Editorials
Five More Horror ARGs That Hollywood Should Adapt After ‘Backrooms’
It’s been two years since it was first announced that Kane Parsons’ reimagining of the Backrooms would be getting the Hollywood treatment. Since then, it seems like audiences have finally warmed up to the idea of internet-based horror on the big screen.
Not only does A24’s Backrooms movie look like it’s going to be an unprecedented hit, but the success of films like Markiplier’s Iron Lung seems to suggest that mainstream viewers are ready for less conventional creators to make the transition to Hollywood filmmaking.
In honor of internet-based scares making their way to theaters, I’m highlighting five more ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) that Hollywood should adapt after Backrooms! While the film’s initial announcement inspired a similar article, there are now plenty of new options available, sure to entertain horror fans.
That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own online favorites if you think a particularly freaky ARG was missed that could impress viewers on the big screen.
With that out of the way, onto the list.
5. The Mandela Catalogue
The best part about engaging with an effective horror ARG is being able to immerse yourself in a creepy new world that feels like a warped version of reality. This is precisely why Alex Kister’s The Mandela Catalogue is so effective, as his alternate history narrative about shapeshifting demons slowly replacing the population of a small town takes place within a fully fleshed-out community.
Set in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin, The Mandela Catalogue may not boast a Hollywood-level budget, but that doesn’t make this apocalyptic story showcasing the eternal conflict between Heaven and Hell any less ambitious. From nightmarish imagery crafted from simple Photoshop edits to subtle storytelling that implies Eldritch horrors without actually having to show them, Kister’s project is a masterclass in making the most of limited resources.
4. Where is Everybody
Originally posted to TikTok in October of 2019, Alexander Nielsen’s Where is Everybody is one of the shortest horror experiences on this list. In fact, I’d argue that it’s easier to simply watch all of Nielsen’s videos than to continue reading this entry. If you don’t have the time, however, this fascinating TikTok account posts brief recordings supposedly made by a young man who finds himself quite literally alone in the world, with his post-apocalyptic exploration making for a fascinating series of lo-fi thrills.
While we’ve seen similar concepts before in minimalist ARGs like hiimmarymary, Nielsen’s flawless execution of a simple concept makes his work extremely easy to adapt to a feature film. In fact, studios could maintain the exact same found footage format and focus on expanding the lonely world surrounding our doomed protagonist.
3. Angel Hare
The cursed kid’s show is one of the oldest tropes in Creepypasta history, with similar horror stories having been told even before the rise of Kris Straub’s infamous Candle Cove back in 2009. However, Angel Hare stands out by having its fictional animated series be a bizarre Christian program with a sentient main character that appears to directly address our confused protagonist.
Not only is this a legitimately unsettling story about confronting your past, but Angel Hare also benefits from tight writing that makes it feel like a complete narrative with a clearly defined beginning, middle, and ending – a rarity amongst ARGs.
2. The Oldest View
Kane Parsons has already stated that he’s not yet done working with The Backrooms, and fans have been left to wonder if the filmmaker’s comments are hinting towards a possible sequel or perhaps even more videos in his long-running ARG. However, I’m of the opinion that, after the release of his hotly anticipated film, Parsons should instead focus on an adaptation of his most original work to date: the incredibly underrated The Oldest View series.
A surreal narrative about a vlogger who inexplicably encounters an abandoned mall at the bottom of an underground tunnel, the show appears to be a moody commentary on nostalgia and historical memory. It also happens to be bursting at the seams with Liminal Horror (while also featuring one of the all-time creepiest antagonists in ARG history). That’s why I’d love to see this found footage yarn make the leap to the big screen.
1. Mystery Flesh Pit National Park
Inspiration can come from anywhere, but even veteran storytellers will likely be surprised to learn that Trevor Roberts’ cosmic/body horror opus has its origins in a rotting cantaloupe that he discovered in the break room while working as an architect. Roberts would then edit a snapshot of the decaying fruit into an existing picture of a mine in South Africa, with the ensuing image becoming the basis of a long-running story about a massive superorganism buried in central Texas.
A gruesome satire of corporate greed and how human beings can quickly adapt to ridiculous situations, Mystery Flesh Pit National Park is a multifaceted narrative told through in-universe writing, illustrations, and even a Tabletop RPG. Of course, a Hollywood movie would ideally take the form of a mockumentary following the creation of the park and the terrifying 2007 disaster that led to its closing.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
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