Kane Parsons is already one of the foremost tellers of spooky stories on the internet. Now, the creator also known as Kane Pixels is set to become one of the youngest directors in Hollywood history.
The 19-year-old Parsons is going full speed ahead on a feature film adaptation of The Backrooms, a found footage horror series Parsons initially premiered on his YouTube channel. A24, which picked up the project in 2023, has now attached some big names to it. The film’s cast includes Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor as well as Renate Reinsve, who played the lead role in the international hit The Worst Person in the World.
With a venerated indie distributor steering the ship and several notable actors on board, The Backrooms is set to be the next big horror project led by a digital content creator. As influencers make inroads in Hollywood, the horror genre is becoming one of their most significant areas of expertise.
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The projects keep adding up: First there was David E. Sandberg’s Lights Out, which moved from YouTube to the big screen, turning Sandberg into an in-demand director; he’s since helmed blockbusters like Shazam. The Australian twins behind the RackaRacka channel frightened filmgoers with Talk To Me, which ended up as one of the top movies of 2023.
Other horror impresarios coming from the internet include Curry Barker — who enjoyed a sleeper hit with his low-budget production Milk & Serial — and Chris Stuckmann, the film critic-turned-director who is working with acclaimed distributor Neon on his upcoming film Shelby Oaks.
No shade to any of those other creator-directors, but Parsons might be the most talented of the bunch. His creative, resourceful style has earned him a reputation as one of YouTube’s most daring artists. His first Backrooms video now has nearly ten million views on YouTube.
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What exactly makes the creator-to-horror director pipeline so potent? The genre’s penchant for low-budget thrills helps. The Backrooms, like many other horror hits, is filmed in a found footage style that gives audiences the jitters without breaking the bank. That makes it a safer bet when studios and distributors take chances on creators like Parsons.
Of course, there’s still some risk involved. The 2018 adaptation of the Slender Man meme, for example, was a critical and commercial flop. But recent developments suggest that meme culture is becoming the hot new hack for studios that want to put Gen Alpha butts in movie theater seats. A Minecraft Movie cashed in on silly memes even as it rankled adults by encouraging kids to shout references at the screen.
The Backrooms could be the meeting point of all these trends: It is a chilling horror project helped by a creative whiz, and it has plenty of potential for cheeky meme references as well. I’m not saying Kermit the Frog should get a cameo in Parsons’ adaptation (and Disney probably wouldn’t allow it), but if he did, he might just be the next Chicken Jockey.
