What Is The Backrooms? The Creepypasta Origin Before The Movie, Explained

Creepypastas have always been a bit hit-or-miss. For every great one, there are about 20 that feel like they're trying too hard to be scary. But every now and then, a concept manages to cut through the noise solely because of its simplicity. The Backrooms happen to be one of those, and over time, have become one of the most recognizable pieces of internet horror.

Now it's getting the proper movie treatment, with a feature-length adaptation from A24. Backrooms is set to hit cinemas on May 29, 2026, and is directed by Kane Parsons, who, not that long ago, was uploading short horror videos to YouTube. The story features a more traditional premise, following a therapist who is searching for a missing patient inside the Backrooms, which is a slight deviation from what the concept originally was.

The Backrooms were never really about a plot. The yellow-colored storage space and the disorienting feeling of unease it evoked were enough to trigger the creep factor in anyone. That's also why adapting it into a movie is… interesting. It kind of forces the idea into structure, with characters, motivations, and other things the original concept never needed. Here's what you need to know about The Backrooms' origin. 

Where The Backrooms Actually Started

The Backrooms didn't start as a story in the traditional sense. There wasn't a writer building a world or setting up rules. It was much smaller than that. Almost accidental. In May 2019, a user on 4chan posted a request to the site's paranormal board, asking for images that felt "off." The image was simple: an empty office-like space with yellow walls, fluorescent lighting, and carpet that looked slightly worn.

The overall consensus was that it just felt unsettling in a way that's hard to explain. Then someone replied with a short paragraph that gave the image a name and an origin story. "If you're not careful and you noclip (a term that refers to a video game glitch) out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms."

"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 post continued. "God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you."

That was the entire concept. As it spread, people started adding to it. Across different platforms, the Backrooms became more detailed. Levels were later introduced, with Layer 0 as the original space. Entities were also incorporated into the Backrooms, so survival guides were written. Eventually, entire systems were built around something that originally didn't have any.

For a long time, the Backrooms image was basically part of the horror because no one knew where it came from. That all changed in 2024. After a collaborative online effort, the photo was traced back to a furniture store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The shot was taken to document the store's renovations in the early 2000s. The photo featured temporary walls, fluorescent lighting, and no windows, which is not unusual.

The Original Backrooms Movie Is Already Online

If you're trying to watch the Backrooms before the 2026 film, this is where expectations need a bit of adjusting. There isn't a traditional original movie. But there is something that functions like one. In 2022, Kane Parsons uploaded The Backrooms (Found Footage) to YouTube. It has a run time of just under 10 minutes and doesn't follow a typical plot.

But it captures the idea of the Backrooms effectively. It begins with a filmmaker in the 1990s recording something, before he falls and suddenly ends up in the Backrooms. From there, it's mostly exploration. Wandering through spaces that look almost the same but not quite. Moments where the environment feels unstable. And the growing sense that something else is in the space with you.

There's very little dialogue. No clear explanation. It trusts the atmosphere to do the work. Parsons expanded this into a full web series, introducing a fictional research institute called Async that discovers the Backrooms and begins experimenting with it. That addition shifts the concept slightly from accidental horror to something more controlled, and then inevitably, uncontrolled again.

What's interesting is that Parsons wasn't deeply embedded in the existing fandom when he started. He was working from the original image and concept, not the expanded lore. If you're looking for similar experiences while waiting for the feature film (which Parsons is directing), a few movies, which can be found on platforms like Netflix, HBO Max, and more, come close in tone.

Cube (1997) explores the idea of being trapped in a place that doesn't follow normal logic. Vivarium (2019) focuses on an artificial environment that becomes increasingly suffocating. And Skinamarink (2022) strips things back even further, focusing almost entirely on atmosphere alone. They're not Backrooms stories. But they understand the same core idea.