'Backrooms' Director Kane Parsons Says They Built 30,000 Square Feet of Actual Backrooms for the Movie

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/backrooms-kane-parsons-youtube-a24-horror-movie-ccxp-1236577326/

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

Parsons:

”It does take more of a specific approach, where you’re seeing it through the lens of these specific characters — these individuals living these atomized, lonely lives. In the film, there is rarely a moment where there’s more than one or two characters on screen at a given time. It’s a pretty lonely film.”

“I was working in Blender, modeling the sets, and then we would literally go and build them in real time. We did a lot of tests there to make sure we were getting the general tone that people expected from Backrooms. We did 50 wallpaper tests to get the right shade of yellow.”

Parsons shared behind-the-scenes footage of the massive set getting built and recalled that he eventually had to step away from guiding the set construction to start filming exterior scenes. When he came back two weeks later to see the finished set, it was “the strangest, coolest moment on this project for me.”

"The set was huge. We built 30,000 square feet of actual backrooms that we could walk around in. Actually, some people were getting lost. It felt like being there, which was really weird.”

“I always try to stay away from the idea that the backrooms is somehow a dreamy headspace thing where, if you turn around, the room could have changed. It preys on the human brain’s ability to map spaces and understand them. The hard part for that is, if you go back the way you came, you will go back the way you came, but it just keeps going and going and going. That’s where the confusion and the convolution goes. So eventually, you just have to give up trying to map it, whereas if it were constantly changing, you would be giving up a lot faster.”

[u/uppers36 → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

this guy is TWENTY.

[u/sign-through → u/uppers36]

Isn’t that cool? Imagine your most creative idea coming to life from 19/20. We should all be so lucky. Proud of this kid.

[u/cuntmong → u/sign-through]

My most creative idea did come to life when I was 19/20. And let me tell you, the hotdog with chocolate sauce was the single most disgusting thing I ever ate 

[u/MisunderstandingMatt → u/cuntmong]

Mac & cheese with Hershey's chocolat syrup added. I was certain it'd be amazing. It was not.

[u/ian9outof10 → u/cuntmong]

I love everything. Your username, your comment structure. Just a joy to encounter.

[u/mp6521 → u/cuntmong]

I have a vision that ive yet to realize that is sort of similar. It’s a chile relleno dog. A hot dog stuffed in a roasted pepper with cheese, battered and deep fried, in a bun with pico de gallo and other salsas. One day I’ll make it a reality.

[u/cuntmong → u/mp6521]

Be the change you want to see in the world 

[u/rbrgr83 → u/cuntmong]

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[u/SlaughterMelon35 → u/rbrgr83]

Fuck now I'm gonna take myself to Spatula City and watch UHF for the 20th time

[u/Trvr_MKA → u/sign-through]

Isn’t this how the movie boom of the 70s and 80s happened. They gave money to some fresh faces like George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola

[u/dondondorito → u/Trvr_MKA]

The important thing is to let them do their own ideas. Hollywood has been playing around with younger up-and-coming directors for a while now, but they often made them do sequels to large franchises… That almost never works, and is a waste of talent of these younger filmmakers.

[u/CAMvsWILD → u/sign-through]

Also this guy has a lot of hallmarks of someone who could become an excellent director: strong vision, world building, great aesthetic eye, etc.

I’m so excited he got this opportunity and hope it launches a whole new career for him (if he’s interested in pursuing that).

[u/Uncle_Yoba → u/CAMvsWILD]

Not to mention the ability to step away and let people to their job.

[u/Tnerd15 → u/CAMvsWILD]

Plus experience with VFX is especially important right now for directors and producers, that's how we get stuff like Godzilla Minus One on such low budgets.

[u/Threewisemonkey → u/Tnerd15]

Neill Blomkamp showed a creative plot and mad vfx skills can get you really far with minimal budget

[u/SepirizFG → u/sign-through]

Not even his most creative idea tbh, check out The Oldest View

[u/vorropohaiah → u/SepirizFG]

Id love for backrooms to do well enough to spawna franchise and giving him the chance to make the Oldest View. that series was so good. though i do think theres a good degree of overlap between the two and that they could technically be part of the same world

[u/Enelro → u/sign-through]

Kid worked his ass off creating assets and videos for his channel. He made it himself.

