The internet has given us a lot of things — memes, misinformation, and more cat videos than any human could watch in a lifetime. But every so often, it gives us something genuinely unsettling. Something that crawls under your skin and stays there. The Backrooms is one of those things. And now, thanks to A24 and a 20-year-old filmmaker named Kane Parsons, it's about to become one of the biggest horror movies of 2026.

What Are the Backrooms?

If you've never fallen down this particular internet rabbit hole, here's the short version: The Backrooms started as an anonymous post on 4chan back in 2019. The idea is simple but deeply creepy — if you "no-clip" out of reality (borrowing a term from video games), you end up in an endless maze of empty rooms. Stained yellow wallpaper. Damp carpet. The constant, maddening buzz of fluorescent lights. No exits. No people. Just you, and the growing sense that something else is in there with you.

The concept exploded online. It became one of the most popular creepypastas in recent memory, spawning fan-made levels, lore wikis, video games, and countless YouTube videos. But none of those YouTube videos hit quite like the ones made by Kane Parsons.

The Kid Who Caught Hollywood's Attention

In January 2022, a teenager named Kane Parsons started uploading videos to his YouTube channel under the name Kane Pixels. Using jaw-dropping VFX work that looked like it cost millions (it didn't), Parsons created a found-footage style series set in the Backrooms universe. The videos were atmospheric, terrifying, and wildly creative. They racked up over 190 million views.

Hollywood came calling fast. By February 2023, A24 had won a bidding war to produce a feature film adaptation, with Parsons attached to direct. That's right — a teenager won a bidding war involving one of the most respected studios in independent film. Producers James Wan (The Conjuring) and Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Deadpool & Wolverine) signed on to produce. This wasn't a fluke. This was the industry recognizing raw talent.

Now 20 years old, Parsons becomes the youngest filmmaker in A24's history. Let that sink in.

What We Know About the Film

Filming wrapped in August 2025 in Vancouver under the working title "Effigy," and A24 dropped the first teaser in February 2026. The trailer is appropriately minimalist — a desolate room, a lone dirty chair, and then the camera descends into Level 0. Endless yellow walls. Wet carpet. That buzz. It's everything fans of the original videos hoped for, and then some.

The plot centers on a therapist whose patient goes missing into a dimension beyond reality after discovering a mysterious door in the basement of a furniture showroom. To save them, she has to enter the unknown — the Backrooms themselves. The script was written by Roberto Patino and Will Soodik.

The cast is stacked. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, and Avan Jogia all star. For a $10 million budget, that's a seriously impressive ensemble.

The film hits theaters May 29, 2026.

Why This Matters for Horror

The Backrooms movie isn't just another horror adaptation. It represents a genuine shift in how horror stories are born and who gets to tell them.

We're living in an era where the best horror concepts aren't coming from studio pitch meetings — they're coming from Reddit threads, YouTube channels, and indie game developers. Markiplier's Iron Lung just crossed $43 million at the global box office earlier this year. The Backrooms is the next evolution of that same phenomenon.

Kane Parsons didn't go to film school. He didn't have industry connections. He had a computer, a vision, and the internet. And now he's directing a feature film for the studio behind Hereditary, Midsommar, and The Witch.

That's not just a cool story. That's the future of horror filmmaking.

The Bottom Line

If you're a horror fan, May 29 should already be circled on your calendar. A24 has an almost supernatural ability to pick winning horror projects, and everything about Backrooms — from the source material to the director to the cast — suggests this one is going to be special.

The Backrooms started as a creepy post on 4chan. Then it became a YouTube phenomenon. Now it's a major motion picture. And honestly? That might be the most 2026 story imaginable.

Just don't no-clip out of reality before you get to see it.