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About

Kane Parsons

American YouTuber and filmmaker (born 2005)

Kane Parsons

Kane Parsons, also known as Kane Pixels, is an American YouTuber, composer, filmmaker and visual effects artist. In January 2022, Parsons began publishing the viral web series Backrooms, based on the creepypasta of the same name, to his YouTube channel. A film adaptation, which he directed, was released by A24 in May 2026 to critical and commercial success. At the age of 20, Parsons became the youngest director in history to have a number one film at the box office, with a global gross of $262.6 million.

Kane Parsons

Kane Parsons
Parsons in 2026
Born (2005-06-18) June 18, 2005 (age 21)
Petaluma, California, U.S.
Occupations
Years active2015–present
YouTube information
Channel
Genres
Subscribers3.38 million
Views369.4 million
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Keyboards
  • synthesizers
Last updated: June 18, 2026

Kane Parsons (born June 18, 2005), also known as Kane Pixels, is an American YouTuber, composer, filmmaker and visual effects artist. In January 2022, Parsons began publishing the viral web series Backrooms, based on the creepypasta of the same name, to his YouTube channel. A film adaptation, which he directed, was released by A24 in May 2026 to critical and commercial success. At the age of 20, Parsons became the youngest director in history to have a number one film at the box office, with a global gross of $262.6 million.

Life and career

Kane Parsons was born on June 18, 2005,[2] and grew up in Petaluma, California, and attended Marin School of the Arts at Novato High School to study film.[3][4] His father is a video game developer and his mother is a therapist. They divorced when he was seven years old. He has a younger brother.[5] Parsons created the Kane Pixels YouTube channel on April 13, 2015, and initially posted Minecraft Let's Plays and meme videos.[‡ 1][‡ 2]

2020–2021: Early work

At 14 years old, Parsons sent a video based on the web series Dad Feels to the series' creator Nathan Barnatt. Barnatt reacted positively and suggested changes to the video. It was soon released as "The Facility" on June 1, 2020. Parsons later worked with Barnatt on other installments. From late 2020 to early 2021, Parsons published a series of videos known as Project 209, a spinoff of Dad Feels. It follows Kane Parsons getting kidnapped and forced to live in Town, USA.[‡ 3]

In 2021, Parsons adapted the anime and manga series Attack on Titan into six animated short fan films, which present the series' events in the style of early 20th century war photography. The shorts were praised by fans for its horror elements and faithfulness to the original series.[6][7][citation needed]

2022–present: Backrooms

Parsons was inspired by the Backrooms creepypasta to create his own horror web series.

Parsons became interested in the Backrooms,[8] a fictional location which originated from a 2019 creepypasta.[9][10] Parsons was disappointed in the quality of related Backrooms content that was circulating online at the time, stating "there was definitely no real presence of high fidelity content being made".[8] He used Blender to produce a short flm inspired by the Backrooms, which he released on his YouTube channel on January 7, 2022, under the name The Backrooms (Found Footage).[8][10][‡ 4] The video grew in popularity[8][9] and has around 83 million views as of June 2026.[‡ 4] Parsons intended Found Footage to be a standalone work, but with its newfound popularity,[citation needed] he produced further installments in what became an ongoing web series.[11] The web series also incorporates the fictional Async Research Institute, an MRI manufacturer and research lab which Parsons had originally conceived as the focus of an unrelated project.[8]

Within a month of the release of Found Footage, Parsons was contacted by numerous studios regarding a feature film adaptation of the web series.[12][13] He was scouted by Lucas Ford, an assistant at 21 Laps Entertainment in charge of "flagging interesting material and creators".[14][15] Parsons' parents joined him for his initial Zoom meetings with studios.[5] The film adaptation, titled Backrooms, directed by Parsons and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, was released by A24 in May 2026.[16] At 20 years old upon the film's release, Parsons became the youngest director in the studio's history.[17][18] He also became the youngest director to have a number one film at the box office[19] with a global gross of $226.3 million, with $110 million in a week.[20] Media publications compared Parsons with Curry Barker—whose 2025 film Obsession played in theatres concurrently with Backrooms—and David F. Sandberg, as all three began directing short films released on YouTube before directing Hollywood feature films.[21][22]

2023–2024: The Oldest View

On March 18, 2023, Parsons began releasing his mystery thriller web series The Oldest View on YouTube.[‡ 5] The series revolves around a YouTube vlogger named Wyatt discovering a staircase leading into an underground mall.[23][24]

Filmography

Feature film

Directed features
Year Title Distributor
2026 Backrooms A24

Web series

  • Project 209 (2020)
  • Attack on Titan (Historical Footage) (2021)
  • Backrooms (2022)
  • The Oldest View (2023)
  • People Still Live Here (2025)

Discography

Albums

  • Awake (2020)
  • Backrooms (Original Score), Vol. 1 (2022)
  • Backrooms (Original Score), Vol. 2 (2023)
  • The Oldest View (Original Score), Vol. 1 (2023)
  • Daemon (2023)
  • It's All Happening (2023)
  • Highway 101 (2024)
  • Out of Sync (Side 1) (2024)
  • Out of Sync (Side 2) (2024)
  • Backrooms (Original Score), Vol. 3 (2024)
  • Daemon (Vol. 2) (2024)
  • I Can't Wait to Use the Internet (2025)
  • Backrooms (Original Soundtrack) (2026)[1][a]

