Backrooms Trailer & Fun Facts

Backrooms Synopsis:

When a mysterious doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom, a therapist ventures into the Backrooms, a logic-defying, infinite labyrinth, to find her missing patient. The yellow-walled dimension is a sentient entity that remembers the real world, distorting reality into a series of unsettling liminal spaces. To survive, she must navigate the shifting architecture and evade the lethal, spindly entities that stalk the humming, fluorescent hallways.

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi

Release Date: In theaters May 29th, 2026

Backrooms Fun Facts:

A Record-Breaking Director:
At just 19, Kane Parsons, the creative mind behind the popular YouTube channel Kane Pixels, has officially made history as the youngest director ever hired by the prestigious film studio A24. Kane’s journey didn't start in a film school; it started in his bedroom. His rise to fame began with a short film titled "The Backrooms (Found Footage)," which took the internet by storm. The video tapped into a specific kind of internet horror that resonated globally, eventually exploding to over 100 million views. A24 noticed the talent behind the screen early on and reached out to him when he was only 17, waiting for him to finish high school before diving into the professional film world. Most directors don't get their big break with a major studio until their late 20s or 30s. By starting at 19, Kane is nearly a decade ahead of the industry standard.

Filming Under a Secret Identity:
To protect the mystery of the movie, the production team chose a low-profile location and moved the entire production to Vancouver, Canada. Vancouver is a favorite for filmmakers because its diverse landscape can double for almost any city in the world, and it offers more privacy. The project was filmed under the working title "Effigy"; this allowed the crew to move through the city without drawing massive crowds of fans hoping to get a glimpse of the set. The Backrooms are famous for their endless, eerie yellow wallpaper and fluorescent lights; these sets were built inside highly secured soundstages. Security was so tight that no unauthorized photos of these iconic rooms leaked to the public during the entire two-month shoot.

Building a Real-Life Nightmare:
Kane uses a powerful 3D design program called Blender, with which he digitally built the eerie, yellow hallways that millions of people watched on his viral YouTube series. However, for the A24 feature film, the team decided to step out of the digital world and into reality. The crew constructed a maze of endless hallways that mimic the infinite look of the original videos. The practical sets help the production capture the authentic hum of fluorescent lights and the strange shadows that a computer simply can't perfectly replicate. Every inch of the set was covered in that signature, sickly-yellow wallpaper to ensure the audience feels the same claustrophobia as the characters. When an actor is physically surrounded by miles of empty yellow walls, their sense of fear and loneliness become a natural reaction to their environment. This makes the performances feel much more grounded and terrifying.

A New Kind of Collaboration:
The music for the film is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between Edo Van Breemen, a professional film composer, and Kane Parsons, the creator who started it all. Edo Van Breemen brings the experience of scoring major films, ensuring the music feels big and high-quality for a theater. Kane actually produced a lot of the music for his original YouTube shorts himself, so his hands-on involvement ensures the film stays true to the liminal vibe that his millions of fans expect. In the movie Backrooms, where most of the setting is just empty yellow hallways, the sound has to do the heavy lifting. By using industrial hums and distorted synths, the filmmakers are making sure that the audience never feels safe, even in an empty room.

The Cast Swap:
At first, the studio was in deep negotiations with Cristin Milioti, and despite being a fan favorite for the role, the deal ultimately fell through, and Reinsve was cast to take over the lead. Renate Reinsve is a breakout star; she gained international superstardom for her role in the Oscar-nominated film The Worst Person in the World (2021). Just recently she was nominated for best actress in the Academy Awards for her role in Sentimental Value (2025). Casting Reinsve in the Backrooms brings a very different energy to the film; she is known for her ability to play characters who are deeply emotional and raw, which fits perfectly with a movie about being lost in an endless, lonely dimension.

Source: youtube, wikipedia