A newhorrorfilm from A24 and Atomic Monster is coming based on the popular series of internet shorts by Kane Parsons,The Backrooms.
The Backrooms have been a popular internet topicsince 2019, featuring unsettling spaces, often empty or abandoned, lit with fluorescent lights, maze-like layouts, strange silences, and disquieting vibes. The Backrooms and their associated lore have proliferated on sites like 4-chan, YouTube, and Creepypasta, as well as social media platforms like Tik Tok, where many record their experiences with strange, eerie, liminal spaces, often using them as prompts for storytelling, video games, and other kinds of content.
RELATED:Bringing Creepypasta To The Big Screen-The New Wave of Horror
According toDeadline, Parsons' YouTube found footage-style shorts,The Backrooms, which chronicle an unwitting filmmaker who slips into a strange florescent-lit world where he wanders an unsettling labyrinth of rooms and hallways pursued by monstrous creatures, will be the basis of a feature-length film. The rights to a film version were reportedly a hot commodity, with A24, Atomic Monster, and Chernin Entertainment winning the final bid. Parsons' YouTube channel features 16 entries to date in the series, which continues to grow in popularity.
17-year-old Parsons will directThe Backroomsfrom a script written by two-time Emmy nominee Robert Patino, best known as the creator ofthe limited seriesDMZ,based on the comic by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. Specific details on the upcoming film and its budding filmmaker are little known. Under his YouTube name, Kane Pixels, Parsons has been posting content on the platform since 2015, including a series of anime videos inspired by the manga,Attack on Titan.
The acquisition ofThe Backroomsmovie could be another stronghorrorfilm in A24’s lineup, which includes recent horror hitsHereditary,Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and the increasingly popularXfranchise. Atomic Monster, founded by acclaimed director James Wan, is enjoying the success ofcreepy doll horrorM3GAN, which has grossed $150 million worldwide and has a sequel already in the works.
The Backroomswill no doubt appeal to existing fans of the internet folklore surrounding the backrooms and horror fans, who are increasingly looking for new and exciting storylines drawn from contemporary culture. Found footage’s fame as a storytelling device for horror, popularized byclassics likeBlair Witch Project,Paranormal Activity, and other recent projects like theHell House, LLCfranchise, is already deeply embedded for backroom storytelling. So it seems like the perfect vehicle for this internet-derivedhorror.
