The ‘agonisingly tense’ film Backrooms is easily one of 2026’s most unsettling horrors

Oscar-nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor had every faith in 20-year-old director Kane Parsons (Picture: PA)

Director Kane Parsons was just 16 when he posted The Backrooms on YouTube. 

A nine-minute found-footage horror of a man being chased through a seemingly infinite maze of empty yellow rooms, it instantly went viral as the scariest thing on the internet, racking up 78million views, a YouTube series and a deal with hipster film studio A24 for a feature spin-off.

Given that he made the original on his laptop, this was a serious upgrade. Parsons (born the same year as YouTube) apparently didn’t set out to make a major feature at all. But he’s got one, with two Oscar-nominated heavyweigh...