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| 16 Horror Movies and Series Like Backrooms You Must Watch If the Endless Maze Still Haunts You. (Credits: Avenue) |
Backrooms (2026) has quickly become one of the year's most talked-about horror releases, turning a simple internet legend into a genuinely unsettling psychological nightmare. Directed by Kane Parsons, the film takes viewers into a reality where logic quietly packs its bags and leaves. Endless corridors, impossible architecture, strange dimensions and the growing feeling that something is watching from just around the corner make the film feel less like traditional horror and more like being trapped inside a bad dream designed by an architect who has completely lost interest in building regulations.
What makes Backrooms stand out is not just its mysterious creatures or surreal settings. It is the crushing feeling of isolation, confusion and the constant question of whether escape is even possible. If you finished the film wanting more stories about impossible labyrinths, shifting realities and characters slowly questioning everything around them, these 16 films and series deserve a place on your watchlist.
Movies Like Backrooms
1. Vivarium (2019)
If Backrooms made you uncomfortable with endless spaces, Vivarium takes that idea and wraps it in bright suburban colours. Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg play a young couple trapped inside a housing estate where every street looks exactly the same.
Every attempt to leave only brings them back to where they started. The horror here comes from repetition, routine and the terrifying possibility that there is absolutely no exit. It is like being stuck in the world's most aggressive property viewing.
2. Cube (1997)
Few films influenced modern maze horror as much as Cube. Six strangers wake up inside a giant structure made of interconnected rooms, many filled with deadly traps.
Nobody knows who built it or why they are there. The deeper they travel, the more dangerous the situation becomes. Like Backrooms, the mystery itself is often more frightening than the answers.
3. Skinamarink (2022)
Skinamarink is not interested in jump scares. Instead, it wants viewers to stare into darkness and wonder if something is staring back. Following two children trapped inside a house where doors and windows disappear, the film creates an atmosphere of pure dread.
Some viewers found it terrifying. Others spent half the runtime checking whether their television had accidentally switched off. Either way, it leaves an impression.
4. Grave Encounters (2011)
An abandoned psychiatric hospital becomes an endless supernatural maze after a ghost-hunting crew locks themselves inside overnight.
Hallways stretch endlessly, rooms shift locations and reality begins breaking apart. Sound familiar? Grave Encounters shares much of the same nightmare logic that makes Backrooms so effective.
5. 1408 (2007)
A single hotel room becomes an impossible prison in this adaptation of Stephen King's short story. John Cusack delivers one of his strongest performances as a sceptical writer who discovers that room 1408 has no intention of following normal reality. It proves you do not need a giant labyrinth when one room can become a universe of misery.
6. As Above, So Below (2014)
Set beneath Paris in the famous catacombs, this horror thriller follows explorers descending into tunnels that seem to grow stranger and more personal with every step.
The further they travel, the more the underground maze begins reflecting their deepest regrets. It is essentially a nightmare escape room with significantly worse customer reviews.
7. Meander (2020)
French thriller Meander traps its protagonist inside a futuristic tunnel system filled with lethal traps and mysterious countdowns.
Every passage presents a new challenge, while emotional trauma slowly becomes part of the puzzle. Fans of the claustrophobic sections in Backrooms will feel right at home, although "home" may not be the best word.
8. Annihilation (2018)
Alex Garland's visually stunning sci-fi horror masterpiece explores a mysterious zone known as The Shimmer, where nature and reality continuously mutate.
While it is more philosophical than Backrooms, both stories share a fascination with impossible environments and humanity's struggle to understand the unknown.
9. The Deep House (2021)
A submerged house hidden beneath a French lake becomes the setting for one of the most unique horror concepts in recent years.
The underwater environment creates constant tension as characters navigate impossible spaces with limited oxygen. Claustrophobic, unsettling and visually striking, it offers a different kind of labyrinth nightmare.
10. Session 9 (2001)
An abandoned mental hospital provides the setting for this slow-burning psychological horror film. Rather than relying on monsters, Session 9 creates fear through atmosphere, paranoia and psychological collapse.
Like Backrooms, it understands that strange places often become even more frightening when the human mind starts doing half the work.
11. Dark (2017–2020)
One of the most acclaimed mystery series of the last decade, Dark begins with a missing child and evolves into a mind-bending exploration of time, alternate realities and interconnected destinies.
The German series constantly leaves viewers questioning what is real. Watching it sometimes feels like solving a puzzle while somebody quietly changes the puzzle pieces behind your back.
12. Severance (2022–Present)
At first glance, Severance might seem more sci-fi than horror. Yet its endless white corridors, mysterious corporate structure and growing sense of existential dread make it a perfect companion piece to Backrooms.
The sterile office environment becomes its own surreal labyrinth where every answer raises five more questions.
13. From (2022–Present)
A mysterious town traps everyone who enters. Roads lead nowhere, escape proves impossible and terrifying creatures emerge after sunset.
From combines survival horror with mystery-box storytelling and shares the same unsettling "you can enter but never leave" energy that drives Backrooms.
14. Archive 81 (2022)
This psychological horror series follows an archivist restoring damaged videotapes who gradually becomes obsessed with a decades-old mystery.
Strange dimensions, cult activity and reality-bending events create a story that constantly blurs the line between investigation and nightmare.
15. Channel Zero: No-End House (2017)
Perhaps the closest television equivalent to Backrooms, this season follows visitors entering a haunted attraction called No-End House.
Each room becomes increasingly surreal, disturbing and impossible to escape. The concept of endless interconnected spaces should immediately appeal to fans of Kane Parsons' film.
16. The OA (2016–2019)
Part mystery, part science fiction and part psychological puzzle, The OA explores alternate dimensions and realities through one of television's most ambitious stories.
The series constantly challenges viewers' assumptions about existence itself. Like Backrooms, it thrives on uncertainty and encourages audiences to embrace confusion rather than fear it.
Reactions from horror fans and online communities have varied dramatically. Some viewers argue that Cube, Vivarium and Channel Zero: No-End House capture the closest feeling to Backrooms, particularly their use of endless spaces and psychological dread.
Others point to Dark, Severance and From as stronger modern companions because of their layered mysteries and reality-bending narratives.
Meanwhile, a growing number of viewers have become unexpectedly obsessed with niche labyrinth horror altogether, proving that apparently thousands of people enjoy watching characters wander endlessly through corridors while making increasingly questionable decisions.
The success of Backrooms has also reignited interest in "liminal horror," a genre built around empty spaces, distorted environments and the fear of being somewhere that feels almost familiar but fundamentally wrong. It is horror that asks viewers to fear the location itself rather than whatever might be hiding inside it. Sometimes the hallway is the monster.
Whether you prefer the puzzle-box structure of Cube, the suburban nightmare of Vivarium, the existential mysteries of Dark, or the endless corridors of Channel Zero, these 16 titles offer plenty of unsettling journeys into realities where normal rules no longer apply.
Which one deserves the crown as the ultimate Backrooms alternative? And did we miss a hidden gem that left you staring nervously at empty hallways afterwards? The debate among horror fans is far from over.