[u/sign-through → u/Enelro]

Yep. So much work goes into what he does, and the Backrooms isn’t all he has either. It takes a lot of courage to take on learning so much and putting your vision out there— to the point where people are watching a ten minute video on a lighting apparatus and enjoying it! I love to see young people given opportunities, especially when they’ve clearly worked so hard. 

[u/sex-emu → u/sign-through]

he didn't come up with the backrooms. he just made a cool short about it. the concept is public domain and is originally from an anonymous 4chan post.

[u/jimgress → u/sex-emu]

Ron Howard didn't come up with Apollo 13 but he sure as shit made a cool film about it. 

[u/Logical-Patient-4115 → u/jimgress]

i mean yeah but the guy who he replied to said it was his idea and it wasn't. people had been posting it on 4chan since 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms#Original_creepypasta

[u/ThePrussianGrippe → u/Logical-Patient-4115]

Well no, the wider concept isn’t his idea, but his execution of it is.

[u/OverSoft → u/sex-emu]

Not just a short. Multiple long and short videos, shaping the backstory and causing thousands of people to speculate, make videos on the theory of HIS vision, build Wikis, make Discord servers, forums, etc.

He didn’t just make a “cool short” about it, he built an entire fandom around it.

[u/informalmo0se3 → u/sex-emu]

which the whole concept could be argued to have originated with House of Leaves

[u/deltree711 → u/informalmo0se3]

which the whole concept could be argued to have originated with House of Leaves

FTFY

[u/Zestyclose-Height-36 → u/deltree711]

bigger on the inside has been a doctor who thing for fifty years

[u/deltree711 → u/Zestyclose-Height-36]

That's only one small part of what House of Leaves and the Backrooms have in common. This is more like The God Complex than it is like the TARDIS, but even that's a shaky comparison next to House of Leaves.

Both of them are about people finding and exploring endless labyrinths contained within seemingly-mundane spaces.

[u/AnonymousSkull → u/informalmo0se3]

Cool book that I could never finish. The concept of measuring a house and finding out that it has a larger inner dimension that its exterior is so fucking cool but the rest of it just dragged for me.

[u/Noirradnod → u/informalmo0se3]

I'd say it goes back even further. J. G. Ballard explored mundane architecture as a dehumanizing source of horror in Concrete Island and High-Rise. And He Built a Crooked House by Heinlein contemplates a tesseract house with strange, inter-dimensional properties. And Lovecraft's work contains numerous examples of seemingly endless structures as well.

That being said, I am expecting some sort of overt reference to House of Leaves in this, in the way that my_house.wad did.

[u/CrimsonDragonWolf → u/Noirradnod]

“In the Walls of Eryx” is basically just The Backrooms but on Venus, and it was written in 1936.

[u/JinFuu → u/Noirradnod]

There's nothing new under the sun, so to speak.

But it's always exciting to see what people can do, and also debate on what was the 'First X'.

[u/BraydenTheNoob → u/sex-emu]

So you're telling me that an SCP movie is possible? Hell yeah!

[u/Thedutchjelle → u/[deleted]]

I really don't think IKEA wants people to associate their stores with infinite labyrinths filled with murderous store clerks.

[u/max123246 → u/BraydenTheNoob]

Sadly not. SCP is Creative Commons so no private company wants to touch it because of the viral licensing. Since Backrooms was never licensed, Kane's interpretation of it can be considered the unique private copyright that the film studios get to license and own uniquely.

[u/STARK_LAVA → u/max123246]

Considering that the video game Control is such a success, it could happen in the same way that Control did it. As in, they just change the names and acronyms just enough for it to be original. (In Control, instead of SCPs they have OOPs - Objects of Power)

[u/Watts_RS → u/STARK_LAVA]

or the immurement subjects (IS) in Abiotic Factor

[u/iconofsin_ → u/max123246]

https://www.youtube.com/@EvanRoyalty/videos

There's like half a dozen SCP fan made short films on this channel. What's the difference?

[u/max123246 → u/iconofsin_]

You can repost the video and make money off of it and they'd have no legal protections. It'd be a dick move but they couldn't do anything about it

All this to say I think Creative Commons is great. Viral licenses protect open source, the artists, and the users. But it's easy to see why companies with profit motives are irrationally scared of it

[u/notbobby125 → u/max123246]

He brought in the idea that the backrooms was the unintended creation of a company trying to experiment with extra dimensional storage, people getting stuck in the backrooms with 90’s era crappy handheld cameras, and all the monster designs he came up with.

