We just got a closer look at A24’s upcoming horror movie. Backroomsbased on the viral YouTube series based on Internet creepypastas. And as a Backrooms fan, I’m surprisingly optimistic that this movie could do well. I was skeptical when I first heard that a film adaptation was in the works: Creepypasta historically hasn’t translated very well to film and the film is directed by a 17-year-old. But honestly, despite how little we’ve seen of the film, this trailer left me feeling like the film is in the right hands.
I’ve been into the Backrooms concept (and liminal spaces in general) for as long as I can remember. I follow subreddits where urban explorers post photos of ancient structures that look frozen in time, or buildings with strange designs, like this courtyard hotel at Heathrow Airport. When the Backrooms concept went mainstream several months into the pandemic, I was instantly drawn to it. The setup is simple: you’re trapped in a familiar but unfamiliar maze of oddly designed rooms covered in yellow wallpaper. Below you is a curiously damp carpet, above you are fluorescent lights humming, and there is no clear way to escape. The first description of Backrooms (possibly the only good thing to come out of 4chan) paints the picture quite clearly:
“If you’re not careful and don’t stray from reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in Backrooms, where there’s nothing but the stench of old, damp carpet, the madness of monoyellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights on full blast, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to get trapped in,” reads an oft-quoted anonymous comment on the post that started it all. “God save you if you hear something wandering nearby, because it surely heard you.”
That last phrase implies that something or someone is lurking in the back rooms, waiting to attack. But in its infancy, Backrooms revolved around awkward, hard-to-articulate vibes. There’s a certain intangibility to the whole idea, and much of the horror comes from how inexplicable it all is. The Backrooms thrives on kenopsia: the haunting feeling that a place is both familiar and unfamiliar and has been abandoned by the passage of time.
In the wake of Backrooms’ initial boom, creative writers rushed to create history. There are now hundreds of “levels” of Backrooms, that is, individual spaces or “building blocks” within this fictional liminal space. And sadly, most writers fill them with silly monsters. In my opinion, turning Backrooms into another setting for standard monster horror completely destroys the tension and misses the point. It is one thing to imply that something He’s in Backrooms, hunting down those unlucky enough to end up there. But it’s quite another to fill all the other levels with some SCP imitation. Even frequent contributors to Backrooms lore say they’re fed up with the overabundance of monsters.
But in my opinion, one creator has always got Backrooms content right: 17-year-old visual effects artist and filmmaker Kane Parsons, better known by his YouTube username Kane Pixels. In January 2022, Parsons uploaded a nine-minute short film titled “The Backrooms (Found Footage)” to YouTube. Set in 1996, the short follows a teenager who is filming a video with some friends, but “doesn’t get caught” in Backrooms after accidentally tripping and falling. The hapless protagonist explores a variety of strange rooms (including one clearly inspired by the aforementioned Heathrow Airport hotel courtyard), before encountering a strange-looking entity that appears to be made of wire. However, he does not die at the creature’s hands. He encounters a much more shocking destiny that raises more questions than it answers.
The video now has over 71 million views and Parsons has been producing Backrooms content ever since. Some of his videos contain monsters, but most of his “footage” focuses on storytelling. That can mean following lost people in backrooms, offering glimpses into the lives of backroom employees, or featuring stories that delve into the inner workings of backrooms. But Parsons’ work rarely focuses solely on the creatures that inhabit the backrooms. That makes him the perfect person for the job when it comes to a film adaptation of Backrooms.
In addition to being an incredibly skilled storyteller and visual effects artist, Parsons seems to understand that a good Backrooms story, whether written or filmed, requires nuance and a consistent pace that defies the pace of the average Hollywood horror film. The constant direct jump scares and detailed explanations of what exactly is hiding in the back rooms really make the concept less scary.
So I was excited that A24’s new trailer for Parsons’ next feature Backrooms It doesn’t show even a hint of a monster. The teaser consists solely of a long panning shot that begins in a singular room, complete with iconic yellow wallpaper, vibrant fluorescents, damp carpet, and an old reclining chair in the corner. As the shot progresses downward through different iterations of that room, the space begins to change. The recliner inexplicably sinks into the floor, style This house has people in itas windows and doors become increasingly abstract and notional.
“This place builds all these rooms,” a man says in voiceover. “Actually, more like… remember them.”
Unlike most horror movie trailers, Parsons’ Backrooms The trailer doesn’t end with images of a protagonist running in terror down a hallway, or a cut to a monster coming out of hiding. The tension builds throughout the 53-second trailer, but never reaches an explosive crescendo. Instead, it suggests that Backrooms is an entity, similar to The Oldest House in Control.
Whether or not the film features the strange wire-bound monster from Parsons’ YouTube channel (or any monster) has yet to be revealed. But based on the trailer, it seems like A24 understands that Parsons’ YouTube creations are popular in part because of his restrained approach to horror. While a flashy, scream-filled trailer might get more butts in theater seats, it would ultimately lead to a disappointing experience for long-time Backrooms fans. Parsons’ YouTube creations have always included many rewarding and exciting moments. Like his work on YouTube, the trailer for Parsons’ first feature aims to gently draw viewers in with curious imagery and no immediate threats. By the time they realize they’re not alone there, the door they entered the back rooms through will be long gone.
Whatever is or isn’t lurking in the endless, yellowish hallways of Backrooms will become clear when Backrooms noclips in theaters on May 29.
Soruce: polygon.com