The Backrooms

I’ve never really understood the appeal of The Backrooms. Ever since the concept went viral in the late 2010s, it felt like an internet trend built around a very simple idea: endless yellow hallways, empty rooms, and vague mystery. Then in 2022, Kane Parsons’ found-footage videos exploded online and suddenly The Backrooms became one of the biggest creepypasta phenomena of the decade. To this day, I still don’t fully understand why it gained such a massive following.

That said, Kane Parsons being chosen to direct the movie was probably the best decision the studio could have made. Instead of simply stretching his YouTube videos into a two-hour film, the movie takes a different approach by focusing more on character psychology, obsession, and existential dread rather than relying entirely on found-footage scares. The story follows Clark, a struggling furniture store owner who discovers a gateway into the endless maze known as the Backrooms.

What begins as curiosity gradually turns into an unhealthy obsession, pulling him deeper into a reality that blurs the line between physical space, memory, and psychological collapse. The film uses the Backrooms less as a monster-filled haunted house and more as a reflection of isolation, failure, and escapism.

Visually, the movie is impressive. Kane’s background in VFX and digital filmmaking shows throughout the film. The environments are unsettling, the atmosphere is consistently eerie, and there are several sequences that genuinely capture the strange feeling that made the original videos popular. For a first feature-length film, Kane does a very good job, and it’s clear he has talent as a filmmaker. The fact that he went from making YouTube videos in his bedroom to directing a major studio release is genuinely impressive.

My biggest issue is the same issue I have with many modern internet-driven hits: the hype. Once again, people are calling this a masterpiece, a genre-defining horror film, or the future of horror. I don’t see it. It’s a good movie. It’s creative. It’s well-directed. But groundbreaking? Not really. Beneath the unique setting, the film still relies on familiar themes of obsession, trauma, self-destruction, and losing touch with reality. The Backrooms themselves are interesting, but the story around them isn’t nearly as revolutionary as some people make it sound.

I also think online fandoms have a habit of turning every viral phenomenon into something bigger than it actually is. Many people seem more interested in repeating popular opinions than forming their own. A movie gets praise on TikTok, YouTube, or social media, and suddenly any criticism is treated as a personal attack. Meaningful discussion gets replaced by hype cycles and echo chambers.

Overall, The Backrooms is a solid, watchable horror film with strong atmosphere and an impressive directorial debut from Kane Parsons. I respect what he accomplished, and I’m interested to see what he does next. But despite all the praise, I never found the Backrooms concept itself particularly fascinating. To me, it’s still an internet creepypasta that somehow evolved into a cultural phenomenon far bigger than I ever expected. Good movie, worth watching if you’re into atmospheric horror, but nowhere near the masterpiece that many people are claiming it is.