Singles

  • Everything (2021)
  • Halogen (2022)
  • Sailing (2023)
  • DS Lite (2024)
  • Glory to Lockheed Martin (2024)
  • The Hacker Known as 4Chan (2024)
  • I Love My Job (2024)
  • Privacy Commodity (2025)
  • Gather No Moss (2025)
  • Agitation (2026)
  • Buyout Crash (2026)
  • The Kind Old Sun (2026)

Notes

  1. ↑ Co-composed with Edo Van Breemen.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tritisniotis, Zachariah (June 1, 2026). "'Backrooms' soundtrack proves that Kane Parsons & A24 did their homework". Happy Mag. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  2. ↑ Piccotti, Tyler (May 29, 2026). "Kane Parsons Dropped His First 'Backrooms' Video at 16. Here's How He Made It to the Big Screen". Biography. Archived from the original on May 29, 2026. Retrieved May 30, 2026.
  3. ↑ Tauber, Olivia (May 25, 2026). "How Kane Parsons Took the Backrooms From Internet Meme to the Silver Screen". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on May 26, 2026. Retrieved May 27, 2026.
  4. ↑ Miller, Shannon (May 13, 2026). "Former MSA Film Student Premieres Major Film "Backrooms"". Marin School of the Arts. Archived from the original on June 7, 2026. Retrieved May 30, 2026.
  5. 1 2 Aguilar, Carlos (May 14, 2026). "Kane Parsons is 20. Here's how he made A24's biggest summer movie, the spooky 'Backrooms'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 15, 2026. Retrieved May 30, 2026.
  6. ↑ Grobar, Matt (February 6, 2023). "'The Backrooms': A24 Developing Feature Based On Viral Horror Shorts". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  7. ↑ Barboza, Brianna (April 25, 2024). "This YouTuber Recreated Attack on Titan's Most Iconic Scenes as Horrifying Historical Footage". Game Rant. Archived from the original on April 17, 2026. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Mills, Jack (March 7, 2024). "The Backrooms: how Kane Parsons turned creepypasta into cinema". Dazed. Archived from the original on February 24, 2026. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Lloyd, Andrew (March 29, 2022). "The Backrooms: How a Creepy Office Photo Became an Internet Bogeyman". Vice. Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  10. 1 2 Dobuski, Michael (November 6, 2022). "The Backrooms: Horror storytelling goes online". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  11. ↑ Grobar, Matt (February 6, 2023). "'The Backrooms' Horror Film Based On Viral Shorts By 17-Year-Old Kane Parsons In Works At A24, Atomic Monster, Chernin & 21 Laps". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 30, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  12. ↑ Earl, William (May 29, 2026). "'Backrooms' Director Kane Parsons Explains It All: Breaking Down Liminal Spaces, Why He Was Nervous His Work Might Get 'Butchered by Suits' and What Sequels Might Look Like". Variety. Archived from the original on June 3, 2026. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  13. ↑ Klee, Miles (May 30, 2026). "'Backrooms' Takes You Deeper Inside the Internet's Most Uncanny Horror Myth". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  14. ↑ Belloni, Matthew (June 2, 2026). "The 27-Year-Old Assistant Who Found 'Backrooms'". Puck. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  15. ↑ Grobar, Matt (February 6, 2023). "'The Backrooms' Horror Film Based On Viral Shorts By 17-Year-Old Kane Parsons In Works At A24, Atomic Monster, Chernin & 21 Laps". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 30, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  16. ↑ Squires, John (February 23, 2026). "'Backrooms' Poster – A24's Liminal Horror Movie Will Release in Theaters This May". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on May 22, 2026. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  17. ↑ Rubin, Rebecca (June 11, 2025). "A24 Sets Horror Movie 'The Backrooms' From 19-Year-Old Kane Parsons, Youngest Director in Studio's History". Variety. Archived from the original on February 25, 2026. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  18. ↑ Garner, Glenn (May 25, 2026). "'Backrooms' Creator Kane Parsons On Being A24's Youngest Director Ever". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 8, 2026. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  19. ↑ Pulver, Andrew (June 1, 2026). "Kane Parsons becomes youngest film-maker to open at No 1 in the US with Backrooms". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Backrooms". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  21. ↑ Fuster, Jeremy (June 5, 2026). "Before Curry Barker or Kane Parsons, There Was David F. Sandberg. Here's His Advice". TheWrap. Retrieved June 5, 2026.
  22. ↑ Stern, Marlow (June 2, 2026). "Why YouTubers Are Turning Hollywood Upside Down". Variety. Archived from the original on June 3, 2026. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  23. ↑ Williamson, Samuel (December 24, 2023). "2023's Creepiest Horror Release Is a 12-Minute Short Film". Collider. Archived from the original on March 31, 2026. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  24. ↑ Hall, Jacob (November 29, 2023). "The Scariest Movie Of 2023 Isn't In Theaters – It's On YouTube". /Film. Archived from the original on June 6, 2026. Retrieved April 28, 2026.

Primary sources

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ↑ Smosh Alike (May 19, 2023). I spent a day with BACKROOMS CREATOR KANE PIXELS. Retrieved November 7, 2025 – via YouTube.
  2. ↑ Wendigang (August 20, 2022). An Interview with the Backrooms Mastermind - Kane Pixels. Retrieved September 17, 2025 – via YouTube.
  3. ↑ Nathan (December 7, 2023). Kane - Conversations With You (Backrooms Creator). Retrieved November 7, 2025 – via YouTube.
  4. 1 2 Kane Pixels (January 7, 2022). The Backrooms (Found Footage). Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via YouTube.
  5. ↑ Kane Pixels (March 18, 2023). The Oldest View - Renewal. Retrieved June 18, 2026 – via YouTube.