This weekend one of the summer’s most surprising hits, Kane Parsons’ BACKROOMS, received an “EVERYTHING MUST GO EDITION” that ups the film’s run time by almost 20 minutes. This is the first time that I can remember A24 re-issuing a film with extra footage since MIDSOMMAR got its director’s cut back in 2019. But this is not a director’s cut. But EVERYTHING MUST GO Edition is not a new cut. It is almost a stand-alone short that ties into the film and that screens after the credits. There are no characters from the BACKROOMS movie. There is no Doctor Mary. There is no Clark. In a way it could operate as a standalone story like his YouTube shorts from The Backrooms series, but you’ll enjoy it a lot more if you’ve seen the film – mostly because of what is found in the short and how it relates back to the film. But what is found also has greater implications for The Backrooms world at large. And let me just say, if you are a fan – go see it because it is awesome and some of the best work that Kane Parsons has done.
I originally thought it was a new director’s cut of the film – which is why I re-watched the film in its entirety last night (and I do not regret that). I love Kane’s Backrooms YouTube series and I’ve watched the film seven times (including last night’s and this morning’s screenings). If you haven’t seen the film, first let me say I think it is awesome. I think it redefines what a haunted house is and also focuses on characters and how our human psyche might be powering this strange uncharted area known as the Backrooms. I wrote about my thoughts on the themes of the film in this post a few weeks ago: https://noscoopsclub.com/2026/06/13/haunted-house-2026-backrooms-liminal-space/
EVERYTHING MUST GO is more than just a post-credits addition – it really is a 16 minute short in the vein, tone, and structure of the myriad excellent Backrooms shorts that Kane Parsons’ Kane Pixels YouTube channel has hosted for years. In fact, Kane Parsons created the short (almost entirely in Blender – of course) AFTER the film was already in theaters. My only complaint or feedback is that unfortunately some people did leave during the credits – as there is no warning to audience members to stay. A few even waited for the credits to finish rolling but stopped at the door to the theater when EVERYTHING MUST GO (what I’m calling this “short”) began.
Much like Kane Parson’s YouTube entries on the Kane Pixels channel, this short doesn’t receive a title – just the words “FOR INTERNAL USE” typed in period-era chirons. And if you’re a fan of the YouTube channel, you know where this is going. It is most like his YouTube shorts: “Missing Persons”, “Pitfalls”, and “Informational Video” in that we follow along with some of the yellow-suited A-Sync team members on a mission past the Threshold and into the Backrooms in a found footage style similar to the aforementioned shorts as well as the film’s cold-open footage of Naren Warne as well as the second act footage of Clark, Kat, and Bobby exploring the slide and pools areas of The Backrooms.
The short is set squarely on June 18 and 19, 1990 (another title card tells us this) about 10 days before the events of the BACKROOMS movie – and follows a “Dr. McCartney” and a “Dr. Ng” as they study a new occurrence of three structures that have appeared in a previously vacant room. They are three “Everything Must Go” signs. If you’ve seen the film the signs will be familiar to you – they’re readily visible in Clark’s Ottoman Empire showroom. The signs have been replicated three times and successively placed, all hanging from a ceiling with one slightly embedded in the floor.
But before I go further, let me just say if you have not seen the film or if you have multiple times, you should really see this on the big screen. It is so cool to see Parsons’ YouTube style get the big screen treatment – and honestly far better than anything like his YouTube shorts that was attempted in the film. Now again, I loved the film. But both “found footage” sequences (the Warne sequence and the Clark/Kat/Bobby sequence) really are placed and driven as horror set pieces and lack the weird informational video and period vibe that characterizes Parsons’ YouTube entries. It is this vibe that really made his shorts unique – as we see the regularities and irregularities of life (one of the scientists in EVERYTHING MUST GO mentions that they really hope they don’t see “that purple table” again to which another scientist replies “it’s a desk!”) that devolve into a horrific event.
The banter between the scientists in EVERYTHING MUST GO is some of Kane Parsons’ best writing and the content of the short’s first Act had me smiling from ear to ear. With EVERYTHING MUST GO, it feels like the film’s production helped to sharpen what made his shorts so fantastic in the first place and work even better and smarter. And it makes me look even more forward to whatever Parsons does next.
The short also has a simple but effective structure, with its own Act 1, 2 and 3. After discovering the signs, the A-Sync scientists (Ng, McCartney, and their assistants) spend time documenting and discussing the new phenomenon of these signs as it relates to the greater findings (alluded to and detailed in many of Parsons’ shorts) of A-Sync in “the Backrooms”. Parsons gives us a series of eerie photo montages (another stylistic borrow from some of Parsons earlier YouTube shorts about The Backrooms). The A-Sync scientists discuss what the different structures are made of and if they follow any mathematical spacing patterns that might give a greater idea of just how this area works operationally. It really is worth saying that if you are a die hard fan, this short has lore expansion.
Eventually the scientists’ exploration progresses (as many of Parsons’ YouTube shorts do) into something more sinister as they cut open a piece of the wall to try and find where another sign might have generated. They eventually find the back of another wall – and a mannequin’s hand stretching through from somewhere beyond. The discovery leads to a greater find – a potential early attempt at a replication of the Ottoman Empire furniture store (with limited lights and power). More things happen including a TV playing a cryptic Japanese broadcast with music similar to Super Star theme from Super Mario and then maybe, maybe… a (new?) creature.
As a huge BACKROOMS movie fan (hey I’ve seen it seven times) and Kane Pixels YouTube fan, I’m 100% going back to see this short again. Even though it was absolutely terrifying, in a weird way, this short made me so happy because it showed just how much Kane Parsons loves this world, his work, and being a filmmaker. And it made me so excited for what Kane Parsons does next either on YouTube or in cinemas. His love and passion for filmmaking 100% shines through in this short. EVERYONE MUST GO see it (sorry I had to).
No Scoops Club 