Kafkaesque Backrooms

Something astounding happened. In summer 2026, at the same time a Star Wars movie came out, two low-to-mid budget horror movies dominated the box office, both of them brilliant new school visions of very young filmmakers. One of them, Backrooms, is an improbable movie featuring experimental architectural shots brimming with symbolism, deriving its horror from psychological trauma and the failed promises of neoliberalism. That movie shot by a 20-something based on a niche internet phenomenon is the best performing film for A24, that super hip movie studio that gave us Everything Everywhere All At Once, Marty Supreme, Hereditary and Midsommar. At a budget of 10 million dollars it right now sits at $256,884,832 at the box office. The movie roots itself in internet lore of urban exploration and liminal spaces and is basically an adaptation of a cursed image posted to 4chan in 2018, first turned into a series of YT-vids, then into a movie by the same director.That, alone, have all kinds of…