{"id":2436934,"date":"2026-05-29T13:36:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2436934"},"modified":"2026-05-29T13:36:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:36:43","slug":"backrooms-is-at-the-forefront-of-horrors-youtube-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/backrooms-is-at-the-forefront-of-horrors-youtube-wave\/","title":{"rendered":"Backrooms is at the forefront of horror\u2019s YouTube wave"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Though YouTube has always been a place where up-and-coming artists could be discovered and make it big, in recent years the platform has become a launching pad for some of Hollywood\u2019s most exciting new horror directors. The filmmakers behind films like Talk to Me<\/em><\/a>, Iron Lung<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>and Obsession<\/em><\/a> all started off as content creators posting their independently created projects online. And if it weren\u2019t for their fandom-fueled internet fame, studios might not have given them a chance to step up to the big leagues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Going viral on YouTube with a series of videos inspired by 4chan memes is what put Kane Parsons<\/a> on A24\u2019s radar and led to him becoming the director of the studio\u2019s latest movie, Backrooms<\/em><\/a>. Everything about Backrooms<\/em> \u2014 from its unsettling aesthetic to the way its script (written by Will Soodik) leaves you in the dark about what\u2019s really going on \u2014 feels emblematic of this new generation of horror auteurs who grew up and found their creative voices on sites like YouTube.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

During a recent conversation, Parsons told me that one of the most challenging things about bringing Backrooms <\/em>to the big screen was embracing the fact that he needed to tell a story that could resonate with people who haven\u2019t been following his work from day one. Though Parsons knew that longtime fans might show up expecting a deep dive into intricate Backrooms lore, his time on YouTube taught him that playing solely to that crowd can be a double-edged sword.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWith films like Backrooms that started off as YouTube projects, you have to really reflect on what worked in the first place in order to avoid making something that\u2019s too contrived and dense for newcomers to enjoy,\u201d Parsons explained. \u201cThat inaccessibility issue stems from the fact that so many of these projects are independently developed and largely controlled by individual people. You frequently see the ways in which creators can let online engagement affect them personally and affect the way they make things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Like Parsons\u2019 shorts \u2014 there are 22 of them<\/a>, and the first was uploaded in 2022 \u2014 Backrooms <\/em>tells the disturbing story of what happens when people unknowingly stumble into an extradimensional space that looks like a sprawling maze of seemingly abandoned office building hallways. After a furniture salesman (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discovers a portal to the Backrooms beneath his failing store, he becomes obsessed with figuring out what the place is and why it\u2019s filled with objects that appear to be human-made. But the more time the man spends in the place, the more his grasp on reality starts to slip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cI wanted to make sure I was replicating what worked about that first short.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Like a lot of other recent theatrical horrors, Backrooms <\/em>could be fairly described as a vibe-forward sort of film that puts more emphasis on conjuring a discomfiting atmosphere as opposed to giving you a clear understanding of what\u2019s happening to its characters. That mode of storytelling works especially well for short-form YouTube videos that viewers can pause, rewind, and pore over in excited anticipation of a creator\u2019s next upload. But Parsons felt that it was important for the film to have a stronger and more concrete narrative center in order for it to work for theatergoers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cEmotionally, I started from a place of wanting to capture what the Backrooms are while making sure that I wasn\u2019t overwhelming the audience by showing them all of the various Backrooms biomes you see in my series,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cPeople who have watched all of my Backrooms videos are fine if I want to do a whole video where you don\u2019t see any yellow wallpaper because they already have a larger understanding of the space. But for the film, I wanted to make sure I was returning to form and replicating what worked about that first short.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The reasoning behind studios\u2019 decisions to greenlight projects like Backrooms <\/em>is simple enough to understand. Horror films tend to be cheap to produce, and if they wind up being hits, studios can easily recoup their production costs many times over (Backrooms <\/em>reportedly cost $10 million to make and is on track to rake in $45 million in its first weekend<\/a>.) When young filmmakers show up with sizable, built-in fan bases, executives see them as safer bets. A combination of those factors is what led to A24 bringing Parsons on board, and the studio is clearly hoping that Backrooms <\/em>will become another testament to low-budget horror\u2019s ability to dominate at the box office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Before Backrooms<\/em>, Danny and Michael Philippou\u2019s first Talk to Me<\/em> film (a sequel, Talk 2 Me<\/em>, is currently in development) ultimately made just under $92 million against a $4.5 million micro-budget, while Mark \u201cMarkiplier\u201d Fischbach\u2019s independently produced Iron Lung <\/em>\u2014 an adaptation of David Szymanski\u2019s 2022 video game \u2014 netted an impressive $50 million while holding its own against more expensive features<\/a> like Sam Raimi\u2019s Send Help<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>These films are making a mark during a booming time for the genre, where the likes of Ti West\u2019s X <\/em>series<\/a>, Longlegs<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>and Weapons<\/em><\/a> have made it clear that audiences will flock to see low-budget horror.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cThe YouTube algorithm is not your friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Though Parsons knows that his YouTube fame is part of what helped him get his foot in the door, growing up in the age of content creators taught him how important it is to maintain a certain level of distance from online discourse about his work. Before Parsons was making videos of his own, he was a subscriber to channels like The Film Theorists<\/a>, which gave him a deep understanding of how fans\u2019 intensity can be a blessing and a curse for the creators they fixate on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cMy entire experience with the internet has been channels where people put so much energy into media analysis in a very decentralized, scattered way,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cAnd when you have tons of people who hang on the tiniest details in your story, it can end up creating and reinforcing an unhealthy feedback loop where a creator feels the need to disproportionately cater to their fans because that\u2019s where the positive feedback is coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Cane Parsons and Chiwetel Ejiofor on the set of Backrooms.<\/figcaption>Photo: A24<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

While the obsessive energy that defines so much of modern fandom often gives Parsons pause, he still feels YouTube is a place where aspiring artists can find their voices and hone their craft. Some of \u201cthe most talented artists\u201d Parsons knows are \u201crandom people from Discord who are, like, 14-year-olds who are not working in the industry at all, but they\u2019re fucking wizards.\u201d Parsons believes that the entertainment industry would deeply benefit from capitalizing on more of that youthful wizardry, but he also told me that he refuses to \u201cpreach the blind optimism that I hear from a lot of other filmmakers who say, \u2018You got a phone; everyone can be a filmmaker now.\u2019\u201d YouTube remains an important platform for being discovered, but it\u2019s also becoming increasingly challenging to get noticed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cAbout 50 percent of the internet traffic is now not even human, but that doesn\u2019t change the fact that we\u2019re all still here and I don\u2019t think people are fully dropping off the internet,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cBut the YouTube algorithm is not your friend. These platforms are increasingly becoming more and more botted, atomized, and just not user-friendly, and I think it would be very dishonest to claim otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Backrooms <\/em>is in theaters now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/span><\/p>\n