'Backrooms' review: Does the online creepypasta make a good full-length movie?

Horror is seeing a new wave of filmmakers move from online shorts to theatrical features, and 20-year-old Kane Parsons is the latest to make the leap. Parsons, who found a following on YouTube with Backrooms shorts, co-wrote the feature with Will Soodik and directed an A24 release that largely succeeds — though with a notable caveat.

Set in 1990s Santa Clara Valley, the film follows wannabe architect turned furniture store owner Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as he struggles with a separation and drifts between therapy sessions with Mary (Renate Reinsve) and nights in his store. A flickering basement light reveals a hidden doorway leading to the endless, yellow-lit rooms of the Backrooms: spaces that feel both familiar and uncanny thanks to production designer Danny Vermette, art director Alan Derksen, set decorator Trevor Johnston, and Parsons’ lighting design.

Backrooms establishes its own brand of liminal horror, an M.C.

backrooms, kane parsons, chiwetel ejiofor, renate reinsve, a24, santa clara, 1990s, liminal horror, production design, creepypasta