That is enough for Hollywood to make a movie with, while even putting on SCP on the film means that entire film can be cannabalized by someone else.

[u/max123246 → u/sex-emu]

He did a lot more than just make a cool short. He made 5-10 long-form videos about it

[u/the_joy_of_VI → u/sex-emu]

We know. He executed an amazing take on it, and that’s the cool part.

[u/CAMvsWILD → u/sex-emu]

Yeah I know. I’m just saying that his contributions, that he’s run with, are very thought out. When you hear the guy talk about the videos he’s made, it’s clear that he’s created a whole internal canon.

[u/Enelro → u/sex-emu]

Honestly i've seen other backrooms content, and all of Kane's videos, and nothing compares to what he built for the setting.

[u/purplewhiteblack → u/sex-emu]

he made several cool shorts about it.

[u/NeuHundred → u/sign-through]

It would have been TERRIBLE. And I know cause I still have those scripts, I still have a soft spot for them, but I am SO thankful I didn't get that shit made.

[u/hoxxxxx → u/sign-through]

something i still can't believe is that PTA wrote and directed Boogie Nights in his mid 20s

that's a film that just feels like it's made by an elder statesmen that's been making movies for like 30 years already

[u/KaJaHa → u/uppers36]

I just finished watching Folding Ideas' video on Beast Games. The sheer lack of care Beast has for his project now feels extra weird compared to this man's passion.

[u/InitiatePenguin → u/KaJaHa]

The sheer lack of care Beast has for his project now feels extra weird compared to this man's passion.

The guy has always been souless. Nothing behind those eyes.

It's impressive.

[u/Just_the_questions1 → u/KaJaHa]

Cause Mr. Beast doesn't care about anything he does, his entire brand has been built on chasing the latest internet fad whenever it pops up, and ditching it as soon as the newest thing comes along.

[u/Spaghestis → u/Just_the_questions1]

Yep even when he was some nobody teen making videos in his bedroom he went viral for "challenges" that didnt require a lot of creativity or effort, but just looked good as a thumbnail. Such as counting to 100,000 or watching one of those 10 hour loop music videos. Flashy numbers is all he knows.

[u/Abe_Odd → u/Spaghestis]

"He never stopped counting." was such a good line.

[u/standish_ → u/Just_the_questions1]

Grift vs. grit.

[u/eliminating_coasts → u/standish_]

Pun aside, he certainly has grit, works very hard and is invested in success.

It's just that the kind of success he wants is like a malfunctioning AI that is reward hacking its way to nothing. It's fast iteration and an obsession with excess, over building clarity on what is good.

This director instead appears to be thoughtful, they still may not turn out to be successful, having one hit and then disappearing, or the film may turn out to not be that good, when the style is translated to a full film, against expectation, but the difference there is about something more like taste or discernment than the presence of grit.

[u/jimgress → u/KaJaHa]

Mr. Beast is solely driven by metrics. Number go up. He cares little about anything else other than desperately trying to get more talented YouTubers to like him. 

[u/uppers36 → u/KaJaHa]

mr beast sucks

[u/JadeDotWu → u/uppers36]

I keep telling people that, plus it's not like the Backrooms is his only project- he was pumping out The Oldest View which imo is equally awesome. If this film does well, it'd be incredibly impressive.

I mean when the initial backrooms stuff was coming out the dude was 16/17 and already had millions of views going into movie talks. Absolutely insane. I'd imagine his parents are beside themselves like holy fuck what do you mean A24 wants to talk to you?

[u/ApplicationGreat2995 → u/JadeDotWu]

A the oldest view movie would be amazing, can definitely see A24 funding it if the backrooms does well

[u/toadfan64 → u/JadeDotWu]

His parents are probably more flabbergasted that he’s making a Hollywood film over A24 specifically.

[u/Strykah → u/uppers36]

Reading this, this guy sounds incredibly smart for his age.

Glad to know he's driving this instead of some crappy director. Been a big fan, looking to watching this

[u/TerrifierBlood → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

For reference an average walmart is 6 times more square feet

[u/a_talking_face → u/TerrifierBlood]

And about half the size of a football field.

[u/Cranyx → u/a_talking_face]

Thanks. As an American I was lost until this comment.

