A doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom, but what lies beyond it in Backrooms is far more unnerving than a simple descent into another space. Expanding on the internet-born phenomenon that has fascinated audiences for years, filmmaker Kane Parsons transforms familiar environments into something deeply alien – endless corridors of fluorescent-lit emptiness where reality feels synthetic, duplicated and quietly wrong. Produced by A24 and Chernin Entertainment, the film taps into anxieties about modern existence itself: systems that shape us, spaces that feel mass-produced, and the creeping sense that life can become an endless series of indistinguishable rooms.
Speaking with our Peter Gray ahead of the film’s release this week, Parsons reflected on Backrooms as a response to “the broader economic and industrial trends” that have constructed “this very tangible box that a lot of people feel an anxiety of being placed in.” He also discussed protecting the project’s instinctive, subconscious energy while transitioning into a larger-scale production – embracing moments that “just feel right” rather than over-explaining them. The result is a horror experience that feels less interested in traditional scares than in trapping audiences inside a strangely familiar nightmare they can’t fully rationalise.
Kane, I wanted to ask about the Backrooms as modern existence. I like the idea that they endlessly replicate familiar objects and spaces. It almost feels very much like an exaggerated version of modern life. Was part of the fear for you the idea that modern existence already feels a little synthetic and endlessly duplicated?
Yeah, I think the Backrooms is very much a reflection of the broader economic and industrial trends that have brought about this very tangible box that a lot of people feel an anxiety of being placed in – or that is being constructed. I would say it’s very much a response to (that), or an engagement with these systems that we build, that then build us and guide us as a sort of runaway train in a way. I think that, yes, all of the facets of our current way of life are very much in conversation with this (film).
You trained outside of the traditional filmmaking system, and I feel like that’s why Backrooms feels so unsettling, because it doesn’t obey the rhythms that audiences have subconsciously learned from “studio” horror. Were there moments making this where you had to protect that instinctive quality of your storytelling from becoming too polished or too explainable?
Yeah, immensely. I was very concerned with that relationship. Concerned with, not concerned by. It’s been a very healthy, fairly hands-off creative experience from the powers that be. But I would say that there was a learning curve too. I’m not the one editing this film. There’s such a division of labor on this project. It’s working with a ton of very talented people, but at the same time I think I have to inherently acknowledge how I found a huge part of what is compelling…
The thing that I’ve leaned into, and found a way to lean into, in production on this film is the more intuitive, subconscious aspects of following a thread just because it feels right. Then we can kind of talk about it and justify it after I’ve tried (something). But there’s a few scenes in the film, and I was working very much in post (production) and VFX, which happen to be some of my favourites, where you just allow the natural process of being in the room on a particular day and feel inspired by something to take you to a destination. Yeah, I think the sensibilities have aligned pretty well.
Backrooms is screening in Australian theatres from May 28th, 2026, before opening in the United States on May 29th.
