Horror fans love a good mystery, and Backrooms is already giving them plenty to dig into. A24 has started rolling out promotional material for the upcoming film, and it didn’t take long for the internet to start connecting dots between the new posters, cryptic captions, and the original 4chan post that launched the whole phenomenon.
A24 recently shared two new posters featuring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, paired with the caption: “If you’re not careful.”
Fans quickly recognized that line as a direct pull from the original 4chan post that kicked off the Backrooms mythos, which reads, “If you’re not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the backrooms.”
That callback isn’t a one-off either. The studio had already tapped into the same source material with the first teaser, which included another chilling line: “You are not supposed to be here.”
It’s clear A24 knows exactly what longtime fans want and is leaning into that eerie internet history.
Actor Mark Duplass also shared the posters, but with a twist. His versions feature slightly different color tones compared to A24’s official release. Fans are already speculating that this isn’t just a stylistic choice.
The Backrooms lore is filled with different “levels” and variations, many of which shift in color and atmosphere, especially those unsettling shades of yellow.
And then things get even more interesting.
Some fans noticed a small but very specific detail in one of the posters: blue painter’s tape. That tiny inclusion has sparked a wave of theories.
One camp believes it’s a nod to Everywhere at the End of Time by The Caretaker, an album often linked to Backrooms-inspired imagery and themes.
Others think it connects more directly to Kane Parsons, whose viral YouTube short films helped bring the Backrooms into mainstream horror culture.
His videos often feature similar taped markers and a found-footage style that made the concept feel way too real. Parsons is directing the film, which only adds fuel to the theory.
If all of this sounds confusing, here’s the quick version. The Backrooms started in 2019 when an anonymous 4chan user posted an image of a bland, yellow, fluorescent-lit room along with a creepy idea about slipping out of reality and ending up trapped in an endless maze of similar spaces.
The concept exploded into a full-blown creepypasta, with creators expanding the lore, adding creatures, rules, and different levels to explore or survive.
Now that concept is heading to the big screen.
A24 hasn’t revealed much about the plot yet, but that should change soon with the first trailer arriving on March 31. The film is written by Will Soodik and also stars Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, and Avan Jogia alongside Ejiofor, Reinsve, and Duplass.
Backrooms hits theaters on May 29, 2026, and if these early clues are any indication, this movie is diving straight into the strange, layered internet culture that made it such a phenomenon in the first place.
