Backrooms First Reviews: An Unsettling, Atmospheric Freakout That Will Dismantle Your Sense of Reality
Critics say the film is elevated by its performances and production and sound design, establishing Kane Parsons as a director to watch.
The sci-fi horror movie Backrooms opens this weekend, and the first reviews are now online. Based on a viral creepypasta phenomenon, the feature stars Oscar nominees Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor as a therapist and her patient, respectively, who both enter another dimension consisting of liminal space. Director Kane Parsons, who makes his feature debut with Backrooms, is being called the next great horror filmmaker, with his adaptation praised as spooky entertainment for fans of A24’s more experimental scary movies.
85%
0%
Here’s what critics are saying about Backrooms:
Does it rank among the best horror movies of the year?
The opening seven minutes are among the most effective horror filmmaking of the year.
— Peter Gray, The AU Review
There is a second-act sequence that will likely stand as one of the most bone-chilling things you’ll see in a theater in all of 2026.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
When Backrooms works, it’s an arresting triumph and one of the strongest debut features in years.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
Is Kane Parsons’ work here reminiscent of any other director?
Parsons proves to be a wizard of mood who shares the early David Lynch’s love of industrial cosmic sound design, and also Lynch’s fixation on the mysteries of electricity.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The last 40 minutes are undeniably strange, veering into territory that feels heavily indebted to Twin Peaks and the work of David Lynch.
— Peter Gray, The AU Review
The David Lynch influence is especially all over this thing, but what Parsons and his screenwriter Will Soodik have actually concocted is a beast all to its own in the end, a movie not quite like any other, and that is what will make it fly.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
What kind of horror movie is this?
A horror film that feels genuinely singular: eerie, melancholy, deeply uncanny, and willing to trust audiences enough to leave them lost inside its maze.
— Peter Gray, The AU Review
One of the rare films that can wring more blood-curdling terror from suddenly encountering a flashing Christmas tree or a cardboard standee looping recorded messages in a dozen languages than from any conventional monster.
— Julian Singleton, Cinapse
Disturbing, visually unforgettable, and intellectually ambitious, Backrooms is the kind of horror cinema that treats atmosphere and ideas as inseparable from spectacle.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
As an atmospheric freakout, Backrooms is extraordinarily effective.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
A brilliant, nightmarish vision that’s beautifully claustrophobic, pulse-pounding and freaky AF. It’s a trip.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
Remember the first horror movie you saw that changed who you were? This movie will be that for a lot of people.
— Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
Is it scary?
Parsons wrings true terror out of the sense of being enclosed.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
What makes the scares work is that Parsons rarely leans on cheap shock tactics. The film understands restraint.
— Peter Gray, The AU Review
It’s a horror film less interested in frightening its audience than in quietly dismantling their sense of reality.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
Backrooms is still an effective horror film, dealing in quiet terror over abject horror.
— Graeme Guttmann, Screen Rant
When more violent events begin to happen, those are often unnerving to watch, and make for some effective jump scares as well.
— Shaurya Chawla, InSession Film
Parsons and screenwriter Will Soodik are surprisingly adept at expanding the Backrooms mythos beyond its found-footage origins without sacrificing the intimate dread those videos cultivate.
— Julian Singleton, Cinapse
It is slightly disappointing to say that nothing unique to the Backrooms movie feels as scary as what’s already gone viral from the web series.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
Backrooms has the same problem that so many monster movies do: the longer you show the monster, the less scary and interesting it becomes.
— Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool
Do we need to be familiar with the source material?
The good news is if you are like me and you have never experienced Backrooms in any form before, I can happily report it doesn’t matter. I was with this thing all the way.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
The opening five minutes serve as an ideal primer for anybody unfamiliar with Parsons’ Backrooms web series.
— Alistair Ryder, The Film Stage
There are plenty of nods to Parsons’ videos, including the presence of Async, but the film really strives to examine the psychology of its characters in a way that it isn’t fully equipped to do.
— Graeme Guttmann, Screen Rant
Whether viewers connect with where the film ultimately goes may depend on how attached they are to the internet mythology itself.
