Horror Movie Review: Backrooms (2026)

Often, the idea of something is more effective than the actual thing. Where imaginations can transform the mundane, turning average places and things into something frightening. It’s what turns a pile of clothes into something sinister, makes a dark basement seem threatening, and makes us wary of a closed shower curtain. We imagine what could be, and through that, get uncomfortable and scared, even though we know there’s no reason to.

Have you ever felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, feeling like the darkness was just that little bit thicker, and been so disturbed that you’ve groped frantically for a light switch, laughing at your silly behaviour? Imaginations. What a thing, eh?

This is where liminal spaces come into it.

A term used to describe empty or abandoned places that create a sense of discomfort. Appearing surreal and creepy, even though there’s nothing obviously wrong.

This intriguing concept became a ‘creepypasta’ and eventually inspired Kane Parsons to create his own web series based off it. Called Backrooms, this web series captured the imagination of the internet and went viral. Which is the kind of success that gets the attention of a studio looking for the next big thing in horror.

Written by Will Soodik, directed by Kane Parsons, and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, Backrooms is an attempt to bring the horror phenomenon to a wider audience.

The plot is surprisingly simple. Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), the owner of a failing furniture store, discovers a doorway into a dimension of seemingly endless liminal spaces. He becomes obsessed with finding out more about it, especially as it seems as though others have been there before.

He ends up confiding in his therapist, Mary (Renate Reinsve), who doesn’t believe him, until he disappears and she finds her own way into the Backrooms.

Just what is this place and why does it seem to reflect aspects of real life, but in a deformed way? What is the Async Research Institute and what do they want? Where did Clark go and does the unseen monstrosity within have something to do with spates of disappearances?

Backrooms will leave you with a lot of questions and very few answers. Even less if you’re not willing to let your imagination fill in some blanks. It is a horror experience designed to unsettle rather than scare, but to reach that goal, it asks viewers to be patient and open-minded to a more surreal experience. Unfortunately, as much as I find this to be encouraging and interesting, it’s fair to say that many won’t. Especially as Backrooms’ slow burn never quite turns into something fiery.

It’s easy to see why some may not enjoy the film, but I found myself quite invested, even with some notable flaws.

Part of my investment comes from how the film looks, sounds, and is shot. I think Parsons did a great job at capturing his vision on a grander scale and clearly worked hard to keep as much subtly as possible, without compromising the horror tag. Cleverly infusing found footage in, with one sequence being one of the best modern examples of the style. There’s a layer of foreboding danger and unseen terror laying over everything and many viewers will come away feeling unsettled.

A lot of which can also lie at the feet of both Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, who are excellent in their respective roles.

So, what doesn’t work? There are a couple of times where the film seems to intentionally want to confuse, and to then make up for that, it has a character be both literal with what is going on, while summing it up in a vague, metaphorical way. One obvious moment of this ends up being one of the weakest scenes because of the dialogue, even if the actors do a great job of selling the madness of it all.

I also don’t like that Renate Reinsve’s Mary has a backstory surrounding her mother’s mental health decline and her own failings as a therapist that is mostly inconsequential to the plot. Remove it completely, and very little would have changed in the film. That’s disappointing.

Finally, as much as I have praised the tone, it must also be said that it doesn’t quite live up to what the imagination can create, but I think that’s kind of the point. Backrooms is anything and everything, a surreal thing with no sense, and the film tries to capture that as best as possible. Considering the challenge in that, it’s impressive that it turned out this good.