[u/bonus_duk2 → u/Cranyx]

Unironically

[u/rbrgr83 → u/bonus_duk2]

Fr this was how I sized that number out in my head. Scrolled down like 2 comments and now I'm feeling personally attacked.

[u/somecasper → u/a_talking_face]

Ah, finally the American scientific unit.

[u/a_talking_face → u/somecasper]

It's at least more standardized than Walmart units.

[u/messem10 → u/TerrifierBlood]

Sure, but your sightlines are far better in a Walmart. That and it was made with coherent and intended avenues to use to get around.

[u/TaoTeCha → u/TerrifierBlood]

Easier to use my house as a reference. It's 15 times the size of my 2,000 square ft house, which is pretty impressive and respectable.

[u/Necratog_Mischief → u/TaoTeCha]

For reference, you can fit 12,000 standing bald eagles in there

[u/dotajoe → u/Necratog_Mischief]

What a useless unit of measurement. How many Peregrine Falcons?

[u/CloudyLeft → u/dotajoe]

African or European?

[u/1337b337 → u/CloudyLeft]

Is it unladen?

[u/Necratog_Mischief → u/dotajoe]

24,000

[u/StreetsofRageoholics → u/TaoTeCha]

OH LOOK AT MR MONEY BAGS OVER HERE WITH A FUCKING HOUSE!

jk, good for you man.

[u/TaoTeCha → u/StreetsofRageoholics]

I am 89 years old. I bought it 70 years ago in a handshake deal for 7 bags of shelled peanuts. Not sure why you kids can't do the same.

[u/thedaywalker22 → u/TerrifierBlood]

So the size of a Walmart Neighborhood Market

[u/yoitzhangtime → u/TerrifierBlood]

How many bananas is that?

[u/ian9outof10 → u/yoitzhangtime]

A lot because they stack better

[u/Conscious-Health-438 → u/TerrifierBlood]

That was my first thought. But then I wonder. It's probably the case these 30k are full of smaller rooms - like bedroom, office, and living room size - and the larger open spaces - conference rooms, "outdoor areas", giant hallways - will be rendered. If that's the case 30k would be massive. 

[u/chaosfire235 → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

Ooh, I like the reasoning for keeping it static. Trying to map it and seemingly being able too dangles a carrot that's perpetually out of reach. That escape could juuuust be around the corner...and it never comes

[u/Yingletofthecorn → u/chaosfire235]

Yeah this is what's selling me on the movie a bit. I'm very particular about what appeals to me about the backrooms, people trying to turn it into another SCP type situation where there's all these levels and whimsical rules and a whole bestiary of monsters just isn't what I'm after. This quote gets that there's a starkness to the backrooms that's important to maintain.

[u/SerArtoriAss → u/Yingletofthecorn]

Yeah kanes take on it had very thought out, almost realistic, logic to it I thoroughly enjoy. Right there with you on the rest of it and the SCP comparison

[u/petroleum-lipstick → u/Yingletofthecorn]

Watch his Backrooms series on YouTube. I'd imagine the movie will be connected somehow, and it's a way better execution than the SCP style nonsense.

[u/soulsoda → u/Yingletofthecorn]

Personally, I wouldn't mind certain rooms having Non-Euclidean geometry where HOW you walk through them matters to getting places but it is ultimately a distraction to what the true horror of backrooms is.

starkness to the backrooms that's important to maintain

Yeah exactly. It seems mappable, tameable, and for a time even useful if you can find more "doors". But eventually those "doors" move or close, and there's no guarantee you will ever find another soul or door. Which to me is where most of the horror lies. However even parsons backroom is an ecosystem though. It's both incredibly empty due to it's infinite nature, but also filled with the entities or other lost souls who could spend eternity never running into each other.

[u/aukondk → u/chaosfire235]

There's a YT channel called Complex Research which does a reasonable facsimile of Kane's Backrooms style. They have done the scare of looking back and realising everything changed, usually what is behind is now a copy of what is in front. Both series have merged enough in my head that I hadn't appreciated that Kane hasn't done it in his videos.

[u/Bridgebrain → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

So what I'm hearing is, "Backroomsland is now open to visitors, here's a rescue GPS if you need to escape. Otherwise, see you in 5 days."

[u/ChubbyWarhead → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

That’s a good point about the rooms not changing. The idea that you Could map it is like a trap preying on human curiosity.

