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A whole Universe of yellow-tinted dread grew from one every photo on the internet. The way it snowballed into a full-blown feature film that’s backed by A24 is one of the wildest modern folklore evolutions online. It’s called Backrooms. It’s a crowdsourced horror myth that originated from a single question, and no it wasn’t “what the f#%! did I just look at?!”

The Birth of Backrooms

In May 2018 an anonymous user posted a photo on 4chan’s paranormal board. For those who don’t know what 4chan is, it’s an image board site where users post anonymously. The topics vary, ranging from anime and video games to politics. 

It’s known to be a campground of chaos due to its unmoderated, offensive content by internet trolls, incels, and the typical negative digital haunts. Moving on. 

Despite the posts eventually being deleted over time, one has continued to live on thanks to a dark yet collaborative creative effort by internet users. The original poster uploaded a bland, pollen yellow room. It had yellow carpet and fluorescent lighting. They requested “disquieting images that just feel off.” Another user ultimately replied with the now infamous description and name, breathing life into the urban legend of Backrooms. 

The original reply:
“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 Expansion of Backrooms: Levels, Entities, and Liminal Horror

While the original image circulated for 7 years before the myth surrounding it formed, it was later identified as Rohner’s Home Furnishings in OshKosh, Wisconsin before it was renovated. The photo was taken in 2002, and was uploaded along with other photos of the space and posted online as “before photos” before being bought out by HobbyTown.

It took internet sleuths ages to uncover the photos’ origin due to it originally being an old furniture store that was in operation(probably before some of them were born), before becoming a RC race track for hobbyists. The fascination of the upfront room in its earlier days prior to its remodel still attracts uninvited visitors that are in search of “the rooms” on a weekly basis. 

Within days, users on 4chan and Reddit began posting more photos featuring captions and descriptions that created a digital creepypasta universe. Each post expanded the concept of this now maze of rooms that oozes with the liminal space dread of solitude, being lost, dead silence, and the possibility that maybe you aren’t alone in this yellow monstrosity. Not only did they craft a digital world of analog horror based on the fear of the unknown, but they crafted ways to survive it.

Users added:

1. Levels- While the additional levels are considered to be infinite, the “Main Nine” levels of Backrooms original lore are its core foundations. 

• These levels are:
  The Main Nine Levels (0–8)
• Level 0 – “The Lobby”: The iconic, yellow-wallpapered, buzzing, empty hallway tutorial level.
• Level 1 – “Habitable Zone”: A concrete, industrial warehouse with flickering lights, crates, and entities.
• Level 2 – “Pipe Dreams”: Dark, concrete maintenance hallways filled with hot pipes and sludge.
• Level 3 – “Electrical Station”: A dangerous, loud electrical station with high entity activity and constant power failures.
• Level 4 – “Abandoned Office”: An infinite, desolate office complex with few windows and limited resources.
• Level 5 – “Terror Hotel”: A luxurious but eerie 1930s hotel filled with entities like Death Moths and Skin-Stealers.
• Level 6 – “Lights Out”: Complete, absolute darkness. Sanity diminishes quickly without light sources.
• Level 7 – “Thalassophobia”: A massive, deep, flooded cave system holding a giant entity, the Backrooms Wiki mentions it is the 7th level.
• Level 8 – “Cave Systems”: A dark, claustrophobic series of caves filled with various dangerous creatures.
  

2. Entities- creatures and random physical presences that lurk the endless mazes of lemon pepper colored foolishness that mean you no good. 

3. Rules of survival- how to navigate, what to avoid, and how to escape it. 

While the Backrooms fandom expanded and made it’s way to other platforms such as Tiktok and Discord, the collaborative creative effort of internet users created the ultimate “No thank you.” creepypasta of all time. It gives the vibe of “I shouldn’t be here, and maybe I should leave.” in a series of photos and captions by thousands of posters that assisted in bringing it to life.

Who is Kane Parsons(Kane Pixels)?

In January 2022, a teenage filmmaker by the name of Kane Parsons aka Kane Pixels uploaded a found-footage short film titled The Backrooms to his youtube channel. Going viral is an ill-fitted description of it’s success. It exploded. The nine-minute video garnered millions of views in days, igniting a surge of Backrooms content across Al Gore’s internet. 

THe original video presented as a 1990’s VHS tape, recorded by a filmmaker who incidentally found himself in the Backrooms. He was chased through various levels from the original creepypasta by random robotic-like monsters that lurk the premises. Thoughts and prayers. 

Parsons defined the Backrooms visually in the short with:

• An analog horror aesthetic
• Glitchy old VHS tape found-footage
• Hyper-realistic 3D environments
• A liminal atmosphere of fear and dread
• Minimal storytelling that reflects the unknown

The short that was praised by fans of Backrooms and critics alike was created in Blender and Adobe After Effects, taking him a month to complete.

The Backrooms Movie

While he won a Creator Honors at the 2022 Streamy Awards, Parsons stopped posting to his youtube channel. Then a year later, our hero posted a 53 second trailer announcing the Backrooms movie trailer from him and A24. The internet went nuts. 

The movie which is slated for its theatrical release May 29th, 2026 makes Parsons the youngest director that they’ve worked with. It’s produced in collaboration with Atomic Monster, Chernin Entertainment, and 21 Laps Entertainment.

A24 is known for lots of movies. Some of their most popular flicks are The Witch(2015), Hereditary(2018), Midsommar(2019), and Talk to Me(2022).

21 Laps Entertainment is best known for the Night at the Museum franchise, Deadpool & Wolverine, the Unsolved Mysteries reboot, and the Stranger Things Netflix original. 

Chernin Entertainment is known for its Planet of the Apes franchise, Miss Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children, and surprisingly P-Valley. 

What we know about the Backrooms Movie

The Backrooms theatrical release lends the talents of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, both who are international award-winning actors in their own rights. Ejifor is recognized for his roles in 12 Years a Slave(2013), Dirty Pretty Things(2002), and as Scar in the Lion King(2019).

Backrooms is written by Robert Patino, best known for his contributions to Sons of Anarchy and Westworld. It’s also produced by Shawn Levy(founder of 21 Laps Entertainment), and Jay Wan(founder of Atomic Monster). Wan is noted as being the creator of the Conjuring franchise, the highest grossing horror franchise of all time. He’s also the co-creator of the Saw and Insidious franchises. 

The story hints at a therapist searching for a missing patient who is lost in the Backrooms. Based on what we already know about that place, that’s nowhere to be for all parties involved. The test screenings have been extremely positive, with audiences describing it as tense, atmospheric, and emotionally grounded. It’s a focus on mood, mystery, and psychological dread over choosing the typical jumpscare trope. 

Backrooms is a case study on how internet folklore became mainstream art, built through the fingers of thousands of internet users instead of a single creator. It’s the Gen Z version of Urban Legends. The difference is that instead of it being characters such as Bloody Mary or Slenderman, the real horror is being trapped in the world’s tackiest office ever.

The fact that a teenager turned a series of posts online into a Hollywood film backed by multiple powerhouse production teams in modern entertainment, coming together because they simply believe in it’s lore is what Backrooms is all about. It’s a glitch in the system that somehow became real.

Watch the trailer below, and let me know what you think. Make sure to enter your email while you are at it so you can receive updates on new posts delivered straight to your inbox. Otherwise, Candyman may show up to your mirror without being summoned.