The Scary Photo of the Backrooms

By Velvet Winter

ABC Arts

Topic: Internet Culture

Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 4:30 am

A young filmmaker named Kane Parsons is making a movie about the Backrooms.

We explain what's happening on the internet with the help of experts.

How do you feel when you see this picture?

(Supplied: Wikicommons)

Do you feel confused, scared, or worried?

This picture of an empty yellow room has scared people on the internet for years.

It has inspired games, TV shows, and stories, all connected by a feeling that something is not right.

Now, a movie about the Backrooms is coming to theaters, led by a young director named Kane Parsons.

Kane says the pictures of the Backrooms feel like they're from your dreams or memories.

They make you feel like your inner thoughts are being shown to you in a strange way.

What are the Backrooms?

The first picture of the Backrooms was posted on the internet in 2019, with a request for more strange pictures.

People started sharing pictures of dark rooms and monsters, and then someone wrote a story that gave the Backrooms their name.

(Supplied: 4chan)

The story said that if you're not careful, you can fall into the Backrooms, where it's empty and scary.

If you hear something moving, you're in trouble.

The idea of the Backrooms is that you can enter them from anywhere, at any time.

Stories about the Backrooms spread quickly on the internet, with many people adding their own ideas.

An expert says that the community's involvement is what makes the Backrooms so popular.

The Backrooms are like a creative prompt that people can interpret and expand in different ways.

The creator of a horror movie hopes it will inspire people to look at the world around them.

The Backrooms have inspired many things, including video games and TV shows.

A type of horror called liminal-space horror has become popular, which focuses on the strange and unseen.

Who is Kane Parsons?

Kane Parsons is a young filmmaker who made a YouTube video about the Backrooms when he was 16.

He says he found the original picture of the Backrooms weird and interesting.

Kane's video about the Backrooms has been watched millions of times, and he has made more videos about it.

Kane is now making a movie about the Backrooms, which will be in theaters.

The movie is about a man who enters the Backrooms and gets lost.

Kane says he wants the movie to feel like the Backrooms, with a sense of uncertainty and fear.

What is the movie Backrooms about?

The movie is about a man who enters the Backrooms and must find his way out.

Kane says he wants the movie to be like his YouTube videos, with a sense of continuity and logic.

The movie follows a man named Clark, who enters the Backrooms and gets lost.

Clark's therapist, Mary, goes into the Backrooms to look for him.

The movie scares the audience with the idea of the unknown, rather than with a physical monster.

Kane says he didn't want to include a physical monster in the movie, because it would make it less scary.

He wants the audience to use their imagination and feel the fear of the unknown.

An expert says that Kane's approach to horror is effective, because it leaves things to the audience's imagination.

The expert says that Kane's monsters are like those in the movie Jaws, where you don't see them often, but you feel their presence.

What are the Backrooms, again?

As the Backrooms became popular, people started to look for the origin of the first picture.

They found that the picture was from a website about a furniture store in Wisconsin.

The website had pictures of the store's renovation, but only one picture of the Backrooms.

Some people in the community were disappointed to learn the origin of the picture, but Kane says it doesn't matter.

Kane says that the Backrooms are still a mystery, and that's what makes them interesting.

The Backrooms movie is now in theaters.

Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 4:30 am

Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 9:14 am

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