‘Backrooms’ – Kane Parsons Delivers A Nightmare You Can’t Escape – Review
The horror genre is experiencing a creative renaissance right now, with a new generation of filmmakers bringing fresh ideas and unsettling perspectives to audiences. The latest talent to make the leap from the digital world to the big screen is Kane Parsons, the YouTube phenomenon behind The Backrooms, who now transforms his viral horror sensation into a feature-length nightmare with A24’s Backrooms. The result is a deeply unnerving experience that lingers in your mind long after the credits roll.
A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.
A Horror Experience Built On Dread
Expanding upon his hugely popular online anthology series, Parsons demonstrates an impressive command of atmosphere and tension in his feature directorial debut. Rather than relying on cheap jump scares, Backrooms thrives on a constant sense of unease, drawing audiences into a world where reality feels increasingly unstable and every corner hides something terrifying.
Parsons never appears overwhelmed by the larger cinematic canvas. Instead, he embraces it, crafting a horror film that feels uniquely his own. Minimal dialogue, expressive performances, eerie sound design, and an overwhelming sense of isolation combine to create an experience that feels genuinely unsettling.
What’s most striking is how Backrooms feels like horror cinema viewed through a distinctly Gen-Z lens. Parsons understands internet-era fears and digital-age anxieties, translating them into something cinematic, immersive, and deeply creepy.
Chiwetel Ejiofor And Renate Reinsve Ground The Terror
Helping anchor the film’s increasingly surreal narrative are two excellent performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.
Ejiofor stars as Clark, a furniture store owner and failed architect haunted by personal disappointments and drawn towards the mysterious labyrinth known as the Backrooms. As Clark ventures deeper into this impossible space, Ejiofor delivers a performance filled with vulnerability, obsession, and growing terror.
Opposite him, Reinsve continues to showcase why she’s become one of cinema’s most compelling performers. As therapist Dr. Mary Kline, she finds herself pulled into the nightmare while searching for Clark, confronting horrors beyond comprehension as reality begins to unravel around her.
Together, the pair provide an emotional foundation that keeps audiences invested even as the film descends into increasingly disturbing territory.
A Disturbing New Chapter For Horror
Visually inventive and loaded with dread, Backrooms excels at making viewers feel profoundly uncomfortable. Parsons employs disorienting camerawork, haunting imagery, and an ever-present sense that something is fundamentally wrong. Every sequence feels designed to keep audiences off balance.
Then comes a shocking third act twist that lands with devastating force, completely reframing the horrors that have unfolded and delivering one final gut punch before the credits roll.
Final Verdict: A Bold New Horror Experiment
With Backrooms, Kane Parsons announces himself as a major new voice in horror cinema. This is an ambitious, deeply unsettling film that transforms an internet phenomenon into a genuinely frightening theatrical experience. If you’re searching for a horror film that will crawl under your skin and fill you with dread, Backrooms absolutely delivers.
Image: A24 Films
