Backrooms (2026) is directed by Kane Parsons and written by Will Soodik. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Lukita Maxwell, Finn Bennett, Mark Duplass, Avan Jogia, Robert Bobroczkyi, Krista Kosonen, Philip Granger, Katharine Isabelle, and Peter New. This feature-length adaptation of the director’s popular found-footage YouTube series follows Clark (Ejiofor), a struggling furniture warehouse manager who discovers a hidden, seemingly endless labyrinth of abandoned rooms/halls beneath his store. As he becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering the hidden area’s dark secrets, he raises concerns with his committed therapist, Mary (Reinsve). When she follows up on Clark’s seemingly absurd stories, she quickly realizes they are very, very real.

   A horror protagonist struggling to maintain their sanity is a painfully common genre trope Soodik chooses to implement. Thankfully, the A-tier leads deliver performances that effectively convey the nuances of their characters’ slow mental decline/growing confusion. Ejiofor brings a chilling, sympathetic presence to his Jack Torrence-style character, and Reinsvate is a consistently smart, likable hero, and conveys an impressive range of emotions despite being alone for most of her scenes. 

Despite my many doubts, I found myself consistently impressed by young Kane Parsons’ ability to pace the film’s slow-burning horror. The Backrooms location is properly eerie, but it relies heavily on the mystery of its nature, so it doesn’t really lend itself to a bloody, fast-paced experience. With eerie vibes alone, I think the film would’ve felt extremely slow, but there’s also a genuinely compelling mystery. Although its rollout of answers is slow (and still leaves many big questions), there’s a sense that all the abstract, random weirdness of the backrooms can actually (eventually) be explained. So many times, these kinds of horror films come across as intentionally abstract, as if not even the creators know the answers. Backrooms never feels that way, and refreshingly commits to certain concrete answers without abandoning the mysterious elements that also make it so compelling. Answers lead to new questions that are equally interesting, which sets the viewer up nicely for the inevitable sequel. 

Like Obsession director Curry Barker from earlier this year, Parsons proves himself to be another original voice in the genre. Like Barker’s one-of-a-kind blend of uncomfortable horror-comedy, Parsons delivers an equally original type of horror that targets our fear of empty/abandoned spaces. Furthermore, this targets the universal fear of feeling empty inside, which adds a necessary layer to the experience. It feels truly modern in the sense that I’m not sure anyone who didn’t experience the downfall of an economy dominated by malls could have communicated the unique dread of witnessing their decaying bones. 

Overall, this is yet another fantastic, original addition to what’s becoming a somewhat prolific year for the horror genre. Young Kane Parsons proves to be a capable, impressive director, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Time will tell if he has any ideas beyond anything Backrooms-related, but this is as promising a start as any film fan could ask for. The two leads are great, and it surprisingly earns its 2+ hour runtime. Some of the more abstract, uncanny valley imagery could be a turn-off for some, but I can’t imagine it will be a common issue. For 2026, this is a must-see if you’re a fan of the genre. B+