Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in ‘Backrooms’
A24
A unique monster stalks the endless corridors of Kane Parsons' Backrooms, sharing the liminal space with abominations.
There's a kind of warped ecosystem in the other world—some elements can be traced back to Parsons' Backrooms content on YouTube and the digital folklore that preceded it, but the monster is a new, intriguing creation.
Here's everything to know about the monster, and the background mysteries of Backrooms.
Warning—Spoilers Ahead
Why Is There A Monster In ‘Backrooms'?
Before it became a box office hit, the Backrooms was a viral creepypasta, a collective storytelling effort that anyone on the internet could contribute to.
It remains so—outside of the A24 film, the Backrooms is still inspiring new interpretations, sparking online debates over canon.
Some fans believe that the Backrooms is best left empty, viewing monsters as a cheap distraction from the existential horror of an infinite office space.
Others argue that the maze needs a minotaur, and point to a mysterious creature that has lurked within the Backrooms since the beginning.
The original creepypasta that inspired the phenomenon (posted to 4chan in 2019) is the only canonical Backrooms document—the post implies the presence of a monster, but stops short of describing it.
{
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error(‘Network response was not ok’, preloadResourcesEndpoint);
}
return response.json();
})
.then(data => {
const cssUrl = data.css;
const cssUrlLink = document.createElement(‘link’);
cssUrlLink.rel = ‘stylesheet’;
cssUrlLink.href = cssUrl;
cssUrlLink.as = ‘style’;
cssUrlLink.media = ‘print’;
cssUrlLink.onload = function() {
this.media = ‘all’;
};
document.head.appendChild(cssUrlLink);
const hls = data.hls;
const hlsScript = document.createElement(‘script’);
hlsScript.src = hls;
hlsScript.setAttribute(‘defer’, ‘1’);
hlsScript.setAttribute(‘type’, ‘text/javascript’);
document.head.appendChild(hlsScript);
}).catch(error => {
console.error(‘There was a problem with the fetch operation:’, error);
});
}
]]>
The internet has interpreted this mysterious entity in many different ways, but Kane Parsons' Backrooms proposes that the monster is a psychological phenomenon.
What Is The ‘Backrooms' Monster?
In Parsons' YouTube series, there is a Backrooms monster (or several) known as “the Lifeform.â€
The Lifeform spawns from a black, bacterial mold that infests the yellow wallpaper and moist carpets. The mold shapes itself into a tall biped that resembles a stick figure or distorted skeleton.
The monster of Parsons' film is more human, a warped version of the protagonist, Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), dressed as a pirate, representing the furniture salesman job that he hates.
It's unclear if the monster in Backrooms is related to the Lifeform from Parsons' YouTube series.
It might be made of the same substance, evolving into a fleshy body but retaining the same lanky, distorted proportions.
Thematically, the monster represents Clark's shadow.
The Monsters Devours Clark
The monster is a manifestation of everything that Clark hates about himself—it represents his stagnation, despair and drunken aggression.
When they find the monster's den, down below the slippery slope, it's filled with dirty laundry. The den resembles the room of someone who is stuck in a depressive rut, like Clark.
It seems to collect mementos of the outside world, perhaps seeking to become human.
At first, Clark runs in terror from the creature, but he learns to love his monster after losing his mind and accepting the Backrooms as his home (and permanent escape from reality).
However, as soon as Clark tells his monster that they “don't have to change†because his therapist, Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve), has validated his delusion, the monster immediately takes a bite out of him.
Up until that moment, Clark and his monster were perfectly at peace with one another, so why does it decide to eat him?
The moment marks the point of no return, as Clark forces his therapist to affirm him, abandoning any possibility of growth—Clark is devoured by his own worst self.
The moment references a Francisco Goya painting, “Saturn Devouring His Son.â€
The painting is assumed to depict the Greek myth of a Titan who eats his own offspring, terrified that one of his children will overthrow him.
The scene might be a reversal of this dynamic, with the monster devouring Clark in order to replace him.
Either way, Clark's decision to deny reality and embrace his monster is what dooms him.
Who Are Those People Lurking In ‘Backrooms'?
One of the most frightening moments in Backrooms sees Clark running past a Christmas tree, before being ambushed by horrifyingly disfigured people.
Later, they are shown in full detail, with Clark living alongside them. It's not clear if they are actually alive, as they seem to have no free will and no ability to feel pain.
Clark even eats them, illustrating that he has become his monster (they are filled with a mysterious substance that looks like furniture stuffing, but is, according to Clark, edible).
Clark explains that they are memories of real people from the outside, absorbed from the minds of those who enter the Backrooms.
As far as Clark understands it, the layout, objects and inhabitants of the Backrooms are plucked from the real world, the otherworldly space only able to create hollow, distorted copies.
The disfigured people resemble another entity from Parsons' YouTube series, known as “Still Life.â€
Still Lifes are also warped duplicates of humans, but are portrayed as aggressive in the series. In Backrooms, they are placid and seem to have little regard for their own wellbeing.
The woman with red hair appears to be a copy of Clark's ex-wife, or at least resembles her, to the point that he slices off her hair, a makeshift wig for Mary's roleplay.
Clearly, Clark would rather surround himself with these empty entities than share a difficult conversation with a real person, filled with pesky opinions, wants and needs.
When the monster arrives, the red-haired woman does display a sense of self-preservation and flees in terror, perhaps echoing Clark's ex-wife's feelings towards him.
Why Was There A Seagull In ‘Backrooms'?
The Backrooms only makes imperfect copies, but there was a seagull early in the film that seems to be a normal bird.
The seagull might have been unfortunate enough to “noclip†through an entrance, now trapped in the Backrooms.
However, the fact that the monster is dressed like a pirate suggests that the seagull's presence is symbolic, invoking sailor superstitions around sea birds.
It's considered very bad luck to kill a seagull—Clark's discovery of a dead bird in Backrooms was an omen.
Some seafaring men believed that seagulls carried souls of drowned sailors, meaning that the birds were viewed as transient creatures, able to move between the earthly and spiritual realms.
This could be the case in Backrooms, as a seagull is the only animal that we see in the liminal space, and might be free to come and go.
This could prove useful for the mysterious research company, Async.
What Is Async?
Async is a company that once manufactured MRI machines, and has featured in Parsons' YouTube series long before the release of A24's Backrooms.
The company has gone from mapping minds to exploring the Backrooms, having managed to open a doorway.
As a researcher tells Mary during the film's abrupt ending, there are openings to the Backrooms appearing all over the place, and the company is dedicated to uncovering its secrets.
The Backrooms entrances appear near lost souls, pulling in traumatized individuals who Async can potentially recruit to explore the space.
The company also seems interested in entities that spawn within the Backrooms, even setting traps to capture them.
What Are The Caveman Cutouts In ‘Backrooms'?
Throughout the Backrooms, there are several cardboard cutouts of a mysterious caveman, wired to a communication device that broadcasts audio greetings in multiple languages.
These are obviously not alive, but are mistaken for people several times in the film. A similar figure also appears in Parsons' internet series.
The cavemen seem to function as a beacon to attract lost travelers, so Async can find, rescue and recruit them.
An image of a caveman symbolizes early life, possibly hinting that the mysterious ecosystem of Backrooms will evolve and grow as the story continues.