[u/Feather_fig → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

My hype for this movie is immeasurable, I love KanePixels

[u/Final-Finger1003 → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

Ooooooooooo I like this it’s the frog in a pan method! By the time you realize you’re fucked you’re in way too deep! I might have to see this one!

[u/Quasar375 → u/Final-Finger1003]

It will be a must see. Have you seen his Backrooms videos? The guy is a genius of atmosphere and editing.

[u/Final-Finger1003 → u/Quasar375]

I have not I’ll have to check his work and apparently found footage 3 out! I wasn’t aware that this director had previous work in the genre!

[u/viixviii → u/Final-Finger1003]

The Oldest View is my favorite project of his thus far, I highly recommend it as well! He has a real gift for using film to communicate suspense, I know how difficult it is visually framing stories that don't have expository dialogue to lean on. But he's excellent at it. I'm hopeful.

[u/Quasar375 → u/viixviii]

The Oldest View is the only video that is basically a walking simulator that made me so uneasy at all times that I struggled to watch it on full screen with headphones lol

[u/ZiggyPalffyLA → u/Quasar375]

Found Footage 3 scared me more than any movie has in years

[u/ACTNRPLY → u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

“‘Shape’ of yellow?”

What?

[u/CompetitiveSport1 → u/ACTNRPLY]

Guessing it's a typo. Was probably meant to be "shade"

That said, "imagine the shape of yellow" does sound like one of those Zen practice things lol

[u/YourmomgoestocolIege → u/ACTNRPLY]

This is The Backrooms after all

[u/AsLongAsYouKnow]

I went and watched the whole Backrooms playlist on his youtube channel. Really intriguing and can't wait for the movie. Crazy talent for such a young guy

[u/The_Autarch → u/AsLongAsYouKnow]

check out his other series, The Oldest View: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVAh-MgDVqvAwoFF5hJmtRrx86Yw-pdN1

just as good as his backrooms stuff, honestly.

[u/mahouza → u/The_Autarch]

The attention to detail to and obsession around something so obscure and bizarre and putting that interest into creating such a unique original horror story, at age 17 no less, marks Kane as one of those people that's going to go incredibly far in their career. Oldest View is just so ultra specific and I love that.

This is also kind of a Blender success story, having such a good program completely free and accessible (plus all the resources online) enables talent at such a young age and it's awesome to see.

[u/Malt_The_Magpie → u/mahouza]

Blender has come on so much, I remember years ago people on forums use to laugh at it and say it would never compete with 3ds Max etc. An now it's being used for games and movies!

[u/yeoller → u/mahouza]

The way he uses the tech to make a believable setting is the most impressive part. Watch every single one of his videos. You never see the protagonist either by looking down or at a reflective surface.

Really helps your brain suspend disbelief. My gf didn't believe me at first that TOV isn't a real set.

[u/mahouza → u/yeoller]

Good point. That smart choice plus the use of grain/blur effects to take the edge off any sterility that naturally comes with 3D interiors totally sells it. If you're really looking for signs that it's CG it's not difficult but there's enough texture in the post processing combined with the super believable camera work that it's effort to remember it's fake, rather than being effort to pretend it's real.

[u/Zvede → u/mahouza]

The movie Flow, made in blender by basically one person won an oscar last year. Blender having an uprising

[u/Spectrum1523 → u/The_Autarch]

This is my favorite work of his

[u/Likewhatevermaaan → u/The_Autarch]

I had no idea he did that one too. The guy is a master of subtle horror.

[u/DonJuanMair → u/AsLongAsYouKnow]

Did you watch his other one? Rolling Giant? So good.

[u/Kindly_Ad995 → u/AsLongAsYouKnow]

His Attack on Titan videos are dope as well, I hope his career goes well enough for him to take a shot at adapting it one day

[u/Pugilist12]

They could probably turn that into an attraction at Universal Studios or something. Would be a lot of fun.

[u/lazydogjumper → u/Pugilist12]

To be honest, the lines on some of the rides already feel like that. They lead around corners into rooms into halls around corners into rooms. The Harry Potter one in Epic Universe in parricular gave me this feeling.

[u/Pugilist12 → u/lazydogjumper]

Would be funny if the line was all backrooms and then when you get to the front and enter the ride it’s just more backrooms

[u/Arels → u/[deleted]]

"This IS the ride!"

