The thought of being trapped in an unfamiliar, or even otherworldly, place is something that most of us have experienced at least once over the years. For some, however, it’s a persistent and irrational fear. For this reason, The Backrooms is one upcoming horror movie that has many of us both anticipating and absolutely terrified to watch or experience.
Those who suffer from claustrophobia might be understandably hesitant to check out this upcoming A24 movie, which has mysterious origins that have sent a chill down the spines of fans of viral short horror stories. That said, we’ve put together a comprehensive breakdown of The Backrooms that will hopefully help settle those fears before this mysterious experience comes to a theater screen near you...
What Is The Backrooms Release Date?
Though there are still a great number of mysteries to solve, we at least know that The Backrooms’ release date will be on the 2026 movie schedule. In August 2025, the A24 X account shared an image of a clapboard sinking into a yellow surface that looks like both sand and carpet, along with a caption reading “2026.” Nothing more, nothing less, but we do know by the end of next year, we’ll know what’s going on.
What The Backrooms Is About
In addition to being the title of the upcoming sci-fi movie, The Backrooms is also the name often attributed to a terrifying alternate reality consisting mostly of a seemingly inescapable maze of dimly lit liminal spaces: hallways and corridors covered in a sickly yellow wallpaper where strange, living dangers lurk. The concept became a viral hit on the Internet in 2019 when a mundane, but somehow unsettling image of unknown origin was shared on Creepypasta.com with the following text:
If you’re not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the Backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby because it sure as hell has heard you.
The image was later discovered to have been pulled from a blog post chronicling the renovation of a Wisconsin HobbyTown store, according to Forbes, but the author of the ominous message accompanying it remains unknown.
How To Watch The Backrooms Videos?
If you want to see what all the fuss is about with The Backrooms without losing hours upon hours browsing old creepypasta sites until you’re too scared to go to sleep, you can watch Kane Parsons, aka Ken Pixels outstanding videos set in the off-putting liminal space. The full The Backrooms series is on YouTube and allows you to take a (guided) tour of those corridors, rooms, and other spaces.
The popular animated web series, presented mostly in a found footage thriller style, is the direct inspiration for the forthcoming A24 horror movie. Just take our word for it and watch with the lights on…
When Can We Expect The Backrooms’ Trailer?
Watching The Backrooms videos on YouTube is fun and all, but what about a trailer for the upcoming movie? Well, A24 hasn’t released a teaser at this point. That said, the 2025 movie schedule is drawing to a close, so it wouldn’t be surprising if something popped up early next year.
The Backrooms Cast
One of the most interesting things about Kane Parsons’ Backrooms series is that, since it is predominantly animated with a free software called Blender (which was used for the Academy Award-winning Flow), the characters' faces are rarely ever shown. However, that is apparently going to change, based on the recent announcements of who will be included in A24’s The Backrooms cast.
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Set to enter the world of The Backrooms is Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is known for his Academy Award-nominated role in the Best Picture Oscar winner, 12 Years a Slave, in addition to acclaimed performances in favorites like Amistad, the classic drag movie Kinky Boots, Children of Men, The Martian, and most recently, The Life of Chuck.
Renate Reinsve
Also noclipping into The Backrooms is Renate Reinsve, who starred in an acclaimed A24 movie called A Different Man in 2024 and, before then, earned raves for her performance in the 2021 romantic-dramedy, The Worst Person in the World.
Mark Duplass
Most people may know Mark Duplass primarily as a comedic actor, having starred in the cast of FX's The League. However, he is a very versatile performer who has also dabbled in horror, most notably in a found footage favorite he co-wrote called Creep, its 2017 sequel, and the spin-off series, The Creep Tapes, which is available to stream with a Shudder subscription.
Finn Bennett
The Backrooms is to be the second A24 project starring Finn Bennett, following his role in the acclaimed combat drama, Warfare. The British actor also starred in the most recent iteration of HBO's True Detective, Night Country, and has a 2025 horror movie under his belt called Eye for an Eye.
Lukita Maxwell
Indonesian-born actor Lukita Maxwell is best known from HBO's Generat+ion and, especially, from the beloved Apple TV show, Shrinking. She made her horror debut in 2024 with Blumhouse's AfrAId.
Avan Jogia
The one Backrooms cast member with the most horror experience so far is Avan Jogia, who previously starred in Zombieland: Double Tap and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, to name just the most famous titles. Of course, quite a few audiences may remember him best as Beck Oliver on Nickelodeon's Victorious.
Kane Parsons Is Directing The Movie
There are rare instances of an artist landing the opportunity to make a live-action adaptation of an animated project they created, but Kane Parsons is now one of those few. The YouTuber, also known on the platform as Kane Pixels, is helming The Backrooms for A24 and, at just 19 years old, is the youngest director to ever collaborate with the company.
Handling screenwriting duties, however, is Robert Patino and Will Soodik, who are known for penning everything from Netflix’s Zero Day (which Stephen King thinks is “terrific”) to Ash vs the Evil Dead,as well as producing TV series like Westworld, Sons of Anarchy, and Homeland. They also shared producer credits for The Backrooms, along with fellow producers James Wan (known for creating the Conjuring Universe) and Deadpool and Wolverine director Shawn Levy.
Production On The Backrooms Wrapped In August 2025
The wait for The Backrooms shouldn’t be all too much longer, as production has already wrapped on the mysterious A24 project. In August 2025, the studio shared an image (the same one revealing the release window) on X with the clapboard representing the end of the multi-week shoot. Who knows how much post-production work will be required to bring the terrifying project to life, but we should know more soon.
You better be careful not to noclip out of reality any time soon, or you could miss out on what could be one of the best horror movies to come from A24 yet (which is saying something considering the studio’s insane run the past decade).
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