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Can you imagine having a completely ordinary day, recording some videos with your friends, when you suddenly fall through the portal-like space and you’re in an empty, seemingly never-ending, inescapable building where nothing seems as it is, and something lurks in the shadows? That’s the premise of Kane Parsons’ short film Backrooms. Four years later, Parsons expands the idea behind the titular backrooms and bestows upon us an eerie story of the same title straight from the nightmares while reflecting on childhood trauma and how it carries its echoes throughout all of our lives.
Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an owner of a furniture store Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire, lives and breathes his failing business, especially since he separated from his partner and was forced to move out. If he’s not at work, he’s at his weekly appointment where a therapist Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve) attempts to help him process the breakup and the stage of life Clark currently finds himself in. Things change from depressing to outright scary when Clark accidentally discovers a portal at one of the levels of his store by falling through the wall and transporting into a space of empty office-like rooms that seem to continue forever.
‘Backrooms’ – Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve Turn an Endless Void Into the Year’s Most Terrifying Film
Pale-yellow, patterned walls aren’t the most unsettling part of these liminal spaces; it’s the randomly placed furniture on top of one another right in the middle of the room, or a stop sign that’s spelled backwards – arbitrarily placed in the space between two different rooms. Or a decorated Christmas tree, flickering and casting shadows in otherwise dark room as the eerie music plays on. While Clark explores the titular backrooms deeper and more thorough, he also discovers something lurking within. Eventually, Clark wants to share this secret, so he asks his employee Kat (Lukita Maxwell) and her boyfriend Bobby (Finn Bennett) for help.
Backrooms’ storyline showcases two vastly different people. We have Clark with anger issues who suddenly finds a new project; mapping the found spaces. What’s interesting about his character is that he feels intrigue more so than fear. On the other side, we have pragmatic, quiet Mary, who approaches everything without judgement yet has trouble believing that Clark’s find is true. But when Mary goes to Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire after a concerning call, things unravel faster and more terrifying than ever.
Both Ejiofor and Reinsve as Clark and Mary are simply outstanding. Reinsve’s character, like Clark, is someone who carries her past within her deeply. As we get to know Mary throughout the film, we realize that she has previously been in a backroom of sorts, one that ties to her childhood and mentally unwell mother. In a way, both characters represent people with trauma, but it differs the way they respond to it and film explores it.
When it comes to liminal spaces, there is something gravely disconcerting about them. Is it because they’re usually meant to be filled with hustle and bustle of people and suddenly, when we see them empty, we feel disturbed? Or is it because somehow, we all know these places and yet we’ve never been in them before? Whatever it is, Parsons takes it to the next level in his feature debut. He plays on our fear of isolation and through Clark’s character, showcases more and more rooms that seem to never end. Other effectively utilized components are the weaponized nostalgia and the faded 1990s aesthetics that showcase itself in the aforementioned wallpaper, brown furniture, or the staticky video footages used in Backrooms.
Set design is not only incredibly impressive and amazingly crafted; it’s one of the main “characters” (if not the central one) of Backrooms. As we continually observe Clark exploring the space, see the walls and hear the hum of fluorescent overhead lamps, it’s easy to feel crazy and overwhelmed. There are barely any jump scares. Instead, the director plays with sounds, the sense of disorientation, and mystery as we join Clark and attempt to figure out what exactly is in backrooms. What also works here is the uneasiness of when the switch happens. That uncertainty of it happening at any given moment is another way to build suspense and fear.
One of the most impressive and terrifying sequences is one where Bennet’s Bobby goes down one of the openings with a hand-held camera. The unsteady movements, the glitchy picture, Bobby’s re-telling of what he sees and the aftermath; all the components make if one of the most unsettled scenes. Though, there are many more: like scenes featuring pools (another staple element of the liminal spaces), weirdly shaped entries and exits, or a cutout stand of a character repeating messages in different languages (fun fact: there was also a Polish sentence there, which made this writer extremely happy in an otherwise daunting moment!).
At one point in the film, Clark says that the backrooms are places misremembering themselves. That’s why the things that are there are so distorted; furniture and various items melt into the walls, collapsing. What if it’s true? What if we stop remembering places, things, and people, and in turn, they slowly distort, become something else, until there is nothing left? And perhaps that’s the most terrifying message of Backrooms.
Parsons created something extraordinary, putting fear in ordinary things set specifically that way to rouse dread. In effect, Backrooms is not only utterly frightening; Parsons’ feature is engaging through and through, bloodcurdling, thought-provoking, and dangerously addictive. Ejiofor and Reinsve only further elevate the material, bestowing upon us one of the scariest sci-hi horrors out there. While the jury is still out whether one would want to end up in the spaces that Clark and Mary find themselves in, one thing is certain: the film will undoubtedly become an ultimate favorite of many of the genre enthusiasts.
Grade: A
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Backrooms
A strange doorway appears in the basement of a furniture showroom.
Release Date: May 29, 2026
Director: Kane Parsons
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor , Renate Reinsve , Mark Duplass
