The Backrooms

On May 12, 2019, an anonymous user posted a photograph of a windowless room with yellow wallpaper and buzzing fluorescent lights to the /x/ board of 4chan. The accompanying text invited readers to imagine "noclipping" out of reality into this space. That single image sparked a collaborative horror project that would eventually catalog over 100 distinct levels within an infinite, non-Euclidean complex.

The concept evolved from a simple creepypasta into a massive mythos hosted on the Backrooms Wiki, launched in 2020. Writers contributed thousands of stories describing surreal environments ranging from mundane office spaces to physics-defying landscapes populated by entities like Hounds and Smilers. The aesthetic relies heavily on liminal spaces, evoking a sense of nostalgic unease through empty, transitional architecture.

Mainstream attention arrived in early 2022 when YouTuber Kane Parsons released a viral short film series. This momentum led to a feature film adaptation produced by A24 and directed by Parsons, released in theaters in May 2026. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, and Mark Hamill, the movie follows an architect named Clark who discovers a glowing gap in his basement leading to the yellow maze. [edit]