Have you ever found yourself in a building when there’s no one else around? Maybe you come to an after-school event way too early; the halls are empty, classrooms are dark and the setup crew has yet to arrive and imbue the space with life. Maybe you visit a dying mall for a closing sale; the wide, open space is bereft of bustling crowds, doors are closed, rooms are dark and most of the storefront signs have been covered or removed completely. In both of these environments you would probably feel uneasy; the building is the same as it’s always been, but the atmosphere is completely different. It’s become a liminal space, somewhere people pass by, somewhere people aren’t supposed to linger.
Sounds kind of unsettling, right? This is the exact feeling that Kane Parsons seeks to emulate with his 2026 film “The Backrooms.” After creating a successful YouTube analog horror anthology spanning the course of four years under the pseudonym ‘Kane Pixels,’ Parsons collaborated with A24 films to create this long-awaited movie based on his original series.
The ‘backrooms’ themselves are an alternate dimension or ‘pocket reality,’ one that unfortunate individuals happen to stumble upon by ‘noclipping’ out of reality. ‘Noclipping’ is a concept with origins in videogame culture, and it describes the phenomenon of player characters accidentally glitching and essentially falling out of the playable world. The movie takes a slightly different approach to this concept: instead of random people ‘noclipping’ out of reality and into a void, the movie’s main character(s) enter the backrooms, a liminal space with uncanny repeating architecture and unknown creatures lurking at every corner.
You may be wondering how Parsons came up with such a novel film concept in the first place. Well, he was originally inspired by a 2019 4chan post made by an anonymous user. The post consisted of an image that depicted what seemed to be an empty, abandoned office space with yellow wallpaper, beige carpeting and flickering fluorescent lights, accompanied by a caption stating that this is where one ends up when they ‘noclip out of reality.’
At the age of 16, Parsons took this concept and ran with it, creating a universe of his own. According to BBC, “Parsons used a CGI programme called Blender to create environments beyond his budget. Today, the series boasts more than 200 million views.”
The success of his original series not only led to the creation of “The Backrooms” movie, but alongside “The Mandela Catalogue” and other online series it contributed to significant evolution within the genre of analog horror itself. At the age of 20, Parsons would also leave his mark as the youngest director in A24’s history.
“The Backrooms” (2026) had a theatrical release on May 29, and given the widespread virality and beloved nature of Parson’s original series, it’s safe to say that multitudes of people are incredibly excited to view his movies in theaters. You can see this movie yourself at any AMC Theater, Regal Cinema or Fandango near you, and make sure to check out some of Parsons’ other creations on YouTube.
