Kane Parsons Doesn’t Consider ‘Backrooms’ a Horror Film: ‘Oblivious to Those Labels’

“Backrooms” director Kane Parsons voiced his resistance to calling his hit debut feature a “horror” film, going on to share plans to skirt such genre labels with his future projects.

“I didn’t direct like a horror film. I don’t view it as a horror project … That’s just naturally been the path of least resistance from a marketing perspective and it’s what seems comfortable to people as a framing device,” Parsons said, speaking during a panel at Zurich Summit on Saturday (per Deadline). “I’m going to try to stay as oblivious to those labels as possible … I have more creative control now with future projects so those sorts of structures will probably be a little less forceful in the future.”

Parsons was speaking on a business panel focused on the box office’s resurgent year so far, joining the Zurich Summit alongside Bill Kramer, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO; Robbie Brenner, president and chief content officer for Mattel Studios; and Michael Barker, co-head of Sony Pictures Classics.

With a $400 million global gross, “Backrooms” ranks as A24’s biggest theatrical release ever and, alongside Focus Features’ “Obsession” ($519 million worldwide), has been considered a load-bearing moment for the horror genre’s popularity among moviegoers. Parsons adapted the feature from his viral “Backrooms” web series, a number of found-footage videos that traverse caverns of uncanny interior design. The videos drew a strong following and spurred a dedicated online community that speculated on their lore and even spawned fan-created content.

After the release of “Backrooms,” Parsons pushed back on reports that he was in development on a sequel and searching for a screenwriter.

“I’m not sure where that got out … That seems more like a hallucinated (thing),” he told Puck and The Ringer.

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