A Recap of the Movie “Backrooms”

Movies

May 29

Written By VS BRANDS

Plot Synopsis written by Michael Lee

*All Media used in this article is courtesy of A24

Official Trailer: ‘Backrooms’ (2026)

Video Credit: A24

Plot Synopsis

In 1990, researchers at the Async Research Institute review footage recovered from Naren Warne. The video documents Warne's expedition into the "Backrooms," a vast extradimensional realm, where he becomes isolated from his team before being pursued and assaulted by an unidentified creature.

Meanwhile, Clark, a furniture store owner, is grappling with a recent divorce and alcohol dependency. He seeks help from Mary Kline, a therapist dealing with her own past trauma involving an agoraphobic mother and the loss of her family home. Faced with dwindling finances and strange power fluctuations at his business, Clark employs an electrician who discovers three nonsensical, misaligned breaker switches in the store's electrical panel.

While living in the store, Clark follows ongoing electrical anomalies to the basement and discovers a glowing rupture in a wall. Passing through it, he enters the Backrooms—a disorienting maze of yellow-toned rooms and distorted furniture defined by the constant hum of fluorescent lights. There, he locates Warne's discarded items and barely manages to return to the store after being chased by a hidden entity, an escape witnessed by Async scientist Phil via surveillance.

Mary remains skeptical when Clark shares his discovery. To provide evidence, Clark enlists his assistant manager, Kat, and her boyfriend, Bobby, to document the space on film. During their exploration, Bobby is ambushed and dragged away by an invisible force, leading to the group being separated in an uncharted section. As Clark navigates increasingly chaotic environments and evades humanoid figures, he eventually leaves his camera behind to search for Kat, only for an unknown presence to seize the device as Kat warns him of a threat behind him.

Later, Clark leaves Mary a final message stating he is not coming back. Phil eventually identifies Clark from a television commercial for his furniture business. Seeking answers, Mary travels to the store, discovers the entrance to the Backrooms, and enters the dimension, where she is eventually found and rendered unconscious by Clark.

Mary wakes up restrained in a dining-like setting with Clark and several passive, humanoid replicas. After Clark shows her Kat's head in a refrigerator and insists on a therapy role-play, Mary refuses and instead blames his personal failures for his failed marriage. Though Clark momentarily regains his composure and releases her, a giant, distorted version of the store's pirate mascot arrives and kills him. Mary flees through surreal environments and eventually defeats the entity in a replica of her store using a piece of concrete from her childhood home. She is ultimately captured by Async personnel in hazmat suits after triggering a gas trap.

Following her recovery, Mary is questioned by Phil, who reveals that Async transitioned from making MRI machines to researching the Backrooms. Mary describes the dimension as a flawed, distorted reflection of reality. While Phil remains non-committal about her release, the Backrooms manifest a version of the interrogation room shaped by Mary's trauma, containing a motionless, fractured double of her.