Kane Parsons
Parsons in 2026
Born 2005 or 2006 (age 20–21)[1]
Occupation Artist
YouTube information
Channel
Years active 2015–present
Genre Acting
Subscribers 3.13 million
Views 337 million
Musical career
Genres
  • Film score
  • electronic
  • ambient
  • experimental
  • alternative rock[citation needed]
Instruments
  • Keyboards
  • synthesizers
Last updated: May 29, 2026

Kane Parsons, known online as Kane Pixels, is an American film director and visual artist.

In January 2022, Parsons published The Backrooms (Found Footage) to his YouTube channel, which went viral and expanded into a series of episodes. A film adaptation, directed by Parsons, was released by A24 in the United States on May 29, 2026.

Early life

Parsons grew up in Petaluma, California.[2] His passion in visual effects started with LittleBigPlanet, where he worked on environments and lighting in the engine. Parsons got Adobe After Effects around winter 2017. Around a few months later, he wanted to do a video set in the universe of Little Nightmares, compelling him to learn After Effects. He watched tutorials whenever he had questions for any project, expanding his knowledge as time moved on. In February 2020, Parsons downloaded Blender and began learning it. Prior to that, he worked on Element 3D, being a part of After Effects. Blender helped him and gave him what he felt as creative freedom. Parsons felt that 2020 was the best year for his skill growth.[‡ 1]

When Parsons was eight years old, he developed an interest in music when practicing the piano. He continued to play for the next two years, which gave him experience with music. In middle school, he experimented with GarageBand on his school-issued iPad. In July 2020, Parsons got a trial of FL Studio. Excited by what he was creating, he soon upgraded to the paid version. He released some of his music on his SoundCloud and YouTube music channel. Parsons' music channel gathered attention and grew in 2022 after the release of The Backrooms (Found Footage).[‡ 1]

Parsons registered a YouTube channel on April 13, 2015. He initially posted Minecraft Let's Plays and meme videos, but he soon looked into directing short films.[‡ 2][‡ 1] Parsons' films didn't receive much attention, and his meme videos attracted more people. Instead of publishing his films online, he published them through local festivals and other real-life means.[‡ 1]

Career

2020–2021: Early work

At 14 years old, Parsons sent a video based on the web series Dad Feels to 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.[‡ 3]

From late 2020 to early 2021, Parsons published a series of videos known as Project 209. It serves as a spinoff 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 shorts. The videos present events from the series in the form of historical footage akin to war photography from the early 20th century.[3] The videos were praised by fans of the original series for its horror elements and for remaining faithful to the original series.[4]

2022–present: Backrooms

Main articles: Backrooms (web series) and Backrooms (film)

The concept of 'liminal spaces' first began to appear on the internet in 2019, and images of these spaces soon caught Parsons' interest. At some point,[when?] Parsons took an interest to the images from Backrooms creepypasta. Parsons was disappointed in the quality of the content related to the creepypasta that was circulating online at the time, and saw an opportunity to turn it into something more.[5] In late 2021, Parsons began work on a short Blender animation inspired by it.[5] He later released it on his YouTube channel on January 7, 2022, under the name The Backrooms (Found Footage).[5][‡ 4] Parsons intended the short film to be a standalone work, and didn't expect it to accumulate many views. The video started to grow in popularity a few days later, and has around 78 million views as of May 2026.[5] Prior to the upload, Parsons had an unfinished and unrelated story he had developed some time ago. While the story's themes were somewhat connected to Found Footage, he didn't think it would be very popular. However, with the newfound popularity of Found Footage, Parsons reconsidered the story idea, and decided to create a series following it.[5] A film adaptation of the web series, directed by Parsons,[6]was released by A24 in the United States on May 29, 2026.[7][8][9]

2023–present: The Oldest View

Main article: The Oldest View

The Oldest View is a mystery thriller web series, debuting on March 18, 2023. The series revolves around a YouTube vlogger, Wyatt, discovering a staircase leading into an underground mall.[10][11]

