained and contemplative. While the film culminates in a terrifying finale, much of the film is centered on Clark’s exploration of the backrooms and a sense of underlying dread that accompanies it. Whether Backrooms becomes an infinitely rewatchable cult classic is a question to be seen, but it is undoubtedly one of the most unique films we have seen at this scale in some time, and hopefully will usher in more type films.

8/10