Backrooms movie rating: what parents of kids 4–7 should know

• ✓Official rating above age 7
  MPA: R (per The Numbers)
• ✓Violence in rating descriptors
  MPA: violent content, bloody images
• ✓Scary content in rating descriptors
  BBFC: horror
• ✓Bad language in rating descriptors
  MPA, BBFC: language
• –Sexual content, drugs, or alcohol in rating descriptors
  Only brief drug references (BBFC)
• ✓Rated 12 or higher in the UK or Germany
  UK BBFC: 15; FSK 16 per cinema listings

Each flag is a yes-or-no fact from the sources on this page. The number is a count of flags, not a safety score. How we count. Rating reasons marked mild, very mild, or brief don't count.

Checked October 2026. Ratings and settings change; check the official source before you decide. What do these ratings mean?

Facts for parents, not medical or legal advice. If you're worried about your child, talk to your pediatrician.

What The Backrooms is about

The Backrooms began as an internet creepypasta in 2019: a scary internet story about endless empty rooms. In 2022, Kane Parsons, known online as Kane Pixels, made a found-footage YouTube series about it. A24 turned it into a feature film directed by Parsons, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, and Mark Duplass. It opened in US theaters on May 29, 2026.

Backrooms movie rating: what's in it

Short answer: It's rated for adults and older teens.

• US (MPA): R, under 17 requires a parent or adult guardian, for language and some violent content/bloody images (per The Numbers).
• UK (BBFC): 15, no one under 15.
• Germany (FSK): 16, per cinema listings such as Cinestar; we couldn't confirm it with FSK.
• Common Sense Media: 15+.

The BBFC lists a monstrous creature biting a man's neck with a gush of blood, a stabbing, strong injury detail including a brief severed head, a man tying a woman to a chair, sustained horror and suspense, strong language, brief references to marijuana, and flashing lights.

Why young kids know the Backrooms

The Backrooms was an internet story and a YouTube series years before the film. There are also many Backrooms-themed games on Roblox and in app stores; the ones on Apple's App Store are rated 4+ to 12+, but they're made by other developers, not the filmmakers.

The habit kids may copy: treating a story as real

The Backrooms videos are made as found footage, as if someone really filmed what happened.

Try tonight: the true-or-made-up check

If your child mentions the Backrooms, ask: "Is that a true place, or a made-up story?" Then look together at where the story came from: someone wrote it and made a video. In our program, this is the lesson "True or Made Up": checking a fear against the facts.

What is The Backrooms movie rated?

US: R, for language and some violent content/bloody images, per The Numbers (MPA bulletin 2934). UK (BBFC): 15. Germany: 16, per cinema listings.

Is The Backrooms movie scary?

The BBFC lists sustained horror and suspense, a creature biting a neck with blood, a stabbing, and a brief severed head.

What age is The Backrooms movie for?

It's R in the US (under 17 requires a parent or adult guardian) and 15 in the UK; Common Sense Media lists 15+.

Is The Backrooms based on a true story?

No. It started as an internet creepypasta in 2019 and a YouTube series by Kane Parsons in 2022.

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