‘Backrooms’ (2026): Liminal horror that will make you glad to touch grass
Kane Parsons’ 2026 Backrooms has taken the theaters by storm, reviving the public’s passion for cinema and horror. The product of internet culture, a 20-year-old’s creative vision, Atomic Monster, A24 and Chernin Entertainment, Backrooms came to challenge the status quo of horror narratives, while sparking a lively debate about taste in the horror community.
It’s a horror movie that avoids being either too convoluted or too superficial, while exploring a nuanced concept, tracing its origins to online creepypastas. In doing so, it presented a creative challenge for the young director, while splitting audience opinions.
To Parsons’ credit, the film doesn’t rely on cheap jumpscares or bad CGI for shock value. Instead, it uses liminal spaces (or liminality) to sketch a meaningful psychodrama about our mental and social well-being (or lack thereof) in contemporary society. It aptly juxtaposes the endless maze of rotten yellow corridors and fluorescent lighting with our own mental rummaging, visually expressing the growing delusion, selfishness, and perdition taking place in the psyche.
The story acknowledges both the socio-economic pressures as well as the traumatic experiences that lead us into our own little mental backrooms. But it ultimately seeks to awaken our sense of responsibility to break out of them.
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The film’s visual language succeeds in creating an unsettling claustrophobic atmosphere. Not just through the titular Backrooms — a surreal, paranormal, parallel dimension — but through ordinary living spaces as well. Outside of the musky, shadow-y backrooms, enclosed offices and messy, barricaded apartments echo the very real and painful contemporary psychological disconnect and social fragmentation the movie addresses.
For a slow-burn atmospheric thriller, the film’s 110 minute run doesn’t waste our time. It presents our characters, lays out the necessary language we need to interpret the second act, and builds up an atmosphere of anxiety-inducing claustrophobia, letting the occasional cut scenes showcasing the outside world feel like a relieving breath of fresh air.
The movie’s notably quiet atmosphere eagerly encourages us to reflect on the story itself. A story crafted with passion, empathy, and thoughtfulness.
Backrooms (2026) marks a fascinating entry into contemporary horror, and cinema more broadly. It serves as a testament to the power of online communities and the self-starting content creators that lead them. It highlights how liminal spaces contribute to the atmospheric slow-burn horror, leaving us with a warning not to become lost in the endless mazes of our own delusions.
As a final note, this movie is destined for those looking for a thought-provoking, atmospheric film that explores liminality. It is not one that will provide lively action sequences, relentless jumpscares, or even satisfying conclusions. Albeit, I too await for a sequel that includes a Kanye West png chasing the protagonists.
3.5/5
