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Backrooms director Kane Parsons has slammed generative AI.
The new horror film is one of the surprise breakout hits of the year, already standing at around $135 million at the worldwide box office.
"I think I'm in the same boat as most well-adjusted people," Parsons told The Australian (via Deadline). "If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me."
Though Parsons acknowledges the potential for AI to help with some VFX tasks, he explained "right now it's difficult to discuss objectively because there's so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening."
It sounds like AI has sparked ideas for what Parsons wants to do next, however. "What interests me more is interrogating it artistically," he shared. "We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That's become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.
"I'm interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents," he added. "I definitely want to explore it further in future projects."
Backrooms is an A24 horror movie based on the internet creepypasta, and it stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, and Finn Bennett.
"I didn't have any thoughts, really, about the viral nature of it," Ejiofor told GamesRadar+ recently. "I just thought that it was a fascinating world to explore, [with] fascinating characters."
Backrooms is in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to the best horror movies to scare yourself silly.
