By now, everyone must have heard about A24’s Backrooms, which released on May 29 and since then has been a major disruptor at the box office. A movie that has its roots in the Kane Parson’s Backrooms Creepypasta on YouTube, which took the platform by storm back in 2021 has now grossed over $220 million globally on a mere budget of less than $10 million. However, the film’s YouTube origins have made many curious about the best way to experience this breakout success.

So, what is the answer to this dilemma - is it necessary to watch the YouTube videos before the movie, or is there no need at all?

To put it bluntly, there is no need to watch the Backrooms YouTube videos before watching the Kane Parsons-directed movie. For the unversed, it might seem important to become familiar with the foundational material of the film to better their experience of watching it on the big screen. But this does not seem to be the case.

A few months ago, Parson discreetly disclosed in a Discord conversation with fans that the planned movie is entirely in-canon with the YouTube series and even seems to be set in the 1990s. Additionally, as the project was created as a stand-alone narrative that may amuse viewers who are not yet familiar with the premise of Backrooms, it is not precisely a sequel to the ARG.  

There are reasons to enter A24’s Backrooms with no prior knowledge. If you are unfamiliar with the original work, you can feel as if you are missing something, which could make the oddity even more noticeable. There is not much of a drawback if you choose to see the series before the film, even if the popular opinion is otherwise.

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Anyhow, this also leads to the question of how the movie is different and what the story is here.

In the record-breaking 2026 movie Backrooms, a therapist must travel into the unknown to save her patient after he disappears into a realm beyond reality. The spooky, maze-like environment known as the Backrooms is accessed through an odd gateway that first appears in the basement of a furniture dealership. This dimension is shown as an apparently never-ending labyrinth of fluorescent-lit, yellowed rooms that resemble the transitional areas made popular by online horror culture.

The cinematic adaptation creates a tense, atmospheric horror experience by using aspects from Kane Parsons' short films, which defined the Backrooms' style of musty carpets, humming fluorescent lights, and late-90s/early-2000s deja vu. Going by all of this, it seems to be like a different story altogether rising from the Backrooms lore on YouTube. It now depends on individuals which way they want to experience the movie.

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What would your approach be to watching Backrooms? Do let us know.