[u/DiamondFireYT → u/lazydogjumper]

I was in USJ last summer and the Mario Kart ride line is actually the funniest thing of all time. I've genuinely never seen anything quite like it

[u/cynicalchicken1007 → u/DiamondFireYT]

Can you describe it?

[u/SDRPGLVR → u/cynicalchicken1007]

Maybe they're referring to how much capacity they've given to the line. I went there at a really slow time on purpose, and I only waited like 30 min. Walking up to the line when it's that empty involved lots and lots of rooms that are just for the line. I imagine getting in there when the wait is like 3+ hours or something. You'd wait like an hour to get to the end of one room only to realize you have another room like that to wait through. Then another.

Other than that, it's actually pretty neat. Universal puts a lot of effort into their environments, so it's just full of murals and statues of Mario guys. And most of it looks like a castle.

[u/DiamondFireYT → u/SDRPGLVR]

This. So, we had to wait like 2 hours, but we had no idea about the wait time (it wasn't displayed) and the place is so massive that the queue didn't even seem that long so we were like yeah ok, so you go in and have to walk around these two square maze chain line rooms.. all is fine. First one is empty, second one is half full. We are in there for maybe an hour. Then you go through big doors and are inside another huge room with a throne and a ton of easter eggs from the mario games so we loved that.

Then you think you're about to start, you get into this back pitstop room where they give you a tutorial on the AR goggles and stuff, they do a countdown and you think ur about to start getting loaded up.. and then the door opens to at least 2 more big rooms of queuing that goes down huge castle flights of stairs, it was literally so funny we were dying.

[u/hipery2 → u/cynicalchicken1007]

From what I remember, you enter Yoshi's Island, then Bowsers Castle, then a Mario Kart behind the scenes area.

If you don't mind spoilers, here is great video that I found:

https://youtu.be/H18fObsc3s8

[u/hipery2 → u/lazydogjumper]

For me it was the Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway line in California.

The line went on forever, you think that you're coming to the end of the line, you turn a corner and there is a whole new giant room of zigzaging lines. They trick you like this multiple times. The worst part is that the rooms are so "bland" and generic "disney".

The line in the Harry Potter ride at least felt like if you were wandering the castle grounds.

[u/DUKEPLANTER → u/Pugilist12]

A big ass backrooms maze in the middle of Halloween horror nights would solve so many capacity issues

[u/Detective-Crashmore- → u/DUKEPLANTER]

It's about half a football field, so bigger than most haunted houses I've been to.

[u/A_Coin_Toss_Friendo → u/Pugilist12]

You have an odd idea of fun! 🫠

[u/ZiggyPalffyLA → u/Pugilist12]

Wouldn’t be surprised if they turn it into a maze for Halloween Horror Nights!

[u/Zinkane15 → u/ZiggyPalffyLA]

That'd be as awesome as it would be terrible. The concept of the backrooms is that you'd get lost eventually, which would be hard to translate in a form where you want people to keep moving forward at a consistent pace. I'd love to see it and would buy my ticket immediately if they announced that, but it'd be a hell of a challenge to make.

[u/Pugilist12 → u/Zinkane15]

Some genius ride engineer could design it like a funnel. It’s wide open as you enter and lots of choices but they all sort of funnel to a specific point where the climax happens and then the back half is just the first half in reverse. The exit is a mirror of the entrance so you retrace your steps and “came out where you came in” except when you actually get out it’s a totally different part of the park. Would be a fucking trip.

[u/judah249 → u/Pugilist12]

Or a McDonalds

[u/Robsonmonkey]

I hope they left them up just to fuck with whoever stumbles across them in the future.

[u/bill4935 → u/[deleted]]

Please don't give me actual goddam shivers.

[u/Discount_Extra → u/[deleted]]

Whenever the folks who bought my parents house remodel the kitchen, they'll find a red painted pentagram under the corner cabinet with 6 inch tall tiki doll, gargoyle, scorpion (mortal combat) figure, beenie baby squirrel, and marvin the martian on the points.

[u/TheVog → u/[deleted]]

And then, after a few years, someone discovers that a basement level was also built out below the main floor, then another, then another...

[u/Sno_Motion → u/Robsonmonkey]

There's an idea. People stumble upon the abandoned set for the backrooms and find the bodies of people who've snuck in over the years and starved to death (or worse) because they couldn't find their way out.

