The Practical Foundation of Liminal Horror
In a May 2025 Reddit AMA, director Kane Parsons broke down the production methods behind the upcoming A24 Backrooms feature. The core revelation: most corridor shots were real locations. Parsons stated that practical sets received aggressive color grading to achieve the unsettling fluorescent pallor. (This immediately separates the film from pure CGI environments that often feel sterile.) The real locations were not elaborate builds — they were existing office spaces, hallways, and abandoned buildings repurposed with minimal dressing. The result is a texture that digital tools struggle to replicate.
Unreal Engine for the Impossible
For shots requiring infinite-loop geometry — corridors that stretch beyond physical limits — Parsons turned to Unreal Engine. The original 2022 short film used free assets and a shoestring budget. For the A24 feature, the team scaled up but retained the DIY ethos. Unreal Engine allowed real-time rendering of endless hallways that match the practical footage exactly. Parsons noted that matching lighting and lens distortion between real and digital was the hardest part. The VFX team built custom LUTs and used camera tracking data from practical sets to ensure seamless transitions.
Digital Compositing as a Bridge
Parsons emphasized that digital compositing was the glue. Filmed plates were extended digitally — adding extra doors, shifting ceiling angles, or removing exit signs. This mixed approach avoids the “too clean” look of full-CGI scenes. (Frankly, many horror films fail because their digital environments lack the grit of real surfaces.) By layering practical photography with subtle digital manipulation, the Backrooms film achieves a photorealistic liminality that feels oppressive.
Scaling from Short to Feature
The original Backrooms short was a viral phenomenon made with almost no budget. For the feature, Parsons assembled a team but deliberately avoided over-polishing. The AMA revealed that he insisted on keeping the same DIY aesthetic — deliberately leaving some imperfections like slight lens flares, subtle camera shake, and uneven lighting. This choice contrasts with studio horror that relies on elaborate sets and post-production cleanup. The budget for the feature is undisclosed, but Parsons indicated it is “still modest by A24 standards.” The goal was to allocate resources to practical construction and Unreal Engine rendering rather than expensive location scouts.
Industry Reactions and Takeaways
Reactions from the r/vfx community praised the balance. Commenters noted that real locations add subconscious authenticity that purely digital shots lack. No Film School cited the AMA as a case study for indie filmmakers. The consensus: parsons proved that smart compositing and limited CGI can outperform a $200 million VFX budget when the intent is atmosphere over spectacle. Long-term, the approach offers a repairability advantage — no need to re-render entire sequences. The film’s visual style is locked in the moment footage is captured, with digital work serving as a fine-tuning layer.
What This Means for Indie Filmmakers
Parsons’ method is replicable. A small team with Unreal Engine, a good camera, and access to nondescript buildings can produce high-quality liminal horror. The key is knowing where to spend: practical sets for grounding, digital for expansion. (Trying to do all practical with infinite loops would break any budget.) The AMA confirms that the line between indie and studio production is blurring — not through bigger budgets, but through smarter pipeline choices. For anyone building a horror film in 2025, the Backrooms methodology offers a cost-to-performance ratio that demands attention. Performance over promises. Specs matter only if they improve experience. Here, they do.