A24’s most exciting horror movie project of the year is based on the same creepypasta that also served as the inspiration behind one of Apple TV‘s greatest sci-fi shows.
Creepypastas have made the leap from scary forum threads to the big screen quite a few times now. However, their adaptations have usually been hit or miss, experiencing varying degrees of success. Interestingly, though, the creepypasta movie adaptation A24 has lined up for horror fans in 2026 seems to have a lot more hype than all the others we have seen in the past.
While only time will tell whether it will live up to the hype, it is fascinating to see how the same creepypasta also secretly inspired one brilliant sci-fi show on Apple TV.
The Backrooms Creepypasta That Inspired Severance Is Getting A Movie Adaptation
A24’s adaptation of the Backrooms creepypasta, which is scheduled to premiere on May 29, 2026, is one of the most anticipated horror movies of the year. The movie is being directed by Kane Parsons, who gained attention for creating his own vision of the iconic Backrooms in the found footage format and uploading it on his YouTube.
The movie’s first teaser is out, and it hints at how the young director will depict the Backrooms on the big screen:
While most details surrounding the movie remain under wraps, it will reportedly follow a therapist who enters an otherworldly dimension (the Backrooms) while searching for one of her patients.
Interestingly, Apple TV’s Severance also draws heavily from the same creepypasta. As its creator, Dan Erickson, has previously revealed (via The Digital Flix), the show’s whole aesthetic and portrayal of endless, sterile office spaces were inspired by the unsettling liminality of the Backrooms.
The Backrooms Creepypasta & Its Origins Explained
The Backrooms originated as an internet legend in which one imagines an infinite maze of rooms with yellow wallpaper and the buzzing sound of fluorescent lights. The mere sight of these rooms is maddening because of how endlessly they stretch and are devoid of humans. According to the Backrooms’ lore, one can also constantly feel the eerie presence of a nearby threat but not quite see it.
One ends up in the Backrooms by “nonclip-ing” themselves from reality. There are even levels to the otherworldly location, where each involves its own set of monsters.
Its origins can be traced back to an anonymous image board on 4chan. What started as a user’s image post of a liminal room that felt “off” soon expanded into a full-fledged legend that grew from strength to strength in lore. Over a decade later, it comes off as the perfect representation of the butterfly effect, as one internet post has now led to the creation of a potentially promising A24 sci-fi horror movie.
Severance Secretly Proves The Backrooms’ Movie Can Work
Image via Apple TV+
What makes the Backrooms fascinating and equally terrifying is that they instill a sense of eerie familiarity. Almost everyone has experienced the quiet unease of standing in an empty office hallway after hours, or wandering through a nearly deserted mall where the fluorescent lights hum just a little too loudly. The Backrooms take the same liminal landscapes and stretch them to something far more inescapable and supernatural.
Severance uses the same idea in its cinematography to perfectly capture how its “innie” characters feel trapped in their corporate hell. They can never escape, and, no matter how much they explore Lumon’s office, it seems like a never-ending maze designed to disorient rather than guide.
The Apple TV sci-fi show proves that the Backrooms and their creepy aesthetic can be used as a perfect visual metaphor to highlight psychological imprisonment and workplace anxieties. The A24 movie also seems to be treading a similar path, which, after Severance, makes it even more exciting.