Horror Happenings! – BACKROOMS are waiting for you to explore

After five decades of being a horror fanatic, it takes a LOT to get me interested. For far too long now, Hollywood has been awash in superhero adaptations, sequels, and reboots in an effort to get post-COVID audiences back into cinemas.

Just when you thought IP couldn’t be stretched any further, something like BACKROOMS comes along like a breath of fresh air. This is one of the reasons I love the horror genre so much–sure, you have to wade through a lot of shit, but ultimately something innovative and disturbing pops up like a well-orchestrated jump scare.

BACKROOMS all started years ago on an imageboard website called 4chan. For fun, users of the site’s paranormal forums would circulate creepy images, one of which was of an empty, dimly-lit Hobby Town store under renovation in Wisconsin. The image went viral and, in 2022, a fledgling teen filmmaker by the name of Kane Parsons (or “Kane Pixels” professionally) uploaded the first short film that attempted to explain and explore the origins of this disquieting liminal space.

In anticipation of Parson’s forthcoming full-length film adaptation from A24, I went online the other night to watch the original short films he uploaded between 2022 and 2025. A casual viewer could easily dismiss these shorts as low-fi boredom, but look closer and you’ll find there is a whole world to get wrapped up in after only an hour of hammering through Parson’s YouTube playlist. I won’t ruin the surprises for the uninitiated, just know that there is something very sinister hiding in these shadowy corridors…corridors that may or may not go on forever.

Those dark BACKROOMS will open wide on May 29th, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

#horrorhappenings #backrooms #kaneparsons #kanepixels #4chan #creepypasta #youtube #a24 #webseries #hobbytown