The Backrooms: how a teenager’s creepy YouTube series became the year’s most anticipated horror

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · May 26, 2026 · 954 words · By Adam Daniel

Digital Creator Culture Modern Horror Aesthetics Internet-to-Hollywood Pipeline

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What to know about Digital Creator Culture

The article profiles Kane Parsons, a 20-year-old filmmaker who transitioned from creating 'The Backrooms' web series on YouTube to directing a feature film with A24. It discusses the rise of 'creepypasta' and 'liminal spaces' as internet aesthetics and suggests a growing trend of Hollywood studios recruiting talent from online creator platforms.

Propaganda risk 10%

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 1

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Before Kane Parsons had a Hollywood deal, he had a cheap laptop in his bedroom, a consumer-grade camera, and a grainy image from a 4chan forum.

Why it matters

Now 20, the filmmaker known online as Kane Pixels has gone from posting lo-fi horror videos on YouTube as a teenager to directing a film with the popular studio A24.

Common ground

Its producer credits include filmmaker Shawn Levy and horror maven James Wan, and stars Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Digital Creator Culture story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Parsons uploaded the video in January 2022... the 9-minute video went from one million to seven million views within 48 hours?
How does this story connect Digital Creator Culture with Modern Horror Aesthetics over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/the-backrooms-how-a-teenagers-creepy-youtube-series-…

analyticsAnalysis

10%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 95%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 70% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

schedule Pending 4

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 2

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Claim 1: “Parsons uploaded the video in January 2022... the 9-minute video went from one million to seven million views within 48 hours.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the search results regarding the specific view count growth (1M to 7M) within 48 hours.

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Claim 2: “The wider web series has accumulated almost 200 million views across its episodes.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided in the search results regarding the total accumulated views of the web series.

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Claim 3: “Its producer credits include filmmaker Shawn Levy and horror maven James Wan, and stars Oscar nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.”

CORROBORATED

ABC News, Wikipedia, and other reviews confirm the film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, and is produced by Shawn Levy and James Wan.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is a Malaysian-born Australian filmmaker. He has primarily worked in the horror genre as the co-creator of the Saw and Insidious franchises and the creator of The Con…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wan

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian and American filmmaker and actor. He is the founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. His work has spanned numerous genres, and his films as a director have …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Levy

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — There's Someone Inside Your House is a horror novel by American author Stephanie Perkins, published on September 12, 2017, by Dutton Books. The novel's film adaptation, a slasher film of the same name…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_Someone_Inside_Your_Ho…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 4: “Now 20, the filmmaker known online as Kane Pixels has gone from posting lo-fi horror videos on YouTube as a teenager to directing a film with the popular studio A24.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (Wikipedia, Fandom, and news articles) confirm Kane Parsons is 20 years old and is directing a feature film for A24.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Backrooms is a 2026 American science fiction psychological horror film directed and co-scored by Kane Parsons (in his feature-length directorial debut) and written by Will Soodik. It is based on Parso…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backrooms_(film)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Backrooms is a science fiction horror web series created by Kane Parsons, based on the creepypasta of the same name. Presented as found footage, the series follows a fictional organization called the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backrooms_(web_series)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kane Parsons (born June 18, 2005), known online as Kane Pixels, is an American YouTuber and film director. In January 2022, Parsons began publishing the viral web series Backrooms to his YouTube chann…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Parsons

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 5: “Backrooms will open in cinemas on May 29.”

CORROBORATED

AOL and Wikipedia both reference the film 'Backrooms' with a 2026 date, and AOL specifically cites the release date as May 29, 2026.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — May is the fifth month of the year. May, MAY or may can also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_(disambiguation)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 6: “he started uploading YouTube videos from age 10, and entering his work into local festivals.”

CORROBORATED

Two separate web search articles confirm that Parsons started uploading YouTube videos at age 10 and entered work into local festivals.

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web search NEUTRAL — In January 2022, Parsons began publishing the viral web series Backrooms to his YouTube channel, based on the creepypasta of the same name. A film adaptation, ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Parsons

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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago ... Parsons started making videos at a young age, reportedly uploading to YouTube around age 10 and entering his work in local festivals. His ...
https://cosmicbook.news/who-is-kane-parsons-backrooms-direct…

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web search NEUTRAL — 8 days ago ... Parsons was already making films by then; he started uploading YouTube videos from age 10, and entering his work into local festivals. A ...
https://theconversation.com/the-backrooms-how-a-teenagers-cr…

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Claim 7: “Parsons used the Blender and Adobe After Effects software to create his first Backrooms video.”

CORROBORATED

Reddit and other technical discussions confirm the use of Blender for 3D environments and Adobe After Effects for editing/post-production.

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web search NEUTRAL — Backrooms is a science fiction horror web series created by Kane Parsons, based on the creepypasta of the same name. Presented as found footage, the series follows a fictional organization called the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backrooms_(web_series)

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web search NEUTRAL — And Kane's ability to create that realistic handheld camera shake/VHS look in his animations is incredible. What Are the Backrooms? The heart of the film is the exploration of liminal spaces.
https://nofilmschool.com/backrooms-short-film-explained

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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 1, 2022 ... Blender to actually make the backrooms so it's all cgi and then he uses adobe after effects to edit up the clips and to make everything seem ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/analog_horror/comments/shkry9/how_d…

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Claim 8: “Set in 1990, Backrooms stars Ejiofor as Clark, a furniture store owner who discovers an otherworldly portal in his basement and recruits employees to explore it with him. When Clark disappears during one of these visits, his therapist (Reinsve) goes in to rescue him.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 9: “The film was officially greenlit by A24 in 2025 – making Parsons the youngest director in the studio’s history.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 10: “Comedian and filmmaker Curry Barker, whose film Obsession (2026) was recently released to strong critical reviews and box office, followed a similar trajectory.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 11: “Kane Parsons grew up Petaluma, Northern California.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results mention Parsons is from Northern California and specifically reference an 'unassuming Northern California home' in the context of his background.

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web search NEUTRAL — Kane Parsons (born 2005 or 2006[1]), known online as Kane Pixels, is a film director, visual effects artist, YouTuber, and composer known for his web series Backrooms based on the online fiction of th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Parsons

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web search NEUTRAL — The film and its follow-ups became such a YouTube sensation that, just months after Parsons turned 17, A24 signed him to direct a feature-length adaptation of “Backrooms,” making him the youngest dire…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/movies/kane-parsons-24-yo…

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web search NEUTRAL — The unassuming Northern California home stands in sharp contrast to the Hollywood success Parsons has achieved after turning a viral YouTube horror short into a blockbuster feature film. A24.
https://dnyuz.com/2026/06/01/inside-the-unassuming-450k-cali…

verified

Claim 12: “He was 14 when he first encountered the original Backrooms image.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While evidence confirms he saw the image and is now 20, none of the provided sources explicitly state he was exactly 14 years old at the moment of first encounter.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Backrooms are a fictional location invented in a 2019 thread on the imageboard website 4chan. The Backrooms are usually portrayed as an impossibly large extradimensional complex of empty rooms, ac…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 13: “The Phillipou brothers, who had tremendous success with Talk To Me (2022) and Bring Her Back (2025), built their audience on YouTube.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 14: “In May 2019, an anonymous user on the site’s paranormal board posted a photograph of a yellow-walled hallway in response to a thread inviting people to share images that felt disquieting.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia explicitly states that The Backrooms were invented in a 2019 thread on the imageboard website 4chan.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.