Kane Parsons, the director of critically-acclaimed horror thriller Backrooms, has said he’s “certainly” planning sequels.
Chiwetel Ejiofor, star of Backrooms – May 2024 – Famous – Independent Film Awards, London
The 20-year-old helms the movie, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, which tells the story of the furniture owner’s mental breakdown – and sees him transported to another dimension of a never-ending series of rooms, full of memories of his past.
The film has already been tipped for awards season success, and Kane told Rolling Stone that he’s far from done with the story.
He said: “I think this is a world-building exercise on top of what I’ve already done. I’m well into it, and plan on certainly continuing it. Backrooms is not done!”
Elsewhere in the interview, Kane reflected on how Backrooms looks at the “messiness” in the human mind – and how he found it helpful in coming to terms with everything he’s been through mentally in his life.
He explained: “I think the film is very much dealing with the messiness of the fact that we as humans are not built to have a perfectly clear head, with, like, a perfect understanding of reality and perfect memory.
“Everything we feel and think is built around a system that has evolved for a very long time just for the purpose of being a successful organism that can spread all over the planet and spread anywhere, really.
So, you know, there’s information everywhere and we only see a small sliver. Our memories are just an imprint left in our brain that is fleeting and designed to help us prepare for the future better. So, there are so many ways in which sometimes the systems that are in place just don’t mesh properly.
“I find a lot of sympathy in all of that. I find it to be immensely neutralising. It puts me at peace, personally. I know that’s not the case for everyone. It’s at least the case with this hard sci-fi approach. I like to go into Backrooms and look at the psychology.”
With regards to what it is he likes about the horror movie genre as a whole, Kane explained that he’s more a fan of “slow burn” scary movies – rather than “immediately scary, heart going” ones.
He concluded: “I think it just gives me a greater appreciation for most of life. I appreciate how it usually tends to give me a focus on challenging core beliefs that I’m uncomfortable with.
“It doesn’t pull a lot of punches, typically.”