‘Backrooms’ Movie – Trailer, Release Date, Cast & Everything We Know

From the ancient liminal spaces of a bygone version of the internet to a viral YouTube sensation, The Backrooms creepypasta has grown from faux-urban legend into a highly anticipated summer horror movie.

No one at Bloody Disgusting can draw you a map to the various levels of the labyrinthine, fluorescent hallways of The Backrooms. But we can answer your most pressing questions with this handy FAQ for the film adaptation Backrooms, one of the biggest horror releases of the year from A24 and YouTube sensation Kane Parsons.

What We Know: A24’s upcoming theatrical release Backrooms is a science-fiction horror movie based on the 2011 creepypasta The Backrooms.

As our own Luiz H. C. explained, the original Backrooms creepypasta originated from a single image of a HobbyTown store that internet users found deeply unsettling. The image was later used in a 2019 4chan thread that gave rise to “liminal horror,” a form of existentially disquieting horror consisting of stories and images that beckon audiences to gaze long into a terrifying eternity.

Backrooms, the motion picture, is an adaptation of YouTuber Kane Parsons’ short film “The Backrooms (Found Footage).” Originally posted in 2022, “The Backrooms (Found Footage)” spawned an entire series of unsettling, atmospheric horror shorts and is now a foundational piece of liminal horror. Parsons created the series while enrolled in high school and was hired to adapt them into Backrooms (2026) at the age of 19.

Official Synopsis: A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.

Release Date: May 29, 2026.

Genre: Horror, Science-Fiction, Found Footage

Cast:

• Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Children of Men)
• Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World, Sentimental Value)
• Mark Duplass (Safety Not Guaranteed, Zero Dark Thirty)
• Finn Bennett (Warfare, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms)
• Lukita Maxwell (Afraid, Shrinking)

Directed By: Kane Parsons

Written By: Will Soodik

BACKROOMS MOVIE FAQ

What is the plot of Backrooms?
Limited information has been released for Backrooms, likely to play into the discomfort of uncertainty that is paramount to the liminal horror genre. Still, the initial marketing materials for the film seem to indicate that Backrooms will incorporate aspects from the entire history of The Backrooms – with a found footage aspect present in the movie.

What is Backrooms rated?
No official rating for Backrooms has been announced but fans speculate (and hope) it will be rated R.

What is the runtime for the Backrooms movie?
The final official runtime for the film is 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Is there a trailer for Backrooms?
Yes! A teaser trailer for Backrooms was released on February 24th that introduces audiences to the world of The Backrooms.

A full-length trailer was released on March 31st.

And don’t miss the in-universe advertisement for Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire featuring a store employee played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. You can give that a watch down below.

Is there a Reddit for the Backrooms movie?
The Backrooms movie does not seem to have a dedicated subreddit, but there are many subreddits where the film is being discussed. Check out /r/Backrooms, which was created to discuss the liminal horror concept of The Backrooms, but has largely shifted to discussing the movie.

Other subreddits where the film might be discussed include /r/horror and /r/A24. If you’re interested in Backrooms adjacent posting, check out /r/liminalspace, /r/creepypasta, and /r/evilbuildings.

Who is Kane Parsons?
Kane Parsons is a filmmaker, visual effects artist and YouTuber known for the popular “Backrooms” series. According to Wikipedia, Parsons got his start posting Minecraft “Let’s Play” videos before advancing into shorts and webseries that typically focus on horror or mysteries.

While Parsons is not the original creator of The Backrooms mythology, his “Backrooms” webseries went viral in 2022, bringing the creepypasta-based world to its largest audience yet.

Does Backrooms feature The Bacteria?
According to the Kane Parsons Wiki, The Lifeform, aka Bacteria, is a predatory creature that resides in the backrooms and hunts humans that cross its path. The Lifeform has not been featured in any of the marketing materials for the upcoming horror movie to this date, but that does not rule out an appearance in the film.

An image of The Bacteria can be seen below.

What is liminal horror?
A “liminal” space is a space designed for transition–think hallways, waiting rooms, perhaps even a metaphysical purgatory. Liminal horror is defined by the aesthetics of these spaces and the unsettling feelings they induce. The genre was popularized through creeypasta images and stories that were shared across message boards in the mid-2000s.

Want to buy tickets to see Backrooms in theaters?
Check your local listings and grab your tickets now.

See below for official teaser posters for Backrooms.