“Unsettling As Hell”: Backrooms Finally Reveals How Captain Clark Came to Life in New Pics

Kane Parsons’ Backrooms quickly proved to be a smash hit after it debuted in theaters on May 29, and nearly two months later, audiences are still talking about it. In fact, perhaps taking many by surprise, A24’s psychological thriller performed so well at the box office and generally landed so well with audiences that it has seemingly become the barometer by which other 2026 horror flicks will be measured.

Rather than a truly gory nightmare or a fast-paced narrative that heavily relies upon jump scares, though, Backrooms thrived because of its ability to create a deeply uncomfortable sense of unease within its viewers. Part of that was, of course, the primary antagonist, Pirate Clark/Captain Clark, a towering version of the main character who maintains a haunted look on his face and is prone to taking bites out of people. While it didn’t seem like this character could get even more upsetting to audiences, one behind-the-scenes image shared by A24 has just proven everyone wrong.

This Behind-the-Scenes Look Somehow Made Captain Clark Even More Disconcerting

A24’s official X account took it upon itself to horrify audiences on a random Wednesday afternoon by revealing how exactly Pirate Clark was brought to life on screen. Specifically, the image the account shared (which includes the cheeky caption “Average coworker dynamic”) offers a behind-the-scenes look at Robert Bobroczkyi in the Captain Clark suit, standing next to costar Renate Reinsve. Somehow, as commenters on the post have voiced, seeing what Captain Clark looks like without his head makes him even more unsettling than he was in the first place.

In part, this image just makes the scenes in which Captain Clark is chasing down Clark or Mary all the more horrifying to imagine, as the actors were apparently actually being followed by a real-life, physically intimidating person. Had this been done entirely with CGI, it would have been considerably less creepy, both in terms of what audiences saw on screen and regarding what the actors experienced themselves. However, there’s also simply something very eerie about seeing the character, who is absolutely horrifying in the movie, out of that context and, obviously, not with his own face.

Yet, that is precisely why Backrooms did so well. In the days following the movie’s release, there were plenty of debates to this very effect. Some viewers found the movie absolutely terrifying, whereas others left the theaters confused about claims that it was the scariest horror movie others had ever seen. Sure, this is true of myriad horror films, but there is something unique about Backrooms’ approach, wherein, again, it doesn’t really rely on sudden scares or gruesome images (which are fine and can be fun in and of themselves), but rather makes its viewers profoundly uncomfortable.

Hopefully, given how well this worked, the movie will eventually be back with a sequel in the future to do it again.

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