The “Backrooms”of Our Minds
Do you like scary movies? Are you looking for a film to warp your mind and get your adrenaline pumping? Check out Kane Parsons’ directorial debut, “Backrooms” — one of 2026’s hottest horror films and a major box-office success.
“Backrooms” is based on a fictional location from the imageboard website 4chan, on which anonymous users post images and comment in thread-based discussions. In 2019, a user shared an image taken in 2002 of a fluorescently lit, nondescript furniture store in Wisconsin undergoing renovations. Users convened on this image, decidedly calling it the “Backrooms,” portraying it as an infinite liminal expanse of empty rooms, accessed only by exiting reality. Internet writers further developed the concept by creating levels with distinct characteristics, and populating them with hostile entities that wander through these spaces.
In 2022, Kane Parsons created and published a “Backrooms” short film on YouTube, based on the lore and discussions that took place on various imageboard platforms. Parsons later expanded his short film into a 24-episode web series following new, innovative ideas and theories regarding the Backrooms. At just 20 years old, Parsons directed “Backrooms” (2026), a psychological horror feature-film adaptation of his original short film and web series.
“Backrooms” follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a recently divorced alcoholic struggling to keep his failing furniture store afloat, who discovers an infinite, liminal expanse hidden within its walls. As Clark becomes increasingly consumed by the mysterious space known as the Backrooms, he attempts to navigate his deteriorating mental state with the help of his therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve). What begins as an exploration of a seemingly endless environment gradually becomes something much more psychologically unsettling. The movie ultimately utilizes Clark’s experience in the Backrooms to demonstrate how the feeling of psychological disorientation can lead to mental instability.
Initially, discovering the Backrooms gives Clark an escape from the struggles of reality. Clark faces massive life-challenges involving his interpersonal relationships, livelihood and physical well-being. Without family or friends to support him, Clark finds himself at a breaking point, hanging on to life by a thread. These hardships have left him with a lack of self-esteem, confidence, self-worth and feelings of inadequacy. When Clark discovers the Backrooms hidden in his furniture, he is filled with hope, new goals and a renewed sense of purpose in life. However, after spending time traversing the Backrooms, he comes to one definite conclusion: the Backrooms are a projection of his own struggles in reality. In reality, Clark feels isolated, stagnant, unaccomplished and worthless, and the Backrooms’ endless and impossible layout evokes and triggers these same feelings. Aware of the fact that his reality and non-reality are filled with the same exact deafening struggles, Clark’s mental health rapidly deteriorates, blurring the line between the horrors he encounters in the Backrooms, and the struggles he carries with him in reality.
For the set of the “Backrooms,” Parsons impressively recreated the image of the Wisconsin furniture store that sparked the original Backrooms phenomenon. Using fluorescent tube lighting, Parsons emphasizes the low brightness and muted yellow tones emanating from the flickering fluorescent lights, casting shadows across thousands of square feet of grainy carpet and dull-colored wallpaper. With large-format cameras and wide lenses capturing the vastness and depth of the Backrooms, Parsons was able to portray the disproportionate uniformity of the Backrooms. The lighting and camera effects combine to provide the viewer with a distinct eerie feeling of the wariness and caution that Clark feels while navigating the Backrooms alone.
The repetitive and unfamiliar nature of the Backrooms takes a great mental toll on Clark. Usually, when one is in an unfamiliar space, they can orient themselves by finding familiar objects like people, signs and landmarks. They can also rely on the fact that these objects remain stationary. If they find themselves going in circles, recognizing familiar objects can help them determine which direction they are heading. In the Backrooms, however, everything is sameness and uniformity. All the walls and carpets have the same patterns, all the rooms are practically identical, and Clark is unable to figure out which way he came from or which way to go.
On top of making him feel physically disoriented, the Backrooms leave Clark feeling trapped in a state of stagnation. The Backrooms, by nature, are an infinite liminal expanse. Once inside, Clark is always physically moving somewhere, but he never feels like he is getting anywhere due to the uniformity of the layout. This cycle is very taxing and leaves Clark feeling desperately lonely.
As the film progresses, Clark delves deeper into the labyrinth of the Backrooms, mapping its layout. The further Clark explores into the Backrooms, the greater he despairs when he fails to navigate its depths. He finds few sporadic objects to orient himself like a duffel bag, a life-size cardboard cutout of a person and some furniture, but they are irrelevant due to the ever-changing nature of the Backrooms. He marks the exit portal to his furniture store in reality one day, but it disappears the next. The uncertainty and unpredictability of the layout causes Clark to further deteriorate. It makes him second guess himself, forcing him to ask: “Did I come this way already, or was it that way?”; “Did I actually see this here, or was it somewhere else?”; “Did I actually mark the exit, or did I mark an insignificant wall?”
Clark deals with many physical insecurities and is accustomed to not connecting to or trusting other people in his life, but now, he is unable to trust even himself. He doesn’t know where he is and no one knows where he is because he has no one left to tell. Clark doesn’t even know who he is anymore. He has become so far removed from the loveless alcoholic at the beginning of the film, and his problems become far worse than a failed livelihood. By the end of the film he has committed unforgivable acts and feels no remorse. His physical and mental struggles have blurred together, so much so, that he has abandoned all of his morals and values and is focused solely on survival. The psychological disorientation caused by the Backrooms ultimately strips Clark of his mental awareness and sanity.
“Backrooms” is an interesting and complex film that truly perplexes its viewers, but why are audiences so interested in it? There are so many other horror films in 2026, let alone in the decade, so what has so many people attracted to the phenomena of “Backrooms”? The answer lies in the film’s ability to relate its hyperrealism to reality. When watching “Backrooms,” the fear does not end when the credits roll. It may be difficult for audiences to relate to monsters under the bed, or clowns hiding behind the door, but this is the essence of what makes “Backrooms” so scary: it’s relatable.
While the film uses hyperrealism to exaggerate the effects of psychological disorientation, the lessons behind it are very real. “Backrooms” is rooted in experiences that feel possible: isolation, failure, desperation and the fear of losing control of one’s own mind. Especially today, in an age where mental health awareness is so prevalent, and nearly everyone has friends or family members who struggle with mental illness, watching Clark’s deterioration from a struggling human being to someone who has completely lost his sanity is terrifying. Knowing that there are people who experience these struggles in real life makes his story all the more disturbing, as his descent into mental deterioration is not so far removed from reality.
“Backrooms” takes general human fears and turns them into a physical world, showing how psychological disorientation can gradually become mental instability. Clark getting lost in the Backrooms may not seem so scary, because who is going to find an infinite liminal expanse in their house or workplace? Rather, it’s what it represents — the fear of losing yourself and your sanity — that makes it all the more terrifying, because that’s something that could happen to anyone.
Photo Caption: The original image which inspired the Backrooms posted on “4Chan” in 2019, featuring a furniture store in Wisconsin undergoing renovations.
Photo Credit: Bill Magritz
