Kane Parsons rejects 'horror' label for Backrooms, vows to avoid genre tags on future projects
Backrooms director Kane Parsons told a Zurich Summit panel that he does not view his debut as a horror film and plans to resist genre labels on future work. The film has grossed $400 million worldwide.
Kane Parsons has pushed back against classifying his breakout feature Backrooms as a horror movie, telling a Zurich Summit business panel that he didn’t ‘direct like a horror film’ and intends to be ‘oblivious to those labels’ on upcoming projects. Parsons made the remarks while discussing the box office recovery at the summit; Backrooms has earned $400 million globally and become A24’s biggest theatrical release to date. He also denied recent reports that he is actively developing a sequel.
Parsons: 'I’m going to try to stay as oblivious to those labels as possible'
Speaking on a business panel at the Zurich Summit, Kane Parsons said he resisted calling Backrooms a horror film and aimed to avoid genre labels in future work. "I didn’t direct it 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, according to Deadline and reported by TheWrap. He added that with greater creative control on forthcoming projects, "those sorts of structures will probably be a little less forceful in the future." The panel also included Academy CEO Bill Kramer, Mattel Studios’ Robbie Brenner and Sony Pictures Classics co-head Michael Barker.
Backrooms’ commercial reach and online beginnings
Director pushes back on claims he’s developing a sequel
Parsons has disputed recent reports that he's developing a Backrooms sequel and looking for a screenwriter. Speaking to Puck and The Ringer, he said, "I’m not sure where that got out … That seems more like a hallucinated (thing)." TheWrap included this comment while reporting on Parsons’ wider remarks about genre labels and his creative direction.