Kane Parsons’ A24 Debut Film ‘Backrooms’ Debuts to Strong Rotten Tomatoes Score

A24’s latest horror movie, Backrooms, is releasing in theaters this week and the project has been the subject of plenty of discussion, primarily about its director, Kane Parsons. Given that Parsons was 19 years old at the time of production, many were impressed by both the A24 production company and the YouTuber himself for attempting to bring his hit viral video series to the big screen. Featuring a small but talented cast that includes the likes of Renate Reinsve, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Mark Duplass, Backrooms has been one of the more highly anticipated releases of the summer. So, with the first reviews for the film dropping online, does Backrooms live up to the hype?

At the time of this writing, Backrooms currently has an 85% “fresh” rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. There still have not been enough reviews submitted to the website for the movie to get a “Certified Fresh” rating, although the fact that this movie already has this high a rating with 61 reviews is a good sign. Many of the reviews have called the film “frightening,” “unnerving,” and “creepy,” while also making excellent use of the liminal spaces that are central to the plot of the film.

MovieWeb‘s own review says, “Backrooms is a vibe movie that tries to tap into complex feelings that, by design, cannot be fully understood.” Overall, the reactions seem to mostly praise this new foray into the horror genre, which combines narrative style with found-footage filmmaking in a unique way. Despite some complaints about the narrative, with one negative review from TheWrap called Backrooms nothing but “a sightseeing tour of disquieting office buildings,” saying that the movie feels “pointless.” Given how much mystery there is surrounding the story of Parsons’ hit YouTube video series of the same name, it’s unsurprising that the movie has much of the same ambiguity.

In light of these mostly positive reviews, it will be interesting to see how Backrooms fares against two other horror movies that are currently in theaters: Passenger and Obsession. Moreover, high-profile releases are set to hit theaters in the coming weeks, so buzz and word-of-mouth may go a long way for Backrooms, along with the popularity of its origins on the social video platform YouTube. Liminal spaces have become a large talking point on social media, which is also a factor that could play into the movie’s success. There are also more reviews that still have to be submitted, meaning the score could still go up or down.

2026 has been an exciting year for both newer and younger filmmakers, many of whom are making the transition from online content creation to the big screen. Markiplier’s movie adaptation Iron Lung and Curry Barker’s Obsession are two of the biggest examples, with the latter breaking box-office records with an impressive increase in revenue in its second week of release. While Parsons’ directorial debut may not be entirely cohesive on the narrative side of things, it’s still an exciting debut that shows that the future is bright not just for the horror genre, but for smaller independent productions with more modest budgets.