Kane Parsons made Backrooms when most people his age were still figuring out their major. The filmmaker, who helmed the A24 horror pic at just 19 years old, somehow convinced investors to back a found-footage nightmare about a teenager stumbling into an endless, decaying maze of beige drywall and fluorescent lights. That premise, which sounds like a fever dream ripped from internet folklore, cost under $10 million to bring to life. On September 25, Backrooms arrives on HBO Max, letting everyone who missed it in theaters experience Parsons’ unsettling vision from home.
The film taps into something genuinely eerie about liminal spaces, those uncanny in-between moments and architecture that shouldn’t exist but somehow feel hauntingly familiar. Rather than relying on jump scares or gore, Backrooms crawls under your skin through atmosphere and the slow realization that escape might be impossible. Parsons managed to sustain genuine dread across its runtime without the budget of a studio tentpole, leaning instead on clever shot selection, sound design, and the palpable anxiety of being trapped in a space that defies logic. It’s the kind of horror that lingers after the credits roll, the type that plays better in quiet rooms than packed multiplexes.
The journey from YouTube-adjacent concept to A24 acquisition to streaming release marks a notable shift in how young filmmakers can break through. Parsons didn’t need a film school pedigree or years of grinding short films through festival circuits. Instead, his ability to translate internet-native horror sensibilities into something theatrically viable caught the attention of distributors hungry for fresh voices. By the time Backrooms on HBO Max debuts later this month, it’ll already have a devoted cult following online, yet plenty of streamers will discover the film’s lingering dread for the first time.
