After dropping a cryptic teaser a month ago, A24 has now released the first official trailer for Kane Parsons’ feature film debut, Backrooms.
Based on the internet phenomenon of the same name, this horror sensation has had corners of the web in a chokehold for many years, but will this Hollywood adaptation be worthy?
History speed run
The Backrooms started as a single image of the interior of an empty building on the site 4chan nearly a decade ago.
Since then, the image and the concept of liminal spaces have evolved into an internet hit, spawning indie games, endless lore, and short films, most notably of which was Parsons’ found footage version back in 2022.
That video has gathered millions of views, propelling the now 20-year-old into the Hollywood light.
What happens in the ‘Backrooms’ film trailer?
The trailer opens with shots of a furniture store as Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character, Clark, finds a small gap in the basement of the store.
Clark is having a conversation with his therapist, Dr Mary Kline, played by Renate Reinsve, as he says to her: “I found a place”.
Clark runs his hand over the wall where he saw the gap, as he appears to fall into the Backrooms.
The rest of the trailer follows Clark, navigating the parts of this seemingly endless maze of rooms, as he tries to convince his therapist that he isn’t going crazy.
He enlists the help of some friends to try to prove to her that this is all real, filming their exploration of the weird complex.
At that moment, the trailer switches into found footage mode, as we see from the point of view of our characters, reminiscent of the first short film Kane Parsons made detailing the Backrooms.
The trailer ends with Kline finding her way into the basement of the furniture store and through the Backrooms doorway, as Clark and co are nowhere to be seen.
Extended cast
We already know that Ejiofor and Reinsve are playing the leads, but since the last teaser, others have officially joined the cast.
The new additions include: Mark Duplass (Creep, Zero Dark Thirty), Finn Bennett (Warfare, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), and Lukita Maxwell (Afraid).
When is the ‘Backrooms’ film in cinemas?
You will be able to enter the Backrooms on 29 May 2026, as it hits cinemas worldwide.
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