Key Insights
- Release Date: The film Backrooms premiered in theaters on May 29, 2026.
- Inspiration: The movie is based on a concept from a 4chan thread about eerie empty rooms.
- Plot Overview: It follows a therapist searching for her missing patient.
- Main Cast: Stars include Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.
Backrooms, A24’s new horror, is frightening horror enthusiasts. Following the release of its trailer, fans were already cowering in their seats before they even got to theaters, and some are wondering where the found-footage sci-fi got its inspiration.
It turns out that the movie derives from an old 4chan thread, in which a user conceptualized the fear of “backrooms” in fluorescent, “mono-yellow” empty rooms. So, what exactly is the movie about?
Here, Hollywood Life breaks down everything we know about the 2026 Backrooms horror movie.
When Does Backrooms Come Out? See Release Date
Backrooms was released in theaters on May 29, 2026.
What Is the Backrooms Movie About?
Per its logline, Backrooms follows a therapist who must locate her missing patient. Directed by YouTuber Kane Parsons in his directorial debut, the film is partly inspired by his YouTube found-footage anthology series.
What Was the ‘Backrooms’ 4Chan Post?
Back in 2019, a 4chan user prompted others to share “disquieting” images that resonated with them. One responded with a photo of a yellow-tinged room, similar to the one seen in the 2026 horror film.
“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,” the 4chan user wrote about the image. “God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you.”
Who Is in the Backrooms Movie Cast?
The Backrooms movie is led by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.
Chiwetel has appeared in countless films, such as Love Actually, Four Brothers, Children of Men, Endgame, 2012, Salt, The Martian, Doctor Strange, and Venom: The Last Dance. As for Renate, she starred in the Academy Award-nominated film Sentimental Value, and previously appeared in Presumed Innocent.
The rest of the cast features Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, and Avan Jogia. Mark has most recently starred in The Morning Show, and has co-written and starred in the Creep film series and its spinoff series, The Creep Tapes. Finn stars in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms;, Lukita currently appears in Shrinking;, and Avan is famous for his role in the teen sitcom Victorious, and most recently in 56 Days.
