5 Essential Backrooms Videos to Watch on YouTube After the Movie
Polygon highlights five YouTube videos that expand on Kane Parsons’ Backrooms lore after the A24 film, offering deeper context and fragmented narratives tied to the phenomenon.
Kane Parsons’ Backrooms YouTube series predates the A24 film and consists of experimental mood pieces rather than complete stories. Created in his mid-teens using Blender effects and sound design, the videos are unanchored digital remnants that suggest a larger mystery without fully revealing it. While some clips connect loosely, such as a 30-second highway clip appearing in a later 13-minute video, the pieces remain fragmented and often end mid-scene. The series lacks a fully resolved narrative, though recurring characters and recurring locations hint at an emerging story.
The original nine-minute video, Found Footage, remains the most self-contained narrative in the series and has amassed over 94 million views. It follows a teenager who falls into the Backrooms while filming with friends, presenting classic found-footage horror through a camera’s point of view. Several later videos mirror this structure, but Found Footage stands out for its clear beginning-to-end storytelling. The video remains the best standalone experience for new viewers seeking the essence of the Backrooms phenomenon.
Async Research Institute’s first breach into the Backrooms is documented in a less than two-minute concept sketch video. This clip, tied to the institute’s technological approach, differs from the accidental “noclip” method seen elsewhere and reflects the original 4chan post that launched the Backrooms creepypasta. Though it offers little narrative substance, it marks the origin of Async’s involvement and provides insight into how the institute conceptualizes entering the Backrooms.
Async’s exploration of the Backrooms continues in a 14-minute video where cameraman Marvin Leigh documents a grid of deep square openings. After falling through one, Leigh explores lower levels in a first-person POV reminiscent of the original Found Footage. The video ends abruptly, with Marvin’s fate clarified in later installments like Report, Reunion, and Static Dead End. These connections help piece together an ongoing narrative across the series.