‘The Backrooms’ By Kane Parsons.
A24 and Atomic Monster announced that they are going to make a feature film based on the viral YouTube short “The Backrooms”. It was created by VFX artist and director Kane Parsons, and this viral found footage horror set in the backrooms of a large building, shot his following over the last year. The Backrooms is the first in a series of found-footage horror videos which have thus far garnered nearly 100 million views. Parsons— who is just 17 years old— will direct from a script by Roberto Patino. Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine, Stranger Things) and James Wan (Conjuring) are among the producers. Parsons will reportedly direct the film over his summer vacation.
Details as to the plot of the sci-fi horror feature are under wraps. but in the 90s-set original short, a young filmmaker’s fall into another dimension leaves him wandering through a unsettlingly empty labyrinthine office space, which may or may not be home to otherworldly beings.
The Backrooms has drawn from the imagery of a creepypasta published to 4chan in 2019. when a strange image was shared online with the following text: “If you’re not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby because it sure as hell has heard you”
The previously unknown origin of the obscure image was recently discovered to be a 2003 blog post describing a Wisconsin HobbyTown store’s renovation, however, we still do not know the author of the unsettling sentences above, which would inspire other intrigued parties to expand on the lore with their own stories and short films, the most popular being Parsons’ Backroom series on YouTube— most of which are crafted in the style of found-footage thriller and framed as the files of a secret organization tasked with exploring the dimension. The series has also been adapted into a video game.
Deadline reported that A24 was one of several suitors chasing the Backrooms feature pitch, though what their price point was at closing is unclear. Lucas Ford brought the project to 21 Laps, with Chris White bringing it to Atomic Monster. Chernin Entertainment and A24 will co-finance the film.
Parsons has thus far helmed 16 entries in the Backrooms YouTube series, little is known about the North Carolina filmmaker, though he’s previously created a number of animated videos inspired by the manga- Attack On The Titan. He’ll at least have support of a few esteemed veterans in the sci-fi horror genre, James Wan and his company Atomic Monster and Shawn Levy will guide him on his debut feature length venture.
Emmy nominated Roberto Patino (creator of HBO’s DMZ) will be writing the script, his past credits include being a writer/ executive producer on the first two seasons of Westworld, and writer/ producer of Sons of Anarchy.
Creating feature films and series based on short films and viral memes is supposed to be the trend in Hollywood right now, even Michael Bay is creating a film based on the viral sensation “Skibidi toilet”, as if it wasn’t ubiquitous enough as video shorts or games. There is currently no release date been set for The Backrooms.
