Backrooms has made box‑office history for A24, becoming one of the company’s highest‑grossing films, earning about $212 million at the box office, according to Deadline. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as furniture store owner Clark and Renate Reinsve as Mary, the film follows a group that discovers a hidden portal called the “backrooms,” a maze of empty rooms and physical anomalies buried in the basement of a random furniture store. Madness follows as visitors tumble into a labyrinth of psychological horror.
The Backrooms original soundtrack sets the film’s tone perfectly. The film’s director and co-composer Kane Parsons is known to have a careful ear for the creepiest sound cues. So what makes the soundtrack crawl under your skin?
The score was composed by Parsons and Edo van Breemen, who previously worked on horror projects, including Osgood Perkins’ The Monkey and Keeper in 2025. Parsons has a background in VFX and composing scores on the side. In an interview with GQ, he cites musical influences such as Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, and Burial. Parsons carefully treats every score with exceptional detail.
“I fucking love working on the music,” Parsons says. “I mostly function more as a caveman [than a musician], banging rocks together, [since] I don’t have formal training, and can’t play an instrument.”
Bone-Chilling Scenes
With ambient textures, buzzing‑light hums, and faint, skin‑prick screeches, the score locks perfectly to the film’s visual language. The fear of the unknown is the movie’s greatest asset, and the music pushes the viewer’s edge effectively. This sound world has been brewing in Parsons’ lore since his first Backrooms videos on YouTube in 2022.
Parsons says he lifts cues from the production design and the “room tones” themselves, letting ambiguity do the heavy lifting so the atmosphere feels more unreal. Early on, when the film’s protagonist Clark first stumbles into the realm, the track “Quiet Wall in a Dark Room” slides in like a cold draft. Later, “Open the Window” surfaces as Mary searches for Clark, right before a terrifying chain of events unfolds.
The Backrooms score is a masterclass in suspense and an audio love letter to internet horror. It may not be the traditional horror movie you’re used to, but it’s one you have to see and hear.
Frequently Asked Questions
Backrooms is a horror movie directed by 20-year old film director Kane Parsons.
The composers of Backrooms is director Kane Parsons and Edo van Breemen.
The movie Backrooms tells the story of characters Clark and Mary entering the maze containing empty halls and physical anomalies.
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Parsons says he lifts cues from the production design and the “room tones” themselves — letting ambiguity do the heavy lifting so the atmosphere feels more unreal.
The film Backrooms is A24’s highest‑grossing films, to date it has earned about $212 million at the box office.
