A24's Riskiest Horror Movie Has FINALLY Arrived...

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:07]Good evening, campers, dreamers, and babysitters, and welcome to our raw reaction review for Back Rooms. After a therapist's patient disappears into a dimension beyond reality, she must venture into the unknown to save him.

[00:00:23]Well, Luke, after many, many moons, many years, we have finally reached the moment that I know many people have been begging for, and that is the feature film adaptation of what many people would probably consider their favorite online creepy pasta, ARG, whatever you want to classify this as, The Back Rooms, which is pretty much, I think, just started obviously its life online here, but then has kind of permeated itself into, I guess, becoming one of the biggest names in like up and coming, you know, kind of out there original horror kind of stuff like this. This kind of has the same effect that I would say like the Blair Witch had when it was uh coming to found footage and this just does a little something different adding a little bit of elements of liinal horror, elements of analog horror. It's really a quite a big uh big undertaking.

[00:01:14]>> It's definitely a melting pot of horror.

[00:01:16]There's so many different things going on. And like he said, this is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest ARGs, creepy pastas, um, out there. So, this one is something that I'm only slightly familiar with. Over the past month, I've been getting more and more familiar with it. But even when Back Rooms was announced and we just had the one picture of the little robot thing, I was like, man, this looks really interesting. And I perused a little bit then. And I know a lot of people this is really peing their interest whether they're have followed the back rooms religiously or just kind of starting to understand it through some of the other creepy pastas that are out there seems to be building some excitement. I think this one is honestly going to have that the obsession trajectory I guess you'd say where uh this is probably going to be a pretty big word of mouth after it gets out into the theater.

[00:02:06]>> I would have to agree. I think this one's going to be a lot of hardcore fans. I mean, like the audience we saw it with, we saw early on a Thursday here. So, it's one of those things where it's like it wasn't um completely filled out, but you could tell a lot of these people are horror fans or at least were people who understood what they were coming to see. They're probably big Kane Parsons fans. And it's a lot of what we've seen this year. It's a it's another fandom, another community online getting to come out and celebrate. And it's really cool to kind of get to dip in and out of these. And I can say just like a lot of the trends have been going this year, The Back Rooms actually pulls this off pretty damn well. I I gotta say this movie is both parts very original and entertaining and at times very creepy. But uh I will be lying if I said that this is going to be a movie that's going to satisfy everybody because no, this is just like most old school A24 movies. I think this is going to leave people frustrated if they're not fully prepared for what they're stepping into.

[00:03:05]>> I think it is a strong flavor of tea.

[00:03:07]So, it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea when you hop into this one. It just it doesn't I don't think appeal to a mass audience. But, I think the longer you sit with this, I think you're going to find yourself terrified at some of the scenes. I think one of the big questions that I had going into this was we had just covered a list of doing a lot of creepy pastas and I mentioned on that list that I love a lot of the these creepy pastas because they're so fragmented in their storytelling, you know, they they are so atmospheric. They make you feel certain things just with 2 minutes, you know. So, I was curious to see how Backrooms was going to handle that. Was Kane Parsons going to be able to translate what we've seen on the YouTube channel onto an actual, you know, this big theatrical release? And I really love how they mesh this narrative where we do have this, I guess you say, traditional um theatrical narrative where we're going, we're following these characters, but then we also do implement some of the stuff that we've seen in the back rooms um with a handheld camera, things like that, and really do implement those level of terrors. There's at the opening to this, I'll be honest, it got me for there's a a really quick like scare and I was like, "Oh, we're in for a wild ride here." And I do think it does hold through your the film itself to have that kind of terror. While it's not like bombarding with any sort of jump scares, it's not really relying on that. This is so atmospheric in a sense turning basic office atmosphere where it's like, you know, carpets, long hallways, and ter making those terrifying rather than your basic jump scares. I think Kane Parsons had a really good handle on being able to translate what makes that YouTube stuff great and bringing it over to the theatrical release. I really enjoyed the take. I thought that they went with some really uh nice psychological elements that got me deep thinking a little bit deeper about what the back rooms is meant to represent and if this place is even real or not. And there's a lot of fun stuff they play with that. There are moments in this that I will say using the the structure of the back rooms, how they use the buildings and what they do.

[00:05:06]like you said it uh when we were walking out of the theater and I completely agree. It's like the making of of this movie has got to be so interesting because there's one shot I will say that involves some steps in a very high area.

[00:05:19]I couldn't stand it. My palms were sweating as I'm watching this and it gives me those kind of like feelings of like being a kid again who's really afraid of heights and things like that.

[00:05:29]And that's the kind of effect this movie has on you. It's not something that's going to jump scare you every 5 seconds.

[00:05:35]It's not something that's going to show you a bunch of blood and gore and and try to shock you like that. No, this is going to make you feel as safe and comfortable as possible until the very last second and then it's going to turn everything up to 11. And I I got to say, as far as that working out and being something entertaining that I could come back to, I'd say the back rooms pulled that off. The thing about liinal horror is that it weaponizes familiarity where it's like, you know, we've all seen office rooms, we've seen those familiar spaces, but then there's just something so offputting, you know, walking through an airport at 3:00 a.m. when there's no one around is scary in a sense, you know, and I think Back Rooms does pull that off. Kane Parsons absolutely pulls that off. The scene that you're talking about involving the stairs got me as well. It felt like a terrifying nightmare. You know how you you you talk about skin being nightmare fuel? Like that element brought into the back rooms where it is that fear of heights. It is that fear of no safeguard and you know you could fall at any moment and you're totally terrified. You get those elements here in the back room. It has that eeriness throughout. When we step through everyone, if you've even just perused and dipped your toes into the back rooms and watched one video on it, you know the aesthetic to it. It's a that kind of vacant office space. You get that here. And you you absolutely get that eeriness of them just walking around and wondering what's going to what's going to be going down because it's like the sound design in this is fantastic as well. We really do build a lot of tension. You hear things off in the distance and you're wondering when something's actually going to appear. We we're appearing down those long vacant hallways where they're all dark, but then you see a little light or a little glimmer of movement going down that hallway and it's like you instantly are heightened to a 100 of how terrified you can get. The some of the the the chase scenes in this are entirely scary.

