The criticism of this new horror hit completely misunderstands Hollywood history

The criticism of this new horror hit completely misunderstands Hollywood history Credit: A24 By  Dan Selcke Published May 31, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT Dan Selcke is a pop culture fanatic who writes and talks about movies, TV and books, the nerdier the better. He's been working on news, reviews, editorials, interviews and podcasts for over 10 years. Dan has been published in The A.V. Club, Metro, Salon and elsewhere. He's interviewed actors and filmmakers from shows like Dune: Prophecy and The Rings of Power. When he's run out of things to write, Dan operates a YouTube channel where he dives into more depth on all things movies, TV, and pop culture. Sign in to your MakeUseOf account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Backrooms is a new horror film from A24, based on the series of Backrooms short films that director Kane Parsons has been releasing on his YouTube channel since 2022. And the original germ of the story can be traced to a creepy bit of internet folklore . Backrooms is something of a home-grown internet success story; the movie taking in over $70 million in its debut weekend, demolishing its $10 million budget. Kane Parsons is all of 20 years old, and was just 16 when he started uploading his Backrooms shorts to YouTube. Some people have had a hard time believing that such a young director could make a movie this successful, and there's been chatter online about whether Backrooms was actually "shadow directed" by a mysterious, older benefactor. It wasn't, of course; Parsons has been the director of record for years, and his own cast has shot down the rumors that he had help on set. In fact, Parsons is part of a long line of young directors who could point the way forward for the movies. Backrooms director is in good company Bring on the teen takeovers Hollywood is like any other