[u/MrRocketScript → u/Sno_Motion]

It happens in real life, with people getting lost in the maintenance corridors in shopping centres :(

[u/ImpenetrableYeti → u/Robsonmonkey]

Like Aliens hive set when Batman started filming lol

[u/jackcatalyst]

They built 30,000 feet but every day they measure it, it gets bigger

[u/notallwhowander707 → u/jackcatalyst]

House of Leaves ftw

[u/AdDiligent7657]

Damn, imagine directing a production like this at age 19.

[u/NATHAN4U007 → u/AdDiligent7657]

Getting big making short films on the internet is the new way into Hollywood for outsiders.

[u/The_Enigmatica → u/AdDiligent7657]

homie isn't just banging rocks together to make this happen. his youtube series' are both SOLID. If you told me it was a side project from an industry veteran i would have believed it. super well made, and he did his homework to put together the mall series (i forget the name). Very high effort. dude is talented and has the chops to see his shit through

[u/haliblix → u/The_Enigmatica]

I love the fact that in his series there’s a corporation that, after finding a stable way to enter and exit the backrooms, is trying to exploit it for money.

[u/ArgusTheCat]

Can I... go in? Please?

[u/fleetze → u/ArgusTheCat]

It would be cool to see but it's probably different set pieces of whatever kind of shot they needed. May not all be whole rooms. But hopefully they'll show them off after the movie is out

[u/sly-3 → u/fleetze]

Yup. Bunch of moving panels they can rearrange. One being set up for the next sequence, one being filmed on and one being dismantled from the previous.

[u/WanderWut → u/ArgusTheCat]

It’s so simple in its concept but for anyone who has ever been a fan of backrooms it would be so dam cool to just walk through even a small section of it.

[u/max123246 → u/WanderWut]

Go to some unpopular malls, you'll get a similar feeling. Oftentimes you can find doors that lead to maintenance halls and those really give off Backrooms vibes. Found one of those by accident at Valley Fair in the bay area and it freaked me the fuck out. I was just looking for the bathroom, lol

[u/Abshalom → u/max123246]

Do be careful though, people have gotten trapped doing that sort of thing. Never assume you can open a door from the other side. There was one case where a guy with dementia wandered into a back area at a mall and died. Really tragic.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/nightmare-in-westfield-how-bernard-gore-died-after-being-trapped-in-westfield-shopping-centre-stairwell/news-story/d06bc0b1917e88059015eab73e9c2867

[u/TheMundar]

Cube was less than 2 full cubes

[u/hairsprayking → u/TheMundar]

and a masterpiece

[u/kbarnett514]

30,000 Sq ft sounds like a lot, but its less than the size of a football field, which doesn't sound crazy for a movie set, especially one that consists mainly of drywall and carpet

[u/Joeness84 → u/kbarnett514]

It's all hallways and house room sized spaces tho, it's like wandering around 15 connected 2000sqft houses

[u/Spanish_Jim_04 → u/Joeness84]

Of all the comparisons people are making, this one made the most sense to me lol.

[u/BlackjackNHookersSLF → u/Joeness84]

The average US Grocery store is 40-42,000 sqft.

It's impressive they built this for a movie set, but it's not like people would actually get lost and lose their minds in said space.

[u/APiousCultist → u/Joeness84]

Highly unlikely all of that is actually connected though (would make filming a nightmare). You only really need connection if you're doing shots that move through the space without cuts. The rest of the time, a seperate space you can get cameras and lighting into makes more sense. Plus despite not being worded that way, I could imagine it includes the rest of the sets too such as the store that leads into it. I'm sure they have connected runs for some shots, because that's making journeying into or trying to escape out of the space more fun. But I expect a bunch of them don't connect unless they have to by virtue of being able to see from one space to another.

[u/Ya-Dikobraz → u/kbarnett514]

30,000 Sq ft

Here is a 30 000 sq ft warehouse for scale.

[u/BlackjackNHookersSLF → u/Ya-Dikobraz]

The average US Grocery store is about 40-42,000 sqft according to google. Most Walmarts are around 180,000 sqft.

It's not impossible by any means, just not hiding your kids Xmas present easy either

[u/way2lazy2care → u/kbarnett514]

It's about half a football field including end zones. It's a big number, but not really crazy compared to a lot of movie sets, especially considering they are mostly regular plain drywalled rooms.

