A24 Is Making a Found Footage Horror Movie Based on a Viral YouTube Series

For fans of A24 horror movies, something big is on the horizon. The entertainment company has acquired the rights to adapt a sci-fi horror YouTube video in partnership with Atomic Monster, Chernin Entertainment and 21 Laps. Called The Backrooms, the viral video turned into a series which has amassed over 100 million views.

The Backrooms is a found footage short that takes place while a filmmaker is exploring a liminal space and runs into otherworldly creatures. The short is based on a creepypasta of the same name from 2019:

Essentially, the backrooms posit the existence of a ‘place’ that people can slip (or ‘noclip’) into and become lost or trapped. An unreality behind or parallel to this reality, The Backrooms are not inherently sinister on first viewing, as they appear to be simply unoccupied office space of banal manilla walls, long corridors and ugly carpets. The terrifying element comes with the idea of finding yourself there unable to escape. Trapped in a labyrinth of these corridors that is unending and eternal, meaning that there is no exit and that anyone finding themselves in this other dimension will be confined there perpetually. There is also the added detail that there are ‘others’ or other ‘things’ of an apparently malevolent nature in this environment with you and that every moment you remain inside, you run the risk of encountering one of these denizens of the other place.

VFX artist Kane Parsons is the man behind the series at only 17-years-old. Parsons will direct a script written by Roberto Patino. Details of the project are forthcoming but for now, you can view Parsons’ 16-episode series on his YouTube page.