At just 20 years old, Kane Parsons represents a new wave of filmmakers emerging from internet culture. His feature-length debut, “Backrooms,” developed under the aegis of A24, explores themes resonant with Generation Z, weaving digital sensibilities with traditional horror motifs. Parsons directed the project after his 2022 short film “The Backrooms (Found Footage),” an eerie, digitally created space inspired by early 2000s internet aesthetics, garnered over 80 million views online.

“Backrooms” centers on Clark, portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who discovers a labyrinthine, seemingly endless office environment beneath his furniture store. This setting, described as a disorienting, repetitive maze, evokes both the classic myth of the labyrinth and the modern phenomenon of liminal spaces—vacant, surreal places that provoke unease. The film’s unsettling atmosphere echoes Gen Z’s familiarity with digital landscapes and their anxieties about artificial intelligence and mediated realities.

Experts note that horror often reflects the cultural and psychological anxieties of its era. Adam Lowenstein, director of the Horror Studies Center at the University of Pittsburgh, explains that “Backrooms” channels contemporary fears around work, identity, and the pervasive influence of technology. The story’s maze, mirroring the procedural generation techniques used in video games, metaphorically captures the sensation of being trapped in monotonous, algorithmically driven environments—a sentiment that resonates with young viewers who have come of age amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the accelerating digitalization of daily life.

Many in the younger generation identify with the film’s depiction of confinement and frustration. Sydney Andrews, a 23-year-old production designer, described the movie as tapping into widespread unease about artificial intelligence’s rapid rise. Parsons himself has publicly expressed concerns about AI, characterizing some forms as “genuinely harmful.”

Parsons’s work is deeply informed by video game culture. He has cited games like “Portal 2” and experiences in “Minecraft” as key influences, employing gaming terminology such as “clipping” to describe the protagonist’s transition into the backrooms. This fusion of formats underscores how Gen Z views reality through a “gamified” lens, reinforced by digital tools and platforms that transform everyday spaces into sites of exploration and discovery.

The film also examines the intersection of work and home life, depicting a blurry boundary that is increasingly common for younger adults. Clark sleeps on a showroom floor, while his employees, portrayed as listless and disengaged, are recruited for precarious gig work tied to navigating the backrooms. This portrayal highlights generational concerns about unstable employment and limited opportunities, themes echoed by Aidan Walker, an internet culture researcher, who described the real world as a restrictive labyrinth of often unseen forces.

Parsons’s rise from an anonymous creator to a prominent director is itself a narrative intertwined with the film’s themes. Unlike the digitally fabricated sets of his viral short, the feature’s production included a substantial physical set, illustrating a transition from the intangible digital realm to tangible Hollywood filmmaking. The marketing campaign has notably spotlighted Parsons’s personal story, sometimes even more than that of the film’s established stars.

“Backrooms” concludes ambiguously, leaving audiences uncertain about characters’ fates and the boundary between the maze and reality—a narrative choice reinforcing the pervasive unease and questions about agency in an increasingly algorithm-driven world.

The film thus serves as both a generational touchstone and a contemporary horror exploration, capturing how young adults today navigate, and sometimes feel trapped by, the complex interplay of technology, work, and identity.