Your Brain on ‘Backrooms': The Horror Concept of the Summer Explained
The unsettling pull of liminal spaces-empty offices, endless corridors and fluorescent-lit hallways-has moved from obscure internet fascination into the mainstream with Backrooms, a Hollywood film inspired by a viral YouTube series from the movie's director, Kane Parsons.
In Backrooms, BAFTA winner and Oscar-nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Clark, a furniture salesman who stumbles through a portal into an uncanny dimension of bare rooms and maze-like hallways. The film builds on the quiet dread that made Parsons' original series a viral phenomenon-and taps into something deeply psychological about how humans experience space.
Psychological triggers help explain why Backrooms resonates so strongly-turning ordinary, transitional spaces into something quietly and persistently disturbing.
The Violation of Expectations
At the core of liminal horror is a distortion of expectation. Carolina Estevez, a clinical psychologist at SOBA New Jersey, told Newsweek that spaces like the backrooms blur the boundary between what feels known and what feels wrong.
"Backrooms and other liminal or transitional spaces often have a strong psychological effect," she said, describing them as points "where familiarity is lost, and ambiguity is felt."
Our brains rely on prediction to interpret our surroundings. When a place that should feel ordinary-like a hallway or office-appears empty, repetitive or “non-functional,” it “violates these expectations," Estevez explained, and creates unease, even when no clear threat is present.
The result is a space that looks safe but feels inherently off-a psychological contradiction that Backrooms leans into through its stark, looping interiors.
Ambiguity Feels More Threatening Than Danger
One defining feature of backroom imagery is its lack of obvious danger. Yet that ambiguity may be what makes it so disturbing.
Estevez noted that "unknown or ambiguous risks" are often more unsettling than identifiable ones. An empty hallway with nothing visibly wrong can provoke more fear than a known threat because the brain lacks the cues it needs to assess risk.
She added that typical backroom features-"endless repetitions, bright fluorescent lighting, complete silence and an absence of people"-remove signals humans rely on for spatial orientation. Without those cues, people are left sensing something is wrong without knowing exactly what.
Liminal spaces also heighten discomfort because they are not meant to be inhabited. They are transitional environments-places to pass through, not remain in, Estevez said. Being trapped in them, as Clark is in Backrooms, intensifies that unease.
The Unseen and the Unconscious
For some, the fear extends beyond perception into the subconscious. Peter Carnochan, a psychologist and psychoanalyst in California, told Newsweek that empty or abandoned environments carry symbolic meaning.
"Liminal spaces, empty back rooms, abandoned parks, evoke a sense of unease," he said, partly because they exist "outside of the public view…it is the space that is not governed by law or the light of day."
Such spaces are defined by absence-of people, rules and oversight-making them feel detached from everyday social structure. Carnochan added that they can also reflect internal psychological experiences, evoking "parts of the self that have been repressed or cut off from our ordinary awareness."
The "repetitive architecture" and blank surroundings, he said, can feel removed from human imagination and compassion. "This is where the inhuman impulse can thrive," he said. That sense of detachment aligns with the eerie, impersonal world depicted in Backrooms.
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Backrooms: From Internet Post to Viral Series
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The Brain on Alert
From a neurological perspective, liminal spaces are almost perfectly designed to trigger anxiety.
Veronica West, a registered psychologist in Australia, told Newsweek that the brain is constantly scanning for danger, and environments like the backrooms "tap right into that."
"When we encounter something that looks familiar but feels wrong…the amygdala [the part of the brain that processes emotions, especially fear] kicks in," she said, prompting a search for potential threats.
This response is both instinctual and learned. West explained that decades of horror films and online content have conditioned audiences to associate empty corridors, abandoned buildings and dark spaces with danger. Even those who are not horror fans may have internalized these associations.
As a result, the fluorescent-lit emptiness of Backrooms feels threatening not because it depicts danger but because it mirrors visual patterns long tied to fear.
When Spaces Strip Away Safety
West said liminal environments are particularly effective because they remove signals of safety.
"There's no warmth, no familiarity," she said, describing how these spaces create "that feeling of unknownness" through silence, confined walls and minimal light. When people cannot interpret an environment, the brain's "threat system" becomes highly active, even without a specific danger.
That response is often widely shared. Many people have memories of places that "just didn't feel right," such as dark basements or abandoned buildings. Combined with cultural cues, these experiences create a collective reaction.
"So when a photo of an empty room lands in front of thousands of people, the response tends to be pretty similar," West said. While some may feel curiosity, "for most of us, the fear part of the brain kicks in first."
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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 11:10 AM.