Backrooms: Why The Film Could Be The Next Viral Horror?

The Backrooms, a series of viral horror shorts, could become the next big horror sensation with the next film adaptation. What is a “liminal space”? It’s a relatively new term used to define images that evoke nostalgia but lacks a certain feature that the image would normally contain. One can imagine a playground. Now, one must think of it without children. Doesn’t it look empty? There are no gleeful shouts, no shuffling of feet along wood chips or sidewalk, no yells coming from the swing. There is a deafening silence. Sounds threatening, doesn’t it? Maybe it even feels a little wrong, like someone shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Backrooms – a popular horror phenomenon – originated from one such image of a liminal space. By now it’s hauntingly iconic: the constant hum of overhead fluorescent lights mixed with an unbroken yellow hue that stains the walls, ceiling, and floor, all connected in an endless series of identical corridors creates an image that’s hard to forget. Now, all of a sudden, they’re the subject of an upcoming film produced by A24, Atomic Monster, and a handful of other big names. Following the success of Skinamarink, The Backrooms will likely be the next viral horror sensation.

What are Backrooms?

The first image that popularized Backrooms was originally posted in a discussion thread on the 4chan image board back in 2018, where a handful of users noticed something “weird” about it. The photo was taken from an odd angle, depicting a series of fluorescent lights radiating directly onto the floor. The image felt “empty,” as if something was missing to give it a tangible feel.

Another user created a fictional story associated with the image, claiming the area was titled “The Backrooms” and was a direct result of “no clipping out of reality” – entering another dimension, essentially. It wouldn’t be until 2022 that Kane Parsons, under the YouTube handle “Kane Pixels,” would produce a popular series of short videos depicting The Backrooms in all their terrifying glory. The shorts would become immensely popular, quickly garnering hundreds of thousands of views within days.

What Could a Backrooms Film Be About?

Seeing as Kane Parsons is directly involved in the production of the upcoming film Backrooms, it’s pretty much guaranteed that his depiction of the popular horror setting will be used as the basis for the film’s story. It should be noted, however, that Parsons will not be writing the screenplay for the film. According to Bloody Disgusting, that task is relegated to Robert Patino, whose previous credits include a handful of episodes for FX’s The Bastard Executioner and Sons of Anarchy, as well as the HBO Max miniseries DMZ. Although Backrooms by itself doesn’t necessarily have a coherent narrative, Parsons attempted to give the bizarre dimension a backstory.

An organization that went by the name of ASYNC originally opened an entrance in the 1980s, with a string of missing person cases escalating exponentially well into the 1990s. Things got more and more intriguing as several people armed with video cameras discovered lurking interdimensional horrors. Details about the upcoming Backrooms movie are yet to come. However, we can confidently suggest that it could be the next viral horror sensation. After the astounding financial success of Skinamarink, hopefully, more studios will look to internet-born creativity for future horror titles.