Audiences who are yet to watch YouTuber-turned-director Kane Parsons' psychological thriller Backrooms might want to wait a little longer. The film is set to have an extended version soon, with 15 additional minutes. The makers plan to release the new version, titled Backrooms: Everything Must Go Edition, in a way that coincides with the July 04 celebrations in the USA.
Parsons' puzzling drama tells the story of a struggling architect (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who finds a mysterious, maze-like place in the basement of his furniture store. His obsessive search for the mystery behind the place leads to shocking revelations about himself and the human mind.
Backrooms also stars Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell. The film hit theatres in India earlier this June after its international release in May.
Made with a modest budget, the indie psychological thriller has become the highest-grossing film for A24, its distribution company, at the worldwide box office. Within 10 days of its release, the film broke the previous A24 record, reportedly held by Marty Supreme. Interestingly, according to a Deadline report, it took 53 days for Marty Supreme to break the previous record for the distributor, held by the Oscar Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once. According to a Forbes report, the film is made with a budget of $10 million and has minted $330 million from theatres worldwide.
While it is not strictly a horror film, Kane Parsons' directorial venture has been part of the global discourse over independent horror cinema alongside Curry Barker's Obsession. While Curry Barker's film has a supernatural element to it, Parsons' film explores the fragility and vulnerability of the human mind, with a special focus on human response to traumatic incidents and career struggles.