Creep‘s Mark Duplass is a good guy. We at FANGORIA have known that for a while, and he continues to prove his good guy status (despite what Peachfuzz gets up to in his spare time) by consistently speaking up for those who need it. This time, it's Kane Parsons, helmer of the upcoming Backrooms, and notably, A24's youngest ever director, starting work on Backrooms at just 19 years old.
As it is wont to do, the Internet rumor mill has conjured up a story in which Parsons didn't actually direct Backrooms, and that the liminal horror pic, which hits theaters on May 29, was actually ghost directed by a producer (who conveniently, these trolls can't seem to name). Duplass, who stars in Backrooms alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, took to Instagram to set the record straight. Let's hear it from the man himself:
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As commenters on Duplass' post rightfully point out; Parsons' age is in no way indicative of his skill as a director. Plenty of incredible filmmakers in and out of the horror genre, such as Orson Welles, Robert Rodriguez, Alice Maio Mackay, Chantal Ackerman, Brian De Palma and Emily Hagins, all made their feature film debuts in their early 20s or younger. Sam Raimi was 20 when he began shooting Evil Dead. Curry Barker, director of the currently buzzing Obsession, is just 26, and made his viral found-footage horror Milk & Serial when he was even younger. Need we go on?
Not to mention, Parsons has been in the industry for a while, making shorts since he was just 14 years old. As Duplass puts it in his video, Parsons spent “the last five years of his life building out one of the most detailed mythologies [Duplass] has ever been part of”.
In 2022, when Parsons would've been around 17, he directed the web series that would go on to be adapted into Backrooms' feature length version. The Backrooms series consisted of 24 episodes, all written and directed by Parsons, and all garnering massive viral attention online:
He would go on to create other digital series like The Oldest View and People Still Live Here, which also further cemented him as a director to watch. Simply put, A24's interest in Parsons didn't magically appear from thin air – he was already an established name, with or without the budget.
Of course, horror fans are no stranger to ‘ghost director' takes (see: Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper Poltergeist discourse), but considering Backrooms hasn't even been released yet, these attempts to discredit a talented director because of his young age reeks of ignorance and, dare we say it, jealousy.
It's scary to realize you've aged out of the current cohort of fresh talent, we get it. But as Parsons, along with Barker, Mackay, Alexander Ullom, and the other up-and-coming Gen Z filmmakers who are proving themselves adept at creating terrifying stories prove, the kids are very much alright, and horror is in very safe hands.