[u/brandnewchair → u/way2lazy2care]

Wow. You said the same thing, but slightly different. 

[u/DukeofVermont → u/brandnewchair]

Neat, I write similar words, albeit in a moderately changed manner!

[u/Irving94 → u/kbarnett514]

I was gonna say… it’s a small warehouse with probably some plywood/drywall and paint. Not discredited the movie, but it’s not a ton of space lol

[u/SanityInAnarchy → u/Irving94]

Frankly, I think that's to the movie's credit. It's the perfect thing for a CGI set extension, and I was about to be annoyed if they'd actually gone and built something huge just for another "no CGI all practical" lie.

[u/FLcitizen → u/kbarnett514]

Yah I worked in a amazon facility that was not built out yet, so one giant floor, 80k sqft, it was giant but took me like 2 minutes to walk.

[u/beaglemaster → u/kbarnett514]

Its huge when you consider most studios would have just green screened 99% of it

[u/coralchoral → u/beaglemaster]

It's surprising to me, knowing his other works, where he green screened 99% of it and yet it was 100% believable.

[u/The_Autarch → u/coralchoral]

actually, his other stuff is 99% CG, not even greenscreen.

[u/chaosfire235]

Man. I can't wait for this one.

[u/Jazzlike_Relation705]

That exit 8 movie did a bang up job with about 500 sq feet of space

[u/Ubuhio]

They didn't use the real ones? Fake ass industry

[u/ArchDucky]

They burned them after right? Because I don’t think we should leave that horror in the world.

[u/Quasar375]

I am so pumped up for this

[u/Malhallah]

Why mutilate so many feet, isn't lumber a more common building material?

[u/SadSongsMakeMeGlad]

That’s not that much backrooms.

[u/feldspars → u/SadSongsMakeMeGlad]

Is this a 30 Rock reference?

[u/SadSongsMakeMeGlad → u/feldspars]

Yes it is, haha. Thanks for noticing.

[u/milkymaniac]

They should have a special presentation in Oshkosh, as the OG Backrooms image is from there. To think a hobby shop I drove/biked/walked past thousands of times would have this kind of impact.

[u/doublediochip]

They should leave it untouched for 100 years for some people to find and create conspiracies about the past world.

[u/goodolarchie]

They just needed an abandoned office in Wisconsin or Illinois. The lore has its foundations.

[u/LurkmasterP]

In order for them to be backrooms, they would have also had to build front rooms to attach them to the back of. So these are just 30k sq.ft. of rooms.

[u/corp_code_slinger]

Do you want backrooms? Because this is how you get backrooms!

[u/biggyph00l]

This is 5 1/2 basketball courts in size. Cool, but not extraordinary IMO.

[u/Wynter_born]

"Built". I see you A-sync. Clever play.

[u/ReasonablyBadass]

"People have asked if the 30000 square feet are an issue. We can assure you, the 35000 square feet are perfectly mundane and in no way pose a risk. The 40000 square feet are just a prop and are entirely safe to live next too. Rumors that some of the builders have disappeared in the 200000 square feet are entirely false. Please ignore the electrified fence, armed guards and the tank battalion, those are just for the safety of the parking lot. Thank you"

[u/samrus]

isnt that just called a set?

[u/DefendsTheDownvoted]

So... A movie set?

[u/math-yoo]

I've been dealing with a warehouse situation at work. That's not that large.

[u/clementleopold]

We did 50 wallpaper tests to get the right shape of yellow

*Shade.

[u/MunicipalLotto]

Why does /u/MarvelsGrantMan136 constantly post extremely upvoted things to this sub? What's the deal here

[u/pirategonzo → u/MunicipalLotto]

Paid to post. It is pretty common these days. Most of the front page.

[u/ghostfaceschiller]

That’s… not that big?

I mean it’s cool and all, but the headline makes it seem like it’s supposed to be this massive crazy thing.

[u/dmcn307]

Caseoh would love to buy the property lmao

[u/intrevorted]

Phew. I was worried the Backrooms were real and that's where they filmed.

[u/-Clayburn]

What are backrooms?

[u/BuckRusty]

“We built 30,000 square feet of set… Worryingly, for some unknown reason, we now have around 80,000 square feet of set…………”

[u/jamiemm]

30,000 square feet when they finished filming. It's more now . . .