Backrooms, a huge internet universe

The Backrooms universe started on a 4chan board in May 2019 when an anonymous user posted an image of a blank yellow room with wet carpet and fluorescent lights. Another user added a short backstory describing how a person could clip out of real life into a massive maze of empty rooms. The post tapped into the concept of liminal spaces, which are transition areas like empty hallways or closed shopping malls that feel eerie when they are completely deserted.

Online communities quickly expanded the idea on sites like Reddit and dedicated wikis. They created hundreds of numbered levels, specific survival rules, unique items like almond water, and dangerous entities that stalk the halls. In early 2022, sixteen year old animator Kane Parsons brought a fresh perspective to the mythos with his viral YouTube series called Kane Pixels. His videos introduced a fictional research company named Async, which accidentally opened a portal to the dimension in the late 1980s while attempting to solve storage and housing shortages.

The feature film adaptation, directed by Kane Parsons and produced by A24 alongside James Wan and Shawn Levy, focuses on the psychological strain of being trapped inside this endless structure.

The story follows Clark, an architect who runs a furniture store, who discovers a doorway in his basement that leads into the yellow maze. When he becomes trapped, his therapist Dr Mary Kline ventures inside after him. Together they navigate the shifting geometry of the space while discovering remnants left behind by the Async research team.

The cast features Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, Renate Reinsve as Dr Mary Kline, Mark Duplass as the researcher Phil, and Robert Bobroczkyi providing the physical performance for one of the main physical threats within the complex.