By Gabriel Solis
Kane Parsons is having a great year. His film “Backrooms” hit theaters on May 29, and has found incredible success in the month following. So far, the movie has grossed around $273 million and has set several box office records, including studio A24’s biggest ever opening weekend. He also just turned 21.
The reason for the rage is obvious. In spite of its flaws, this film has tapped a vein of the public that no other major studio production has been able to. It’s a sterling example of what young people can accomplish in an industry and world littered with roadblocks. Audiences know that, and they like it.
Parsons began his filmmaking career on YouTube, where he produced a 24-episode series also entitled “Backrooms.” The original concept, which originated on the image board website 4chan, had been adapted on the internet before, but Parsons’ work redefined it and set the precedent for how the concept would be interpreted going forward. The series was a smash hit, amassing over 194 million views in total.
The number is undoubtedly impressive, and it represents a demographic that is totally unique in the entertainment landscape. These are the people who grew up with the internet, consuming entertainment designed specifically for them. Attempts to translate interest in this type of content into mainstream films have gone historically awry. (Remember “Slender Man”? IMDb does. 3.3/10)
What sets “Backrooms” apart is the studio’s willingness to trust Parsons as the liaison between these two very different types of content, as opposed to an ‘establishment’ director not associated with the source material. His grasp of what makes the movie’s premise scary on a conceptual level is obvious throughout the film, and his understanding of the source material is rock solid, considering that, for all intents and purposes, he created it. This combination makes him the film’s biggest asset. Everything that works about it works because of his influence.
However, not everything does work. For all that this movie has going for it, there are certainly some wrinkles that need ironing out. The performances are all at least passable (Oscar-nominated Renate Reinsve’s unsurprisingly stands out as the best), but the dialogue can at times feel forced and unnatural. The beats are there for a cohesive story, but the film would be better served if they were moved around; the interaction between the Async Research storyline and the experience of our main cast of characters feels muddled and not fully developed. The characters themselves are, for the most part, written to be very two-dimensional, and the impact of their experiences throughout the film would have been much more pronounced had they themselves been more fleshed out, particularly in the case of the two leads, Reinsve’s Dr. Mary Kline and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Clark.
But the biggest, most glaring issue of this film has nothing to do with the eerie, unsettling depths of the backrooms or its inhabitants, nor does it have to do with the characters who explore it and are consumed by it. It has to do with the quiet moments, in between the horror and the mystery.
It is these moments that should allow the humanity of the characters to shine through, and by extension, allow us, the audience, a moment to breathe and to feel connected to them and to the film. The potential for this is present, but much like the backrooms themselves, these moments feel slightly off. Unfinished. Incorrect. This is because the only reason they exist in the first place is as an excuse to get us into the backrooms and into the action, which is a reversal of the formula that horror movies should follow. Not every member of the moviegoing public knows or cares about the extensive internet lore surrounding the premise. It’s a mistake, therefore, for the film to rely on interest in that lore to fill seats. This movie should exist because of those in-between moments, not in spite of them. The horror should work to serve the humanity, not the other way around. This is a concept that, despite some affecting moments and all of the undeniable talent involved, never truly came to fruition in the final product. In short, between the competent cast, the director laser-locked on his vision, and a truly interesting and entertaining collection of story beats, the ingredients are there for this film to be truly brilliant. Its execution, however, keeps it firmly short of that mark.
With that said, that $256 million figure didn’t come from nowhere. For all of its faults, the movie is entertaining, to be sure. And yes, a large swath of the audience likely bought tickets because they liked the web series. But the true significance of “Backrooms” has less to do with its content and more to do with what it represents.
When he started producing the original “Backrooms” web series in 2022, Parsons was 16 years old. When the film adaptation was released, he was still only 20. He began his journey as an independent filmmaker, and his work was so successful and of such high quality that it attracted the attention of a major studio that has financed many award-winning movies. It’s a classic underdog story, and audiences are attracted to that in droves.
The film’s success also demonstrates audiences’ capacities to be receptive to films without massive budgets. “Backrooms” was produced for a mere $10 million. For context, the first “Conjuring” film (a comparably scaled production) was produced for double that, and nearly triple if adjusting for inflation. “Avengers: Infinity War” was produced for $350 million.
Finally, this film and its director indicate an awareness in Hollywood of the demographic shift that is undeniably occurring. Audiences are getting younger and younger, and professional filmmakers don’t get younger than Parsons. People love to see themselves and their interests represented on the big screen, and although his first outing isn’t perfect, Parsons has demonstrated an incredible and innate talent for producing captivating horror cinema. What he does next remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: an entire generation of moviegoers will be watching.
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