How do you create a feeling of dread in the audience when the film’s villain is an empty room? This was the challenge for A24’s Backrooms, in which the dreamlike liminal space of the film’s title needed to remain shrouded in mystery.
We began by developing an overall visual language and text treatment that was used across all facets of the campaign. Slight mutations and variations of the letters hinted at the way the Backrooms complex slowly morphs and “misremembers” its victims. Letters grow extra legs, words spell out backwards, things duplicate. Our motion animation mimics the walls and the shadows they create. The type folds out of itself and continues unfolding like the corridors that infinitely expand. Blue is our only relief from the never-ending sea of yellow wallpaper. It is seen in the small pops of painters tape that represent Clark’s portal out of the complex, and in the CRT-style endcards that hint at the government agency ASYNC. Anything that lived within the world of the Backrooms became mutated. If a Rotten Tomatoes logo or a fan Tweet was integrated into creative, there was an idea that it was becoming “part” of the world itself. Our content leaned into the unknown, using the yellow wallpaper as a backdrop to turn negative space into a villain in and of itself. Although the film eventually reveals creatures within the Backrooms complex, our campaign never hinted at or revealed them, using subtle clues like a dying bird, a mutated chair, or a bizarrely warped map to imply that something more sinister is at play. Every visual abnormality, music cue, or piece of dialog was immediately picked apart by the rabid online fanbase, making it imperative that we know every piece of online lore. Our AV edits used match cuts, audio manipulation, and subtle 90s-inspired visuals to communicate the deteriorating mental state of our characters, creating a feeling of dread without spoiling anything.
In the end, Backrooms became the largest opening weekend in A24’s history, with a marketing campaign that helped turn intrigue into anticipation. Rather than revealing too much, our approach leaned into the mystery at the heart of the film, creating a distinct visual language and a steady stream of content that encouraged fans to speculate, theorize, and piece together clues for themselves. By giving audiences just enough to fuel their curiosity without ever giving away the secrets, we helped build a sense of discovery and sustained conversation that extended far beyond the campaign itself, turning fan obsession into real cultural momentum.
