Backrooms: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated R for language and some violent content/bloody images.
A slow, eerie horror film for older teens and adults, adapted by Kane Parsons from his own viral web series, about a furniture-store owner who finds a doorway into an endless maze of empty yellow rooms. It leans on unsettling atmosphere more than constant shocks, but there are bursts of bloody violence: a creature tearing into a neck, flesh torn from a man's stomach, a scalping and a severed head in a freezer. The main issue is language, with more than 40 f-words, and the lead is an alcoholic. There is no sex. The heavy profanity and the grisly moments are why we suggest 15.
What's in it
Violence
StrongInfrequent but gory: a creature bites a neck, spraying blood, flesh is torn from a stomach, a scalping, a stabbing through the neck, a severed head in a freezer, and a creature beaten with concrete. A rat is killed; a seagull lies dead.
Language
StrongPlugged In counts more than 40 f-words and about 15 s-words, plus prick, a--, hell, and a few misuses of God's and Jesus' names.
Sex and nudity
MildNo sex or nudity. A shirtless young man answers a young woman's door early one morning, hinting they spent the night together, and someone jokes that a plan to tie people up sounds kinky.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
StrongThe lead is a struggling alcoholic who drinks whiskey alone from the bottle, and his drinking is part of why he is thrown out of his home. A couple argues over whether one is high on pot, a party has wine and beer, and someone takes an unidentified pill.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongSustained, creeping dread in vast empty rooms with humming lights, plus twisted creatures, a chase and some jump scares. Flashbacks show a girl living with a paranoid, mentally ill mother, and the tone is bleak.
Sensitive topics
- Addiction
- Animal death
On our lists
Similar picks around 15+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, the MPA, movieguide.org, Wikipedia, the-numbers.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.