The REAL Secret Of BACKROOMS | ArtiFact 75: Alex Sheremet, Christina Behnke on Kane Parsons

Analyzing Kane Parsons' (Kane Pixels) "Backrooms" (2026), the film fails AND succeeds -- though not always on its own terms...

Reddit and 4chan have narrowed and defined Kane Parsons' world, while A24 Films hired the wrong scriptwriter for his ambitions. Stylistically rich, it nonetheless has things to say of Internet culture, new concepts such as liminal spaces, and artificial intelligence. You can also watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ghHnm2ZdaJo

Read poet/critic Ezekiel Yu's analysis of BACKROOMS: https://www.automachination.com/review-kane-parsons-backrooms-analysis/

Learn about our debut film, "From There To There: Bruce Ario, the Minneapolis Poet": https://www.automachination.com/cityboy-bruce-ario-great-american-novel/

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Timestamps:

0:00 -- Kane Parsons needs to lose his scriptwriter...

0:53 -- why the ending sucks; "Backrooms" doesn't follow its own internal logic; dumbest possible action; analyzing a particularly bad line; lack of closure

5:34 -- Reddit Backrooms; art needs to be stripped of too-specific reference points

7:12 -- the Woody Allen connection; acting and technicals save Backrooms; bedroom iterations; sooo deep that we can't talk about it!

9:42 -- liminal spaces; Christina's recurring liminal space; Alex's experience of Russia's White Nights (St. Petersburg)

14:02 -- psychology in "Backrooms"; Kane Parsons and artificial intelligence; Reddit's self-propagation

18:31 -- horror and therapy; the film wastes too much time; the business side of "Backrooms"

24:41 -- Seth Rogan's Pineapple Express as contrast; horror's lack of substance; notes on cinematography

Tags: #Backrooms #KaneParsons #A24