Episode 119 - Backrooms

Backrooms (2026)

Directed by: Kane Parsons Written by: Will Sudick Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell IMDB: Backrooms (2026)

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Episode Summary

In this episode of Mindframes, Michael and Dave discuss Backrooms (2026), an A24 horror film directed by 20-year-old YouTube filmmaker and wunderkind Kane Parsons — believed to be the youngest person to ever direct a widely released feature film.

The discussion covers the film's expansion of the internet liminal space phenomenon into a feature-length narrative, its Tarkovsky-esque atmosphere, and the remarkable work of cinematographer Jeremy Cox and production designer Danny Vermette in bringing 30,000 square feet of meticulously constructed sets to life. The conversation digs deep into why liminal spaces resonate so powerfully with contemporary audiences — and with Gen Z in particular — framing the backrooms not just as a horror setting but as a cultural symptom of a society in uneasy transition.

Both hosts award the film five stars, with Michael calling it the best film he's seen this year.

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🧠 Thematic Discussion

Backrooms explores the psychology of liminal space — transitional, empty environments that feel familiar yet deeply wrong — and uses them as an externalization of Clark's inability to move on from divorce, grief, and unresolved anger.

The film suggests that the backrooms are not merely a supernatural threat, but a space that reflects what we bring into it. Clark, living inside his furniture store rather than moving forward with his life, is already inhabiting a kind of liminal space before he ever finds the portal. The backrooms literalize his psychological stasis. The key scene where Mary stops being a detached therapist and tells Clark plainly that the problem is not where he is but that he refuses to move — functions as the film's emotional thesis.

More broadly, the episode argues that our collective fascination with liminal spaces is less allegory or conscious metaphor and more a psychological aesthetic symptom: these spaces — fluorescent-lit, carpeted, emptied of purpose — resonate because they look like the places our society is abandoning, and feel like the threshold we are all standing on. The backrooms are what happens when transitional space becomes permanent home.

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⏱️ Timestamps

Time	Segment
00:00	Intro & welcome
~02:00	Introducing Backrooms and Kane Parsons
~04:00	Plot overview & synopsis
~05:30	The liminal space / backrooms internet phenomenon
~07:30	Cast discussion — Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell
~15:30	Technical analysis — sound design, cinematography, production design
~26:00	⚠️ Spoiler-free reviews — Michael & Dave both award 5 stars
~35:00	⚠️ SPOILER SECTION BEGINS
~35:00	Defining liminal spaces — film history, David Lynch, The Shining, Stalker, Annihilation
~43:00	Why liminal spaces scare us — uncanny valley, psychological resonance
~49:00	Why now? Cultural anxiety, societal transition, the doom-scrolling generation
~54:00	Clark's arc — psychological stasis, avoidance, the backrooms as mirror
~60:00	Mary's arc — confronting pain as the path out
~62:00	The scientists / MRI company — and fears for Backrooms 2
~68:00	A24, Neon, Cannes, and closing tangents
~70:00	Closing thoughts & contact info

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🎞️ Films & Directors Mentioned

• Stalker (1979) — Andrei Tarkovsky
• Solaris (1972) — Andrei Tarkovsky
• Annihilation (2018) — Alex Garland
• Men (2022) — Alex Garland
• The Shining (1980) — Stanley Kubrick
• Skinamarink (2022) — Kyle Edward Ball
• Exit 8 — referenced as liminal space film
• Lost Highway (1997) — David Lynch
• Mulholland Drive (2001) — David Lynch
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me / Twin Peaks (series) — David Lynch
• Long Legs (2024) — Oz Perkins
• The Monkey (2025) — Oz Perkins
• Keeper — Oz Perkins
• The Black Coat's Daughter / February (2015) — Oz Perkins
• Hocum — referenced for comparison (sound design and scare level)
• Presence (2025) — referenced for scare level comparison
• Life of Chuck (2024) — referenced
• Creep (2014) — Mark Duplass
• 12 Years a Slave (2013) — referenced re: Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Sentimental Value (2025) — referenced re: Renate Reinsve
• Worst Person in the World (2021) — referenced re: Renate Reinsve
• Fjord (2026) — referenced; won Palme d'Or at Cannes
• Boys Go to Jupiter (2025) — referenced re: young filmmakers
• Pearl (2022) / X / MaXXXine — Ti West trilogy, referenced re: A24 sequels
• Talk to Me 2 — referenced re: A24 sequels
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) — André Øvredal
• The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) — André Øvredal
• Voyage of the Demeter (2023) — André Øvredal

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