Kane Parsons, the 20-year-old [1] director of the A24 horror film “Backrooms,” said the project's origins and success in a recent BBC Newsbeat interview.
The film's release marks a significant milestone for the studio and the director. Parsons is the youngest director in A24 history [2], signaling a shift in how major production houses are scouting talent from internet-native creators.
During the interview, Parsons said the creative process behind the series and the conceptual use of liminal spaces. These spaces, transitional areas like empty hallways or waiting rooms, form the atmospheric core of the film's horror. He also shared advice for young filmmakers and touched upon the possibility of future sequels to the franchise.
The commercial performance of “Backrooms” has been substantial since it opened in theaters on a Friday [3]. According to reports, the film grossed more than double the amount of money any other movie made in the U.S. over the past weekend [4].
Parsons' transition from an independent creator to a studio director reflects the growing influence of digital-first storytelling. The interview highlights his approach to maintaining the unsettling essence of the original concept while scaling the production for a global cinema audience. By leveraging the specific psychology of isolation and architectural uncanny, Parsons has tapped into a modern anxiety that resonates with a wide demographic.
“Parsons is the youngest director in A24 history”
The massive opening weekend and A24's decision to hire a 20-year-old director suggest a pivot toward 'internet-born' intellectual property. As liminal space aesthetics move from niche online forums to mainstream cinema, studios are increasingly valuing a creator's ability to build a pre-existing digital community over traditional film school credentials.
