Why Are Liminal Spaces Eerie? The Case of The Backrooms


© Nicolas Valencia | Midjourney

© Nicolas Valencia | Midjourney

A24 and Atomic Monster have recently confirmed a movie adaptation of The Backrooms, a Youtube short horror film (expanded to a series) created by 17-year-old director and VFX artist Kane Parsons.

Based on the namesake creepypasta, The Backrooms is set in a seemingly infinite labyrinth of yellow-tinted, carpeted office spaces, bathed in fluorescent indoor lighting, like an abandoned building, in 1996. Its kitsch corporate aesthetic is reinforced by the imitation of the VHS tape recording style that allows Parsons to hide imperfections (or avoid an uncanny valley effect) of a simple 3D scenario created in Blender and edited in Adobe After Effects during the post-production stage.

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