Film & TV4 min(s) read
Published 13:27 28 May 2026 GMT
This weekend sees the release of A24’s new horror flick Backrooms - but do you know where the idea comes from and why it is so terrifying?
It all stems from a 2019 online meme, but it taps into a fascinating part of the human brain, an unsettling part that deals with fear.
Backrooms is directed by Kane Parsons and stars Chiwitel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell.
It tells the story of a therapy patient who slips into another world beyond the reality we know, leading to a terrifying search to save him.
It sounds scary enough, but the idea actually dates back to 2019 and an online ‘creepypasta’ meme about a liminal world that looks somewhat like a 1990s shopping mall.
It all began somewhere after 2011 when a picture of a large, starkly-lit room with carpeting and light yellow walls started circulating online, before a story appeared 2019 on online anonymous thread board 4chan.
The post brought forward the idea of a huge extradimensional space filled with seemingly empty and neverending rooms, one after the other.
Under it was the comment that created the lore, which read: “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 concept of The Backrooms taps into something called ‘liminal space’ which is when the human brain is tricked by a large empty or abandoned space and perceives it as eerie.
In the intervening years, the online phenomena has expanded to include the idea of ‘levels’ that those who become trapped in the Backrooms have to navigate, as well as ‘entities’ that are evil creatures and spirits that dwell therein.
We expect the film to rely heavily on that part of the lore, that’s for sure.
However, that’s not the reason that this all feels so unnerving to look at, that’s completely different.
To answer the question of why the Backrooms idea triggers something in the brain, VT spoke to Natasha Devalt, licensed clinician at Peak Mental Health & Wellness in New Jersey and an expert in practical therapy, behavioural change, and helping clients stabilize and rebuild functioning in high-risk environments.
She explained: “One cause would be what psychologists might refer to as failed familiarity.
“Familiarity with the environment is generally beneficial since it allows the brain to accurately predict events.
“However, the Backrooms take advantage of this phenomenon in reverse by presenting an environment that appears similar to one already encountered - office, hallway, waiting room - while being completely unpredictable.”
She continued: “Another element that makes this phenomenon disturbing would be the lack of social proof.
“As a species, humans use other people as validation for their surroundings.
“If the surroundings are considered normal, there should be signs of others present in order to validate it.
“The Backrooms completely strip all elements of social proof away from the scene.”
As well as that, there’s something else that hits the mark with regards to fear response, and it’s an absolute classic - the fear of the unknown.
Devalt added: “Another disturbing aspect of the Backrooms would be its ambiguity.
“Most psychological threats involve either a clearly perceivable danger or a clear escape.
“Both aspects are removed by the Backrooms since, although there is no obvious threat, there is also no escape, leaving the individual to live within a constant state of hypervigilance.
“A final psychological aspect that makes the Backrooms disturbing involves repetition.
“Repeating identical rooms leads to something called spatial monotony.
“This disrupts the brain's ability to orient, and this causes dissociation.”
So, if all of that floats your boat, the Backrooms film is out in cinemas from May 29.
