Kane Parsons: The ‘Backrooms’ Movie Is Just the Beginning

Before Backrooms was a surprise box-office smash, opening to an estimated $81 million this weekend, it was a strange little YouTube phenomenon created by then-teenage filmmaker Kane Parsons. His original Backrooms (Found Footage) short exploded online, helping transform an obscure internet creepypasta into one of Gen Z’s defining horror myths.

What made Parsons’ Backrooms series so effective was how little it actually explained. The mythology is remarkably thin, giving viewers just enough to hold on to as they’re pulled deeper into an Alice in Wonderland-like liminal nightmare of endless yellow hallways, buzzing fluorescent lights, lo-fi graphics, and fleeting glimpses of something lurking in the dark. The series understands that mystery is often more frightening than answers.

In an interview before the film’s release, Parsons told Variety that he never viewed the feature as an adaptation of his shorts. Instead, he sees it as a continuation of the story he has already been telling online — a “foot in the door” that gives newcomers an entry point into the Backrooms mythology without requiring years of internet lore homework.

Now that millions of moviegoers have been initiated into the cult, Parsons is already thinking bigger. Whether that expansion ultimately takes the form of sequels, television, comics, games, or something else entirely remains unclear. What is clear is that Parsons never intended Backrooms to be a standalone experience. For him, the film is merely the first doorway into a much larger universe.