Backrooms: Release Date, Cast, Trailers & More
We break down who's in it, who's behind it, what it's about, and every other detail we know about the upcoming A24 horror film.
Back in 2022, a teenage filmmaker named Kane Parsons uploaded a found‑footage horror short called The Backrooms (Found Footage) to YouTube, and it exploded across the internet. The video was turned into a viral phenomenon. Within weeks, A24 had taken notice, acquiring the rights and giving Parsons, still only in high school, the chance to expand his creation into a full‑length feature film.
In the years since that first upload, The Backrooms has grown into a sprawling online sensation, inspiring nearly two dozen follow‑up shorts from Parsons and countless fan interpretations. A24’s feature adaptation builds directly on that foundation, transforming the eerie maze of empty rooms into a cinematic experience.
Here’s everything we know about A24’s Backrooms.
What is Backrooms About?
The Backrooms, an internet “creepypasta,” originated in a 2019 online thread revolving around a single image of a barren room bathed in yellow fluorescent light. This viral nightmare was then popularized by Kane Parsons, whose 2022 YouTube short became an internet phenomenon. The film takes that same premise (an endless maze of yellow, fluorescent-lit rooms that feel like an abandoned office frozen outside of time) and builds it into a full-length infinite descent into liminal horror.
In the Backrooms universe, the Backrooms are not a physical location but a glitch in reality itself. Anyone can “no-clip” out of the world, slipping through a wall or floor as if the universe has seams, and find themselves trapped in a sprawl of rooms with no clear exit. The space is devoid of human life yet never truly empty… Unseen entities stalk the corridors, and it always feels like someone is watching.
A24’s film is set to center around a strange doorway that appears in the basement of a furniture showroom, which serves as the opening into the Backrooms. From there, the story unfolds. While much of the other plot details remain unknown, Parsons’ original YouTube series, nearly two dozen analog‑horror videos, laid the foundation for this feature.
Wait, creepypasta? Liminal horror? No-clipping? What?
Let’s back up a bit. For those unfamiliar with the term, “creepypasta” is a portmanteau of the words “creepy” and “copypasta“, the latter itself being an internet-era portmanteau of the words “copy” and “paste.” Copypasta came about as a slang term to describe paragraphs of text that were, naturally, copied and pasted repeatedly across various internet forums and comment sections as a way to spread stories in a viral fashion. “Creepypasta” entered the chat, so to speak, as a way to describe copypastas that spun off in a decidedly horror-specific direction, but eventually became the default designation for any horror tale that originated on the internet. Slender Man is probably the most famous example.
Parsons’ YouTube series The Backrooms was inspired by arguably the most famous example of the internet’s fascination with liminal spaces — photos of empty spaces that induce feelings of eeriness and unease. The image in question was that of an empty room with yellow carpet, yellow wallpaper, and yellow fluorescent lights that was eventually identified in 2024 a former furniture store-turned-hobby shop that was undergoing renovation at the time. The image inspired a massive fandom as users were inspired to create stories and expand the fictional lore of the space. This, in turn, helped spark the popularity of the “liminal horror” genre, which capitalizes on the uncomfortable anxiety of liminal spaces and cranks it up to 11.
Lastly, there’s “no-clipping.” In computer graphics parlance, “clipping” refers to the mechanism in place to enforce boundaries between solid objects that should visually collide with each other when they come into contact. In video game jargon, “no-clipping” allows players to move freely through those established boundaries, like passing through walls or solid objects. Applied to the Backrooms, no-clipping describes how one might enter or exit that realm of liminal space.
So now that you’re all caught up on the internet lingo, let’s move on.
Who’s behind the film?
A24’s 2026 adaptation is helmed by Kane Parsons himself, who at just 20 years old becomes one of the youngest directors ever to lead a studio feature. His rise from teenage YouTube creator to studio filmmaker has caught the attention of a lot of horror fans, and the film retains his signature analog horror aesthetic while scaling it up with a full production team.
The screenplay is written by Will Soodik and is co‑financed by A24 and The North Road Company’s Chernin Entertainment, with 21 Laps Entertainment and Atomic Monster also producing, per Variety.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, producers Kori Adelson, Dan Cohen, Chris Ferguson, Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, and James Wan are also in on the project. With the minds behind Stranger Things and The Conjuring universe producing, A24 will help shape Backrooms into a large-scale horror event.
Who’s in Backrooms?
The film stars Academy Award nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as furniture store owner Clark, and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) as Dr. Mary Kline, a psychologist who is treating him. The two stars are also joined by Mark Duplass (The Morning Show), Finn Bennett (True Detective), Lukita Maxwell (Shrinking), and Avan Jogia (56 Days).
Is there a trailer?
So far, A24 has unveiled two teasers and a full-length trailer for the film, each offering a deeper look into the endless hallways that define the Backrooms. The footage already hints at the terror awaiting the characters, glimpses of impossible exits, disorienting corridors, and the unnerving sense that something is always just out of frame.
Whether Backrooms will cement itself as a defining summer horror release, much like Weapons did in 2025, remains to be seen. What’s certain is that anticipation is high, and audiences won’t have to wait long. The film is set to creep into theaters at the end of May, inviting viewers to step through the doorway and into the maze themselves.
Backrooms hits theaters on May 29, 2026.
