Backrooms 2026 Movie Review
https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/becomingthemuseBackrooms is a 2026 sci-fi psychological horror film directed by viral YouTube series creator Kane Parsons in his feature-length directorial debut. The movie was theatrically released in the United States by A24 on 29 May 2026 and is currently the second highest-grossing horror movie just behind Obsession.
The story, centres on Clark, a struggling furniture store owner and former architect, who discovers a porous wall in his store’s basement, that leads to an infinite maze of eerie, liminal and forgotten spaces where reality bends.
The Good
The film excels at crafting a sense of dread through its claustrophobic, unsettling world with endless hallways and a suffocating, ominous atmosphere.
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark delivers a compelling performance as a broken man, spiralling down an unknowable maze, giving a human anchor to what could have been just another concept-heavy movie, which doesn’t spoon-feed answers, but leaves you to stew in the possibilities of what could be.
Clark’s therapist Dr. Mary Kline who is played by Renate Reinsve gives the movie psychological depth on internal battles of realising sometimes you cant save anyone, not even yourself.
“We all have our loops. Our habits. Behaviors that keep us walking in circles. Reaching for the same solutions over and over again. Thinking each time will take you somewhere new, but they don’t. And still, it’s the neural pathway of least resistance. A path you made. It’s the one that kept you safe when you were a child. You learned to push people away before they could hurt you. And now, as an adult, you’re still stuck right where you started. Alone.”
-Mary Backrooms
The cinematography makes the Backrooms visually unforgettable, fluorescent hums, VHS grain, and impossible architecture, with some found footage visuals that bring the Blair Witch Project to mind.
The Bad
The movie’s refusal to give answers is either genius or frustrating, maybe a bit of both depending on your taste. Either way, you’re left confused and full of questions, especially if, like me, you only discovered what the “Backrooms” actually are after watching and went down a YouTube rabbit hole trying to make sense of the last two hours.
“Imagine describing a dog to someone who’s never seen one before, and then asking them to draw it. It will look similar, but the devil is in the details, so it will look all messed up.”
Clark – Backrooms
With an almost 2-hour run time, it takes its time setting things up, perhaps too much time. The slow-burn approach can get on your nerves as you question the editorial decision of scenes that stretch into endless and repetitive hallways, like hey, we got that’s its vast can something happen already?
Nothing really happens; it’s a minimalistic type of movie whose horror is rooted in unease and existential dread.
The Ugly
Despite it not being a traditional horror, it will still drive your heart rate up. with its oppressive and unending claustrophic sets, and of course it has some disturbing imagery that remind that its still a horror movie.
You do not want to watch some of the found footage scenes if you are on the brink of a headache or have one already, as the camera work can get dizzy.
Final Thoughts
Backrooms is … lets call it s an experience that lingers, confuses, unsettles, and invites your own interpretation of the ambiguity presented.
Have you watched Backrooms? Does it sound like something you would watch?
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