How does a teenager become the director of one of the most anticipated auteur horror films of the year? The answer, of course, is the internet. Digital space is our greatest bridge, bridging the gap between opportunity and accessibility for young creatives; it is also a virtual space that blurs the boundaries between the liminal and the concrete, allowing us to analyze the in-between realms of life, which, paradoxically, helps us define them. So when aspiring young director Kain Parsons was approached about directing a feature-length film for A24 about the internet phenomenon known as "Behind the Scenes" (the film was aptly titled "« Behind the scenes »"), it seemed quite logical.
But what? such «"Behind the Scenes"? In 2019, a post on the infamous anonymous imageboard 4chan launched a genre of horror fiction. The post featured a creepy photograph of a series of interconnected hallways with yellowed carpet and wallpaper, accompanied by the text:
If you're not careful and step outside of reality in the wrong places, you'll find yourself in Backstage, where all that awaits you is the stench of old wet carpet, a madness of monochromatic yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum volume, and approximately six hundred million square miles of chaotically disjointed empty rooms to get stuck in.
God help you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it definitely heard you.
The original post contained one of the surest signs of a looming internet phenomenon: it put into words and images something no one had ever been able to express, but which everyone felt, giving a name to one of life's mysteries, something you might consider a unique experience until chat reveals it to be far more universal. "Behind the Scenes" evokes a sense of immersion in an undefined purgatory—further illustrated by the r/LiminalSpace subreddit, dedicated to places in this metaphysical "uncanny valley"—impenetrable and inhospitable. Perhaps it's the answer to the question: where do you go when you disconnect from reality? But it's something many of us felt, even if we didn't realize it, before the internet gave it a voice. This is precisely what attracted the young Parsons, now 20, to the iconography. "I was really impressed that so many people had strong feelings about something they couldn't quite articulate, and that meant there was some connection that could be pulled," Parsons told USA Today. .
The iconography of Backrooms demonstrates the possibilities of digital space. Its origins echo the story of Slenderman, a fictional horror character who also originated in chat. Like the online musings that gave birth to Slenderman, the Backrooms post on 4chan became a popular copypasta—a block of text copied and pasted into various internet chat rooms, such as forums or social media; also called creepypasta in the context of the horror genre—using gaming terminology to convey emotion. The key word in this description is "noclip," a gaming term for disabling collision detection, allowing the player to walk through solid objects like walls and floors. In this unsettling context, it also came to signify a break from reality, or rather, a fall into в a borderless land that's neither here nor there. The viral copypasta spawned a new genre of horror creation, usually in the form of other stories and short videos. One such creator was Parsons, who in 2022, at the age of 16, made a nine-minute short film called «Behind the Scenes (Found Footage)» , which he uploaded to YouTube under the pseudonym Kane Pixels. The video, a truly terrifying first-person reconstruction of a VHS recording of a man trapped in an endless maze of corridors, has since garnered nearly 80 million views.
«Slender Man, as an internet horror phenomenon, was a disaster. It sparked a genuine, and deadly, moral panic, as well as a 2018 film adaptation that flopped and was critically panned. And yet, Backrooms was brought to cinematic reality thanks to A24, a generally respected and popular film and television company. Parsons, who had been making short films long before exploring this theoretical labyrinth, was inspired by the popularity of a nine-minute YouTube video. He then made several more, each racking up millions of views. The success of his mini-franchise, built on a clue of fewer than 100 words, caught the attention of A24, which, shortly after Parsons turned 17, signed the young director to a feature-length deal. Now «Behind the Scenes» , which stars Oscar-nominated actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Raineswe, and whose development began when Parsons was just 19, is available for everyone to watch. The story is based on the story from "Backstage," set in the 1990s. Ejiofor plays Clark, a furniture store owner struggling with alcoholism and recently divorced. Raineswe plays his somewhat enigmatic therapist, Dr. Mary Kline. When Clark discovers a crack in the universal fabric—in this case, a literal seam in the basement wall of the furniture store—he realizes he can slip through the wall into an infinite realm. Clark, clearly searching for meaning in his life of dissatisfaction, approaches his discovery of Backstage as if finding the answer to its mystery, his new purpose, is his quest. But all of us who have read the original text know the truth.
Judging by «Behind the Scenes» , Parsons may have a rather banal take on family problems—part of a film adaptation that feels a bit formulaic—but he certainly understands the mechanics of anxiety, and what makes Backstage so hair-raising. The key lies in the combination of two layers of lostness. It's not just about metaphysical, aimless wandering; it's also about mazeophobia—being stuck in a place inaccessible to both you and those you hope will find you. (To physically achieve this effect, Parsons reportedly managed sets totaling some 30,000 square feet, so large that people actually got lost in them while filming.) Imagine encountering something that exists beyond your understanding, and then finding yourself trapped in that unknowable space, full of many corners where ghosts lurk. The internet can certainly provide that; for some, the web itself can even become one of those spaces. And now, with the exit Backrooms , This world has become closer to us than ever before, and it awaits our arrival. God, save us.