Backrooms

Film: Backrooms

Year: 2026

Director: Kane Parsons

Writer: Will Soodik

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass

Review:

After learning about this film last year, I was nervous about its release delay. I discussed it on the Dreadcast as one of my most anticipated films for 2026, noting comparisons between director Kane Parsons and Curry Barker—both young filmmakers who rose from YouTube shorts. I saw the film twice at the Gateway Film Center, including an extended cut, entering largely blind to the specific plot details.

Synopsis: after a therapist’s patient disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him.

We start this with an eerie way of introducing the Backrooms. Like I said, I’ve seen a variation of this concept on an American Horror Stories episode that used this idea. Here we see someone in a clean suit, who gets separated from his team. He’s then attacked by something that is large.

It is from there that we learn this takes place in 1990. Our lead character is Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor). He’s the manager of a struggling furniture store that is going out of business. He has pent up anger and drinking problems. His issues stem from a fight with his wife. She is a law student and he pays for everything. The incident that caused her to kick him out of the house is recounted at a session with his therapist, Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve). We see that she has her own issues from childhood with her mother.

At the store, Clark has two employees, Robert ‘Bobby’ Franklin (Finn Bennett) and Kathrine ‘Kat’ Taylor (Lukita Maxwell). These two are also dating. There’s a scene where Bobby is filming Clark who is making a commercial for the store. The theme is pirates, but also the Ottoman Empire. Bobby pushes a bit and gets scolded by Clark. He was also frustrated as a chair broke while filming.

Another interesting scene involves a man from the electric company (Philip Granger). He says there’s nothing wrong with the meter. It doesn’t make sense why the bills are so high. This is where we see there’s something odd with the breaker box. There are three extra switches, placed in a spot that should work.

We then see that Clark is staying in the store. The power keeps going out on his television and he’s getting fed up. It is down in the basement when he’s messing with the breakers that he makes a discovery. There is a room behind one of the walls. He passes through. Clark starts to explore the backrooms. What he’s finding doesn’t make sense. It is like our world, but it isn’t quite right. Each night he continues to explore. He informs Mary about what he discovered. He’s also being watched by Phil (Mark Duplass), who is part of the team from the cold open.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I love the idea behind this film. I haven’t seen any of the shorts that Parsons has done, but I am intrigued to now check them out. He didn’t write the screenplay for this feature, but it is based on the concept that he created. It is wild for how young he is, he was born in 2005, and setting this in a decade he never lived in. He was able to capture it without going over the top so credit for that.

Now I was able to get back to the theater to see this film for what is supposed to be the extended cut. I didn’t notice anything different. There was a short film that was shown at the end which follows the team in a clean suit exploring. They take measurements and try to make sense of this place. I will admit that both times now I’ve dozed off. That is more my state of seeing this on those visits.

What I do like is the dedication to be intentionally ambiguous. I admire how the characters struggle to comprehend this alternate reality where progress and physics differ from our own. This "uncanny valley" effect and the sense of being trapped create a truly terrifying atmosphere. What I love is how it is described a couple times in the film. It is like telling someone what a dog looks like and then asking them to draw it from what you’ve said. There will be details that match but it won’t be quite right either.

I’m then going to shift gears to discuss the filmmaking aspects. They’re able to capture this area so well. I love how it is like looking at paintings or drawings where stairs will go nowhere. There are doors or things that are distorted, so it plays with perceptions. Clark is determined to understand this place so he’s trying to map it out. It makes me think of the Winchester house, which is just creepy with how things look normal but are also off. I’ll then say that the CGI is used to enhance. The practical effects were also good. The sound design helps build the tone they needed.

Then to shift back over to the story, let’s look at our lead in Clark. Life has beaten him down. He went to school to be an architect. Things haven’t worked out and he’s working at this store to support his wife. He doesn’t want to do it and uses drinking to cope. She kicked him out after a blow up. There’s a great scene where Mary wants to do a role play. He feels silly but to her, he’s able to say all the nasty things that he’s pent up. Finding this other place gives him a chance for something. Ejiofor is great in his portrayal of this broken character, credit to him.

There’s an interesting dynamic as well with Mary. We see her childhood home being torn down so a high rise can go in its place. What’s interesting though is that she doesn’t have happy memories there. She has built up to where she is now. Her plan that she uses for her patients is in book and tape form, we see her watching the infomercial for it. Her ordeal when she tries to save Clark forces her trauma up and needs to face it while she’s in the backrooms. I do think that Reinsve does great in bringing this character to life. These two leads also play well off of each other.

Other themes explored include liminal spaces—sterile, "in-between" environments like yellow-walled office corridors that evoke existential dread through reality "glitches". Both leads deal with unresolved trauma; Clark particularly represents the horror of failed adult expectations. Additionally, the Backrooms emphasize bureaucratic sterility, using a lack of purpose or exits to make individuals feel like insignificant cogs in an indifferent system.

All that is left then would be the rest of the acting performances. I’ve already said that Ejiofor and Reinsve were good as our leads. Duplass is an interesting character. I kept forgetting that he was in this. Seeing his concern about the backrooms and what he’s seen on his monitors is good. I like what he relays near the end. Bennett and Maxwell work in their roles. Credit to Ember Ambrose, Krista Kosonen, Robert Bobroczkyi, Patrick Baynham, Rhiannon Roberts, Granger and the rest of the cast for rounding this out for what was needed.

Then I will say that with this second watch, something that stood out to me more was the music. There was such an eerie feeling to it, both to enhance the atmosphere and to make things feel creepier in this alternative place. That was something that I don’t think I truly gave this credit for. For me though, I’m still not entirely sure what to think about this film. It held up with a second watch. I love the development of our leads, but I feel it falls a bit short with the backrooms concept.

In conclusion, this is a masterclass in tension and atmospheric horror that successfully translates a viral internet concept into a haunting cinematic experience. Parsons and his team have crafted a visually striking film that excels in its technical execution, from the unsettling "uncanny valley" architecture to the immersive sound design. Beyond the surface-level scares, the film offers significant thematic depth, exploring trauma and the existential dread of liminal spaces through a bureaucratic lens. Anchored by powerful, grounded performances from Ejiofor and Reinsve, the movie manages to be both a chilling supernatural mystery and a poignant character study. It is a bold, creative achievement that lingers in the mind long after the credits roll.

My Rating: 8 out of 10