[00:07:33]And I'll tell you, there's like a pseudo dinner scene in here that rivals some of the best horror scenes in here. I was going to say Kane was really uh you could tell there's a lot of love for TCM in that scene just the way it starts and how it sets up and I was pretty crazy about it, man. Like by then you really have to be on board or off. And I think like being on board at that moment really does uh kind of start to settle in just what this world is. And one thing that I will say that I I want to compliment Kane Parsons on because he's been getting a lot of a lot of guff from those uh people on Twitter, the the internet experts who have been saying like, "Oh, this film was ghost directed by what do we have now? Like three filmmakers pile them on. It'll probably be fine by the time we release this review." But >> absolutely. But like the whole thing was just like this movie although it's clearly I will say from a structure, from a narrative, from everything, this is very much a first feature. like this is kind of like as somebody who wants to be a filmmaker, I see this is what we're doing. We're we're gonna make this a very simple story and we're just going to let the the kind of world that I've already created here just start ele like layering on little bits and hopefully people will be enjoying the ride. And like I appreciate that. I think that's a really strong uh way to go about this because not going to sit here and say that the movie directly has any inkling of like, oh, we're going up for the next back rooms or anything like that, but it does leave you really with a the probably the most clear and best understanding of what the backrooms is and what it could possibly become. And I think that's probably the scariest part of this movie, guys. Like I think like just the putting it on the hole of exactly just getting a little bit of flavor for how this works and it's just enough that you still don't have all the answers. You can't say that's 100% definitive and I think that's where the excitement comes from. I'm excited to go back and visit the back rooms and I I think just as a first-time director, as somebody who's come in here and has gotten a bunch of guff and stuff like that, I think he really did a solid job.

[00:09:35]I would be curious to see what he can do besides the back rooms. Uh if that's going to be something there, that might be a real proving ground. But this is his world. He understands this. And I applaud A24 for letting him, you know, do this the way that he was comfortable doing it. Cuz I think people are going to look back on this movie and they're just going to say that's a perfect way to adapt like a creepy pasta ARG and just really make it so that way everybody can kind of get on board now and have fun with the game. So, for me, I'm going to say The Back Rooms is a very solid recommend. I think after many rewatches, we'll see. Maybe if the universe continues, it could be a mustsee. I don't know if it's ever going to fully get there for me, though. But it does feel like a box I've only just opened. And I'm ready to dive back in and see what lies on the other side without question. I think, you know, Back Rooms is going to be the blueprint for the structure on how you take something like an ARG, you know, creepy pasta, and translate it into a theatrical release that's going to be digestible. I think Back Rooms was the film that it needed to be, especially for a bigger audience. We, you know, I think people are concerned about diving too deep into the mythology or not deep enough. I think this was just the right temperature in terms of getting us started. I think this is such a lucrative idea from what we've seen with the YouTube channel. You can there are endless possibilities in terms of the stories that you can tell, characters that you can create. I think the story that was told here, like you said, was fairly basic, but I think it was done really well, especially for an entry level in terms of what we're getting immersed with the back rooms. If someone just decides to take a chance, buy a ticket, and go sit down and watch this, I think you're going to be immersed enough, even if you're not familiar with a lot of the YouTube stuff, that it's you're going to be immersed with the terror of what makes Backrooms great and has had such longevity on in the YouTube space. You know, I think Kane Parsons was easily the right choice for this. I mean, he's been working on this for how long now? So, being able to translate it, he does know how to encapsulate that terror, which he absolutely did here.

[00:11:34]You're not going to be bombarded with jump scares, but you're going to build a lot of great tension, a lot of great atmosphere, and I think some of the the scenery in here is just phenomenal. I think, you know, you get those vibes that you're looking for with the back rooms, and it doesn't compromise anything that we've seen come before this, and that's what I really like about it. I'm going to go very strong recommend as well. I do want to see this again. It is one I'm putting on my list as an instant rewatch when this is available digitally. I think this is going to hold up on multiple rewatches.

[00:12:01]So, it could eventually get there to a mustie. Um, but I'm excited to see if we're ever going to expand upon this. If not, hey, we have an endless amount of stories on the YouTube channel right now. But I think this is a pretty big win for liinal horror, for ARG's creepy pastas. This is going to be looked at as one of the standards, one of the tempo polls to get us started. I hope that more people will enjoy the back rooms as much as we have. And if you've already seen it, let us know down below. Did you enjoy the film? Are you guys looking forward to hopefully some more? Are you curious to see any more ARGs come to fruition here? I know we talked about a few like Mandela catalog would be great.

[00:12:38]Uh search and rescue officer. I mean, Lord willing, if we could ever uh get Man in the Suit, that would be something. But uh yeah, other than that, guys, got a lot of great stuff up on the channel. Lots of fun videos, more stuff on the way. Let us know about your experience with the back rooms. And yeah, that's going to wrap us up here.

[00:12:54]So until next time, I'm Dylan New >> and I'm Luke Janesco. And remember, stay scared.

[00:13:00]>> Going to do it liveatter kick it every day.

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