'Backrooms' Review: A Disturbing Labyrinth of Nightmares
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
By Shauna Bushe - June 7, 2026
The buzzing sound of cheap, flickering fluorescent lights is usually a minor building annoyance, but in A24’s psychological masterpiece Backrooms, it becomes the terrifying heartbeat of a new era in horror.
What is 'Backrooms' about?
The narrative grounds its massive, surreal concept in an intimate, tragic character study. We follow Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a defeated furniture store owner whose business and life are rapidly unravelling. While wandering the basement of his sprawling showroom, he stumbles across a glitching, glowing spatial anomaly - a door that shouldn't exist. Passing through it, he is swallowed by the Backrooms: a seemingly infinite, mind-bending labyrinth of damp carpets, sickly yellow wallpaper, and sterile, nondescript corridors that defy the laws of physics. When Clark completely vanishes from the real world, his deeply concerned therapist, Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), begins investigating his strange final rants. Her search leads her directly into the same yellow void. What follows is a harrowing, dual-perspective rescue mission and survival story as the maze begins to physically manifest and weaponize the deepest psychological traumas of those trapped inside.
The film is directed by Kane Parsons, who famously birthed a viral internet phenomenon in 2022 by translating a popular online urban legend into a terrifying, self-rendered YouTube short film. Made entirely on his laptop using 3D graphics software while he was still a teenager, Parsons' digital world-building caught the eye of heavyweights like James Wan and studio A24. Now, at just 20 years old, Parsons makes his feature debut, proving that his internet success was no fluke. His transition from digital animation to a big-budget Hollywood production is seamless, showing a filmmaker with an natural understanding of modern existential dread. His rare ability to successfully reimagine nightmares into something a little too real makes Backrooms scarier than most horror films of recent years.
A Triumph of Practical Sets
While Parsons made his name in digital animation, the absolute MVP of this feature adaptation is the jaw-dropping practical set design. Production built a staggering 30,000-square-foot labyrinth of physical, interconnecting room, with the tactile reality of the environment is suffocating; that being said, the crew had a hard time not getting lost themselves. You can practically smell the damp, mildewed carpet through the screen and feel the thunderous, vibrating footsteps as if they’re right behind you, chasing you. Because the actors are running through real, physical hallways that stretch endlessly into their peripheral vision, their disorientation feels incredibly genuine. The camera frequently gets lost alongside them, turning the architecture itself into the movie's most menacing
antagonist.
Chemistry in the Emptiness
A film set entirely within empty yellow walls lives or dies by its performances, and the casting here is inspired. Chiwetel Ejiofor is devastating as Clark, who perfectly captures the frantic, breathless desperation of a man losing his grip on reality long before he ever steps through the portal. Renate Reinsve provides a brilliant, analytical contrast as Mary. Her approach to the maze is initially clinical and logical, making her eventual descent into panic feel earned and deeply unsettling. In supporting are Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and Rob (Finn Bennett) who are co-workers with Clark. Although their inclusion to the story is short lived, their tragic fates leave a heavy weight for the rest of the film. Even though the characters are physically separated for vast stretches of the runtime, their shared history and psychological tether create a palpable, aching chemistry. The thematic weight of a therapist trying to cure a patient of a delusion, only to realize the delusion is a physical reality, is carried beautifully by both actors.
What makes the film truly special is that it doesn't rely on cheap, loud jump scares. Instead, the narrative treats the Backrooms as an extension of the human psyche - an infinite regression of copies where reality, meaning, and sanity is slowly eroded. The dread is industrial, and deeply psychological. Backrooms is a brilliantly disturbing triumph. Kane Parsons has successfully upended mainstream horror by proving that emptiness, silence, and a simple hum can be infinitely more terrifying than any monster in the dark.
'Backrooms' is out now in cinemas.
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