Backrooms filming locations: Inside A24's liminal space horror

What makes Backrooms impressive is that it was directed by Kane Parsons, who is just 20 years old. Four years ago, Parsons uploaded a series of videos on his YouTube channels featuring the Backrooms and it ended up being an inspiration for the horror blockbuster that continues to rise today.

Reviewers especially pointed out the impressive set design of the extradimensional empty rooms as an absolute highlight of the movie. It is not surprising that the production team filmed the scenes set in the unending claustrophobic extradimensional rooms in an actual set rather than using green screens. Even though the horror movie is set in San Jose, it wasn't filmed there.

Backrooms filming locations: Where was the horror movie shot?

The production team filmed the movie for a month between July and Agust last year. Except for the titular spot, the horror hit was filmed in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia. Conversely, the team built a soundstage in Hollywood North for The Backrooms set. The team used over 30,000 square feet of space to build the unending labyrinth, a dimly lit area that traps Clark and his therapist, Dr. Mary Kline.

Kane Parsons recalled how he and the production team decided upon the wall color and the overall tone of the movie at this year's CCXP Mexico. He said:

"We did a lot of tests there to make sure we were getting the general tone that people expected (from) Backrooms. We did 50 wallpaper tests to get the right shape of yellow.”

The production team used the 2400 Motel in Vancouver to film some key scenes of the movie. The indoor tennis court, Urban Tennis in Coquitlam, served as the location of Clark's pirate-themed furniture store. The film crew temporarily modified the exterior of the facility to erect Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire signage outside.

Kane Parsons revealed that some changes were made to the set:

Kane told James Wan for an A24 interview that even the filming crew found it difficult to navigate their way around the set, as it was nothing but a giant labyrinth. Then, the 20-year-old director went on to speak about the meticulously designed set:

“The sets, when I get there, I mean, I brought my computer with me, my laptop. And all the sets that we built, because our production office was on the sound stage or right outside of it. And so, we had these four big stages that we could build on.”

Then, the young filmmaker continued:

“And we were working out our construction budget at the time and everything. And the script, we were iterating on the script as we were going through prep and stuff, so some things were changing. And so, everything was changing a little bit and it’s too hard to describe the exact order in which things changed."

Addressing the set changes, he continued:

"One change would retroactively affect the thing that changed that change and whatnot. But the sets are all… I made them all in Blender. I designed all the sets. And it’s pretty much one for one for what we have in the movie. Those all exist in the Blender files.”

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