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Backrooms Reviews Are In, And Critics Are All Saying The Same Thing
Critics praise Kane Parsons’ tense debut and its visual style, but some say the film settles into a slower middle after the opening.
A24 released the horror film "Backrooms" today, May 29, 2026, marking the directorial debut of 20-year-old YouTuber Kane Parsons, which holds an 80% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Adapted from Parsons' popular YouTube series and a viral "creepypasta," the film features production support from horror veterans James Wan and Osgood Perkins.
Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, the story centers on a furniture store owner discovering an invisible doorway; critic Gaius Bolling noted, "Nothing about what Parsons does, from a technical standpoint, feels amateurish."
Reviews note the film effectively utilizes grainy, found-footage sequences to build tension, though some critics find the middle section suffers from slower pacing; it currently holds a 74 metascore on Metacritic.
Horror fans may be seeing the dawning of a new era for the genre, as this debut joins recent projects by online creators like Curry Barker and Mark Fischbach.