Backrooms is a reminder that the internet is the future of cinema

Entertainment Backrooms is a reminder that the internet is the future of cinema Kane Parsons joins plenty of other YouTubers who’ve made their way to the big screen. By Devindra Hardawar May 30, 2026 9:00 am EST A24 The story behind the Backrooms is almost as trippy as the film itself. Kane Parsons taught himself how to use Adobe After Effects and Blender as a teenager, experimented with online short films, and rose to online fame with his first Backrooms short in 2022 (which now has nearly 80 million views). At just 17, he was tapped by A24 to direct a feature-length version of the story. As I write this, Parsons is still not old enough to drink. That Backrooms exists as a feature hitting cinemas around the world is impressive, even more so because it's also a genuinely solid horror film with a skillful application of tension and dread that belies the director's young age. It's also yet another sign that Hollywood's future lies in talent that comes from the internet. Between this film, the recent horror thriller Obsession , Markiplier's self-released Iron Lung and the work of the Philippou brothers ( Let Me In , Bring Her Back ), some of the most intriguing movies of the last few years all come from YouTube creators. While it may seem strange to think of directors jumping from mobile screens to cinemas, historically, new talent for Hollywood has always come from the mediums that were cheap to film, and gave artists room to hone their skills. In the 1940s and '50s , future Hollywood directors like Sidney Lumet, Arthur Penn and John Frankenheimer got their start directing live TV. That's also where Steven Spielberg made his debut, directing episodes of Night Gallery , Columbo and the TV film Duel (which he made at 24). By the '70s and '80s, we started to see the rise of commercial and music video directors, like Ridley Scott and David Fincher, as well as others coming from campy straight to VHS releases and adult films. The internet is simply the next major proving g