Backrooms: Exactly How Terrifying and Gory the New Horror Movie Gets

If you’ve clocked Kane Parsons' 'Backrooms' cropping up in cinemas and are wondering whether you’re signing up for a proper fright night or just a quirky internet riff — yes, it’s that infamous Backrooms from the corners of creepypasta lore — here’s the lay of the land. And if you’re squeamish about fountains of blood, consider this your status report from someone who unfortunately sits through all manner of these things for work.

Not Your Usual Haunted House

'Backrooms' isn’t your typical monster-under-the-bed story. For the uninitiated, the whole gimmick comes from an image that did the rounds on 4chan — think faded yellow wallpaper, dodgy office carpeting, and the sort of strip lighting that would drive any facilities manager to despair. Parsons originally built his reputation with a horror web series set in this weird labyrinth, shooting everything in that shaky, found-footage style that either makes a film more immersive or just makes you dizzy. Now, he’s stretching it out for a proper feature.

Chiwetel Ejiofor leads the charge as a bloke who stumbles over a hidden bit of wall in his furniture shop — because, obviously, where else would you find a rip in reality? Things get weird fast, as he treads deeper into seemingly endless, eerily deserted corridors and bland rooms that are somehow both mundane and deeply unnerving. Soon enough, he isn’t alone: there are 'entities' knocking about in this maze, though the less said about them for spoilers, the better.

Is the Scare Factor Real?

Here’s the thing: how much this film unsettles you is going to depend on whether so-called 'liminal spaces' — those in-between places that feel off — make your skin crawl. Some people will see a flickering fluorescent light in a back corridor and sleep soundly. For others, the mild uncanny valley of abandoned office spaces is exactly the stuff of nightmares. This film doubles down on that, layering in silence, odd noises, and the constant threat that something’s watching. No cheap carnival ride — more like a slow, tense drip of anxiety.

There's a decent share of jump scares, too, but most of the unease comes from the mood. Take the opener for example: a researcher’s dodging around the endless beige void, microphone picking up every echo, until he turns a corner and — you get the idea. The film keeps that up, rarely letting up on the tension even when not much is happening on-screen.

So, Just How Messy Does It Get?

If you’re mainly concerned about the gore levels (or just want a film you can watch with someone who’d faint at the sight of tomato sauce), relax. For nearly its entire run, 'Backrooms' is surprisingly restrained. Honestly, I’ve seen Prime-time BBC drama with more viscera. There’s a bit near the end that might make you wince — some blood spray, a touch of chaos — but it's hardly a splatterfest, and blink-or-miss if you’re used to regular horror output. Practically no stomach-churning nastiness, so no one’s losing their chips here.

Who's Behind (and In) This?

• Kane Parsons, internet horror darling, directs off his own original series
• Script is by Will Soodik and Roberto Patino
• James Wan and Michael Clear producing under Atomic Monster (yes, that James Wan — so there’s pedigree)
• Lead cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, with Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lucite Maxwell, and Avan Jogia popping up

Quick quote break — as the film’s opening demonstrates, it's all about immersion:

'The opening, specifically, highlights one of the more unnerving moments of the movie, as a researcher can be heard slowly making his way through the Backrooms before running into a terrifying figure.'

In short, this one’s not horrifying in the traditional sense — it’s more about the slow burn and that lingering discomfort. No gore overload, but plenty of crawling dread if that’s your poison.