One of A24’s most anticipated horror releases of 2026, “Backrooms” finally arrives in cinemas internationally on May 29. Adapted from the viral internet mythos, the film is set to transport audiences into a deeply unsettling world where reality begins to fracture. Before stepping into its endless yellow hallways, here are a few key things to know before watching
It all started with a single creepy image
Long before it became a film, Backrooms began as an internet urban legend. In 2019, a photo of an empty yellow office-like space resurfaced on 4chan, where users found it strangely unsettling despite containing nothing overtly frightening. What followed was a collaborative online mythos, with fans expanding the concept through countless levels, creatures and storylines across forums and social media. With no definitive canon, anyone can contribute their own interpretations, helping transform the Backrooms into one of the internet’s most enduring horror phenomena.
Much of the Backrooms concept revolves around “no-clipping”
The core idea behind the Backrooms is known as “no-clipping,” a term borrowed from video games. In gaming, no-clipping refers to a glitch that allows players to pass through walls, floors or other solid objects. Within the Backrooms universe, people can unexpectedly no-clip out of reality and find themselves trapped inside an endless labyrinth of fluorescent-lit hallways, damp carpets and faded yellow wallpaper. Once inside, finding a way back becomes almost impossible.
The film comes from the young YouTuber who made the Backrooms famous
While the Backrooms myth existed long before him, Kane Parsons – better known online as Kane Pixels – played a major role in bringing it into the mainstream. At just 16 years old, he uploaded The Backrooms (Found Footage) to YouTube in 2022, a nine-minute analog horror short that quickly amassed millions of views and introduced the concept to a much wider audience. Its success led to a series of follow-up episodes that expanded the lore even further, eventually catching the attention of A24. The studio later tapped Parsons to direct the feature adaptation, making him the studio’s youngest feature film director.
There is much more lore than just endless hallways
As mentioned earlier, the Backrooms has no rigid rules, which means fans have spent years expanding its mythology with new settings, creatures and storylines. One of the most influential interpretations comes from Kane Parsons’ YouTube series, which introduces ASync, a fictional research organisation that discovers and studies the Backrooms. In this version of the lore, the Backrooms are not simply a supernatural phenomenon but an extra-dimensional space accidentally opened through scientific experimentation. The series also introduces mysterious entities and constantly shifting environments where the normal rules of space and time no longer apply.
Don’t expect a traditional horror movie
Finally, one of the most important things to know before watching Backrooms is that it is not your typical horror film built around jump scares or graphic violence. Instead, it leans heavily into atmosphere and psychological unease. Much of the fear comes from liminal spaces – familiar yet eerily empty environments such as deserted office corridors, vacant shopping malls and abandoned warehouses. Influenced by the analog horror genre, the film uses found-footage-style recordings and unsettling imagery to create a lingering sense of dread. Rather than constant creature encounters, expect a slow and unsettling descent into paranoia, disorientation and fear.
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