Prior to production, Parsons encountered an image of a rolling giant puppet based on Julien Reverchon, and saved it to his computer in the summer of 2021. When he rediscovered the photo in December 2022, he searched for its origins. On New Year's Eve he shared his findings with his friends. In January through March 2023, they collected media of the rolling giant. Parsons considered adding the rolling giant to the Backrooms web series, but he found it limiting and not fitting. In March, he had a clear idea what The Oldest View would be. He published "Renewal" on March 18, 2023.[‡ 5]

2025–present: People Still Live Here

People Still Live Here is a digital horror web series that began on January 13, 2025.[‡ 6] It revolves around a video game retelling of the events experienced and documented by Clifton J. Saywell between 1934 and 1946 in a dimension called 'The Meadow'.[citation needed]

The first work relating to People Still Live Here was an album of the same name, released on June 13, 2023 on YouTube.[‡ 7] He started working on SAYWELL, the first entry in the series, in 2024,[‡ 6] later publishing it on January 13, 2025.

Filmography

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)

Short film

  • Sandwich (2017)
  • Corpus Schizophrenic - A Portal 2 Short Film (2019)
  • Late for School (2019)
  • It's Nicer Here (2020)
  • Transmission Server (2022)
  • Monkey Car Crash Go Boom / No Time for Monkey Business (2023)

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)

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)

References

  1. ^ Francisco, Eric (May 11, 2026). "'Backrooms' Director Kane Parsons Is Horror's Next Great Storyteller". Esquire. Retrieved May 14, 2026.
  2. ^ Tauber, Olivia (May 25, 2026). "How Kane Parsons Took the Backrooms From Internet Meme to the Silver Screen". Vanity Fair. Retrieved May 27, 2026.
  3. ^ Barboza, Brianna (April 25, 2024). "This YouTuber Recreated Attack on Titan's Most Iconic Scenes as Horrifying Historical Footage". Game Rant. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  4. ^ "'The Backrooms': A24 Developing Feature Based On Viral Horror Shorts". deadline.com. February 6, 2023. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e Mills, Jack (March 7, 2024). "The Backrooms: how Kane Parsons turned creepypasta into cinema". Dazed. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  6. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (June 11, 2025). "A24 Sets Horror Movie 'The Backrooms' From 19-Year-Old Kane Parsons, Youngest Director in Studio's History". Variety. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 10, 2025). "Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell & Avan Jogia Join A24 & Chernin Entertainment Sci-Fi Horror Pic 'The Backrooms'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 30, 2025. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
  9. ^ Grobar, Matt (June 11, 2025). "Renate Reinsve Joins Chiwetel Ejiofor In A24 Sci-Fi Horror Pic 'The Backrooms'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 30, 2025. Retrieved June 11, 2025.
  10. ^ Williamson, Samuel (December 24, 2023). "2023's Creepiest Horror Release Is a 12-Minute Short Film". Collider. Retrieved April 28, 2026.
  11. ^ Hall, Jacob (November 29, 2023). "The Scariest Movie Of 2023 Isn't In Theaters – It's On YouTube". SlashFilm. Retrieved April 28, 2026.

Primary sources

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

  1. ^ a b c d Wendigang (August 20, 2022). An Interview with the Backrooms Mastermind - Kane Pixels. Retrieved September 17, 2025 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ Smosh Alike (May 19, 2023). I spent a day with BACKROOMS CREATOR KANE PIXELS. Retrieved November 7, 2025 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ a b Nathan (December 7, 2023). Kane - Conversations With You (Backrooms Creator). Retrieved November 7, 2025 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ Kane Pixels (January 7, 2022). The Backrooms (Found Footage). Retrieved April 28, 2026 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ Desolar (November 11, 2023). The Rolling Giant Interview With @kanepixels & Corrupt l The Oldest View. Retrieved September 19, 2025 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ a b Kane Pixels (January 13, 2025). SAYWELL. Retrieved April 20, 2026 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ Not Kane Pixels (June 13, 2023). Kane Parsons - People Still Live Here - Full Album (2022). Retrieved April 20, 2026 – via YouTube.