Backrooms opens May 29 with an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I think that number tells a more interesting story than it seems at first glance. Kane Parsons was 16 when he started making Backrooms content on YouTube. He is now a feature film director with an A24 release and near-universal critical approval. That is not a normal career path. That is something genuinely new.
Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a furniture store owner who stumbles through a wall into an infinite maze of yellow lit corridors. The premise sounds simple, almost too simple, but that is the point. The Backrooms concept has always been about the horror of mundane spaces stretched into infinity. No monsters jumping out of closets. Just hallways that never end, fluorescent lights that never turn off, and the slow realization that you might never find your way back.
Renate Reinsve plays his therapist who goes in after him, and the dynamic between those two characters adds an emotional layer that elevates this beyond a pure horror exercise. You have a man lost in an impossible space and the person who understands his mind trying to reach him. There is something there that feels almost literary.
Critics are divided on the story, which I think is fair. A film built around atmosphere and dread does not always need a perfectly structured narrative to work, but some viewers are always going to want that traditional shape. What no one is divided on is Parsons himself. The consensus is that he has an instinct for atmosphere that most directors take decades to develop. At 20, he is already creating images and environments that feel completely his own.
An 88% for a debut feature from a director who came up making YouTube videos is a significant achievement. A24 took a real bet on Parsons, and the reviews suggest it paid off. This is a studio that has built its reputation on identifying talent early and giving them room to work. They did it with Robert Eggers, with Ari Aster, with the Safdie Brothers. Parsons fits that lineage. Young filmmaker with a strong visual identity and a willingness to make the audience uncomfortable.
What I keep thinking about is what comes next. Parsons made a feature film that critics respect and audiences are curious about. He did it at 20. He has the backing of the best indie studio in the business. The Backrooms movie is impressive on its own, but the career it is launching might be the bigger story.
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