With an almost 20 year domination of Marvel Universe and Hollywood reboots, the industry is shifting into a possibly bright future for indie directors. Obsession (directed by Curry Barker) produced for $750,000 and Backrooms (directed by Kane Parsons) produced for 10 million have grossed over $848 million worldwide at the box office. Almost unthinkable for a couple of YouTubers, or is it? Many believe this is the call Hollywood desperately needed to “reboot the industry”. With the rise of high quality cinema cameras at affordable prices, making films could never be easier.
Back Story
Backroom’s story starts back in 2019 on the popular Internet forum 4Chan. An image that an anonymous user posted in the Paranormal board is what started it out. The post featured an image of an eerie empty yellow room with the caption “If you’re not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the Backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it is sure as hell has heard you”. This single image is what created the “Backrooms” phenomenon that inspired many short films. One of these creators developed a YouTube series, starting the “Backrooms Found Footage” that caught on like wildfire. The channel Kane Pixels, led by none other than Kane Parsons, is what started it all.
Curry Barker was watching a Halloween episode of The Simpsons featuring the infamous “monkey’s paw” storyline. The 1902 story by W.W Jacobs is what created the idea of “Be careful what you wish for”. This episode is what got Barker’s gears turning, creating a “Wish Movie” which would eventually lead to Obsession. His first big task for the film was deciding how the wish came to fruition, without using an in-depth, majestic plot line, while still being able to pull off the trickery. Instead of using a haunted monkey’s paw or random witch, building a practical scenario that already exists and people are familiar with. We’ve all seen the magic 8 balls, wishbones, and ouija boards on the self at some point, Barker wanted the idea to be just as simple.
Production
Backrooms was shot in Vancouver starting in July 2025. The set was built across four sound stages that covers more than 30,000 Sq Ft, using 37,000 sq ft of wallpaper and 29,000 sq ft of carpet. Design was built around the theme of “architectural hell”. Broad, vibrant open spaces with misaligned floors, offset arches and random doors. The emptiness creates an unease that naturally puts everyone on edge.
Obsession was shot in LA starting in late October 2024, filming in 26 days including reshoots. After teaming up with DP Taylor Clemons, the duo used one Clemon’s technique to 3d scan (with a phone) the sets in order to recreate them digitally in Unreal Engine. This process is what helped them storyboard the entire film, scene by scene, getting each shot down precisely. Barker was able to actually edit them together to achieve a mock visual edit.
Aftermath
With a budget of less than 10 million, Backroom’s box office hit $396.5 million worldwide, between $197.5 million domestically and $198.9 million internationally. This made history for A24, making Backroom its highest grossing film of all time. Rotten Tomato rated the film with an 83% positive critic average
Obsession was produced for $750,000 and hit $495.7 million at the box office, with Domestic $263.4 million domestically and $206.9 million internationally. Rotten Tomato rate the film with an 93% positive critic average