— Peter Gray, The AU Review
While Parsons directs the movie in a manner that would allow audiences unfamiliar with the original material to watch it, there is an enhanced experience to be had with more contextual backing, especially as the narrative and characterization is a bit thin.
— Shaurya Chawla, InSession Film
If the explanation or meaning comes from things you can only know if you’re a fan and have seen the shorts, then Parsons and his team have failed to adapt Backrooms into a feature-length film.
— Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool
Will it satisfy viewers who are already fans of Parsons?
Backrooms will likely prove to be a treat for fans of the original material and its most eagle-eyed viewers.
— Shaurya Chawla, InSession Film
If you are already one of the flock driven to Parson’s YouTube iteration and various installments, you are a step ahead, and the fan service he has included will be a gift.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
Parsons stepping back from sole writing duties will likely divide some fans.
— Peter Gray, The AU Review
[It] might not be to every fan’s liking (since Async is barely in the film)… It would obviously have been cool to see Parsons bring even more of the YouTube series’ iconography to the big screen.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
It’s as if the creative team — or those backing it — didn’t trust the ambiguous anxiety that drew viewers to Parsons’ YouTube shorts to sustain a feature.
— Julian Singleton, Cinapse
Are mainstream horror audiences going to like it?
The film will certainly captivate audiences beyond the millions already familiar with his work.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
It may alienate anyone expecting a conventional fear ride.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
The deathly slow pacing and austere styling will be a deterrent for many.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
How does it look?
This is a visually stunning nightmare… Props must be given to cinematographer Jeremy Cox and production designer Danny Vermette for a dazzling magical mystery tour through this prison with no exit.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
The production design (by Longlegs‘ Danny Vermette) of his 30,000 square foot set [is] the star of the show.
— Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Danny Vermette’s production design is as much of a superstar headliner as the picture’s Oscar-nominated leads.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
The production design from Danny Vermette is some of the year’s best so far.
— Shaurya Chawla, InSession Film
It might be some of the best set design we’ve seen so far this year, and could easily be the best we’ll see this year.
— Kaitlyn Booth, Bleeding Cool
What about its sound design?
The sound design is exceptional.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
Eugenio Battaglia’s sound design earns top marks as he creates an expansive and unsettling soundscape built on a foundation of the ambient buzz of fluorescent lights.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
The film’s soundscape, including the score by Parsons and Edo Van Breemen, keeps you perpetually on edge with its nerve-shredding combination of throbbing bass squelches and muted ambient sounds.
— Dan Bayer, Next Best Picture
How is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance?
Ejiofor delivers one of his finest performances, stripping away the warmth that has defined much of his screen career to play a man consumed by rage.
— Linda Marric, HeyUGuys
Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is such a great actor, is the perfect presence to have at the center of all this.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Chiwetel Ejiofor is not a bad get at all for what turns into one of his most memorable roles as Clark.
— Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood Daily
Ejiofor delivers dynamic depth with his role, fusing together vulnerability, grief and bitterness so we empathize with Clark’s wrong-headed coping mechanisms.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
It’s Ejiofor and Reinsve who carry Backrooms to the finish line, making up for any of the narrative’s slow pacing or purposefully vague characterizations.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
Will this leave us excited for Parsons’ future as a filmmaker?
I can’t wait to see what fresh hells await us from Parsons next.
— BJ Colangelo, Slashfilm
There’s no denying that Kane Parsons is now the master of [this kind of horror]. Going forward, it will be fascinating to see how he fills those spaces.
— Owen Gleiberman, Variety
We can only hope Parsons, as a modernist architect of panic attacks, will be able to continue to world-build in potential future offerings.
— Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction
Time will tell where Parsons’ career goes, but if Backrooms is any indication, he will go a long, long way.
— Shaurya Chawla, InSession Film
There’s enough here to convince me that Parsons will learn to kill his darlings rather than slavishly condense every good idea he’s had into a coherent statement.
— Alistair Ryder, The Film Stage
It would have been easy for Parsons to phone it in when so much of his source material works so well on its own. But he didn’t, and that’s how you know he’s here to stay.
— Andrew J. Salazar, Discussing Film
Backrooms opens in theaters May 29, 2026. Get your tickets here.
