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Your brain on "backrooms": The horror concept of the summer explained

Newsweek · · 835 words · By Soo Kim
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What to know about Your brain on "backrooms": The horror concept of the summer explained

The unsettling pull of liminal spaces—empty offices, endless corridors and fluorescent-lit hallways—has moved from obscure internet fascination into the mainstream with Backrooms, a Hollywood film inspired by a viral YouTube series from the movie’s director,…

Claims checked 7
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

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

What happened

The unsettling pull of liminal spaces—empty offices, endless corridors and fluorescent-lit hallways—has moved from obscure internet fascination into the mainstream with Backrooms, a Hollywood film inspired by a viral YouTube series from the movie’s director,…

Why it matters

In Backrooms, BAFTA winner and Oscar-nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Clark, a furniture salesman who stumbles through a portal into an uncanny dimension of bare rooms and maze-like hallways.

Common ground

The film builds on the quiet dread that made Parsons’ original series a viral phenomenon—and taps into something deeply psychological about how humans experience space.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.newsweek.com/entertainment/film-backrooms-horror-concept-brain-psych…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 7 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4
verified Verified By Reference 2
verified Verified 1
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Claim 1: “Chiwetel Ejiofor is a BAFTA winner and Oscar-nominee”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and IMDb explicitly state that Chiwetel Ejiofor has won a BAFTA (British Academy Film Award) and has been nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar).
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor (born 10 July 1977) is an English actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, in addition to nominatio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiwetel_Ejiofor
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Chiwetel Ejiofor is a British actor and filmmaker who has received various awards and nominations, including a British Academy Film Award and a Laurence Olivier Award. He has received additional nomin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Renate Reinsve (Norwegian: [rɛˈnɑ̀ːtə ˈraɪnˌsveː]; born 24 November 1987) is a Norwegian actress. Educated at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, she began her career on stage at Trøndelag Teater i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renate_Reinsve
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “In Backrooms, BAFTA winner and Oscar-nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Clark, a furniture salesman”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (Instagram, Fandom Wiki, and a movie review) confirm Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the character Clark, described as a furniture salesman/store owner.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 10, 2026 ... ... films, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Clark, a divorced furniture store owner and failed architect who stumbles through a portal into an endless ...
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZai6DvlHfs/?hl=en
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web search NEUTRAL — false protagonist of the horror film Backrooms, where he's portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor ... furniture salesman who cannot fulfill his dream of being an ...
https://kane-pixels-backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Clark
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 5, 2026 ... Chiwetel Ejiofor is brilliant in Backrooms, and his commercial as Captain Clark is hilarious. #backrooms #chiwetelejiofor #moviereview ...
https://www.facebook.com/DoubleToasteddotcom/posts/chiwetel-…
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Claim 3: “Carolina Estevez, a clinical psychologist at SOBA New Jersey”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including the SOBA New Jersey treatment team page and LinkedIn, confirm Dr. Carolina Estevez is a psychologist at SOBA New Jersey.
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web search NEUTRAL — Dr. Carolina Estevez, Psy.D., is a Psychologist specializing in psychological evaluations, mental health consultations, and therapy.
https://www.sobanewjersey.com/contributors/dr-carolina-estev…
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web search NEUTRAL — Psychologist · I am a clinical psychologist licensed in the State of Florida ... Psychologist. SOBA New Jersey Albizu University - Miami Campus. Miami-Fort ...
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolina-estevez-218062177
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web search NEUTRAL — Dr. Carolina Estevez Psy.D. Psychologist.
https://www.sobanewjersey.com/our-team/
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Claim 4: “Veronica West, a registered psychologist in Australia”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources from her own professional site and insurance information confirm Veronica West is a registered psychologist based in Australia (Sunshine Coast).
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web search NEUTRAL — Veronica is a registered psychologist (BPsychSc(Hons), MPH, MPsych) and Board-Approved Supervisor based on the Sunshine Coast. She offers telehealth psychology for adults and adolescents across Austra…
https://veronicawestpsychology.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Veronica West is a registered psychologist (BPsychSc(Hons), MPH, MPsych) based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.Veronica became a registered psychologist in early 2018, following three years working …
https://veronicawestpsychology.com/publications-and-speaking…
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web search NEUTRAL — Veronica West is a registered psychologist (BPsychSc(Hons), MPH, MPsych) and Board-Approved Supervisor based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
https://veronicawestpsychology.com/private-health-insurance-…
verified
Claim 5: “Backrooms, a Hollywood film inspired by a viral YouTube series from the movie’s director, Kane Parsons.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and multiple web sources confirm that Kane Parsons is directing a film titled 'Backrooms' based on his viral YouTube series.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Backrooms is a 2026 American science fiction and psychological horror film directed and co-scored by Kane Parsons in his feature-length directorial debut, and written by Will Soodik. It is a theatrica…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backrooms_(film)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Backrooms is a science fiction analog horror web series created by Kane Parsons, based on the "Backrooms" creepypasta. Presented largely as found footage, the series follows a fictional organization c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backrooms_(web_series)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Kane Parsons (born June 18, 2005), also known as Kane Pixels, is an American YouTuber, composer, filmmaker, visual effects artist, and actor. In January 2022, Parsons began publishing the viral web se…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_Parsons
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 6: “the amygdala [the part of the brain that processes emotions, especially fear] kicks in”
VERIFIED
Authoritative medical and reference sources (Cleveland Clinic, Wikipedia) confirm the amygdala's role in processing emotions, specifically fear and anxiety.
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web search NEUTRAL — The amygdala is involved in facial recognition and emotional expressions.[65] Its role in analysis of social situations stems specifically from its ability to identify and process changes in facial fe…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 11, 2023 ... The amygdala is an area of your brain responsible for emotional processing, especially fear and anxiety. It also connects emotions to memory ...
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24894-amygdala
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web search NEUTRAL — Together these interesting findings suggest that chronic stress increases emotional responding including fear and anxiety responses, in part through the local ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2882379/
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Claim 7: “Peter Carnochan, a psychologist and psychoanalyst in California”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web results confirm Peter Carnochan is a psychologist and psychoanalyst based in California (specifically San Francisco/Bay Area).
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web search NEUTRAL — Peter Carnochan is a compassionate, clear thinking psychologist and executive coach. For the last thirty years, he has worked with clients to help them unknot problematic feelings and develop more res…
https://www.petercarnochan.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — About Peter. My father came out to California at the beginning of the Sixties to teach at Stanford.Finally, after returning to the Bay area, I was trained as a Psychoanalyst at the Psychoanalytic Inst…
https://www.petercarnochan.com/about
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web search NEUTRAL — Peter Carnochan, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private practice in San Francisco. He studied philosophy at Harvard University and completed his post-graduate work at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Nort…
https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-121-peter-carnochan/
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.