The Hottest New Horror Director Just Saved Fans From His Own Studio

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 8 seconds ago

For horror fans, it’s been one hell of a summer. Blockbusters like The Mandalorian and Grogu and Supergirl flopped while spooky movies made money hand over fist. One of the most successful scary movies was Backrooms, which made horror history: 19-year-old Kane Parsons became the youngest director to have a movie debut at number one at the box office. The success of both Parsons and his film helped cement A24, the studio behind Backrooms, as a champion of creativity and independent art. Unfortunately, they just decided to torch that reputation for the most predictable reason of all: money.

On July 15, a Reddit user posted seeming proof that his Backrooms-inspired shirt had been yanked off of Redbubble because of a copyright strike from “A24 Films, LLC.” The problem here is that the user wasn’t selling an image from Parsons’ film; rather, it was an image from the original viral image that kicked off the whole Backrooms craze. Other users made similar claims that their Backrooms art and games have been taken down by A24. Now, the latest wrinkle in this bizarre tale? Parsons himself convinced the studio to drop its copyright claims, effectively giving the hottest horror IP back to the fans who made it.

A Haunting Betrayal

At first glance, it may not seem that surprising that A24 went after creators who are profiting off Backrooms. After all, they just released a film of that same name, one that quickly established itself as one of the biggest movies of the summer. It only makes sense for the studio to protect its IP, right? However, A24 doesn’t actually own Backrooms; they only own the interpretation they hired Kane Parsons to correct. When news of the copyright claims first began circulating on the internet, it caused fans to ask the obvious question: how does the studio have legal standing to copyright Backrooms projects that have nothing to do with the film?

A24 has very deep pockets (never forget, it was created by finance bros), causing fear that nobody affected would dare to sue the company. That would effectively create a chilling effect, preventing future creators from making money on their own interpretations of the viral Backrooms concept. It’s a concept that is effectively owned by fans, and the studio had no right to threaten other content creators with copyright claims. At least, that’s the sentiment shared by Backrooms fans all around the world. It’s also one shared by the last person anyone would expect: Backrooms director Kane Parsons! When he learned what the studio was allegedly doing, he made a promise on Reddit: “I’m looking into this. Should not be happening.”

Kane Parsons Bites The Hand That Feeds Him

Incredibly, it seems that Parsons spoke to the studio, and his pleas were successful. Recently, A24 very publicly backed down from any attempts to threaten Backrooms content that had nothing to do with the movie. In a statement, the studio wrote the following: “A24 makes no claim of ownership over the yellow wallpaper, the original post referencing it, or any of the community works that have since been built around it.” The statement ended with an expression of solidarity for future creators. “We will continue to support the artists who, like Kane, were inspired by it.” 

Thankfully, all’s well that ends well: very soon after users began complaining about these copyright strikes, Kane Parsons himself intervened, getting A24 to back down from their crusade against the fans. However, this incident will be remembered for a long time by fans who once revered the studio. A24 established itself as one of the greatest creators of smart horror films, and the success of Backrooms made them seem like champions of young voices with fresh ideas. But between the company’s recent AI partnership with Google and the recent alleged attempts to copyright material they don’t even own, the studio has seemingly become the greatest enemy of actual creatives.

The ultimate spooky auteur studio being far scarier than anything they have created? Now, that’s what I call elevated horror!