A New Era of Film Makers

2026 has been a massive year for up-and-coming directors. Several of this year’s films have been massive box office successes like Obsession which made over $230 million with a $750,000 budget. Those are statistics even seasoned filmgoers balk at. Obsession also shows a change in the directors behind such massive hits.

Director Curry Barker is a YouTuber. No, I’m not joking. The twenty-six year old runs the channel “that’s a bad idea” along with Cooper Tomlinson. The two have made a lot of sketch comedy videos in the nine years since they started posting. On the channel is also Barker’s directorial debut Milk & Serial, another horror film but this time in the found footage genre. With over three million views, it proved to be rather successful. Barker’s theatrical debut built upon this success and garnered loads of mainstream attention.

Now, I haven’t seen Obsession – yet. I swear that it’s on my watchlist. I can’t wait to see the world that Barker created. Judging by everything I’ve seen online, I’ll be scared beyond belief but enjoy every second of it.

There are two other YouTuber theatrical debuts I’ve seen though: Iron Lung and Backrooms.

Both of these movies were based on previous media. For Iron Lung, the film is based on a game of the same name, and Backrooms is based on the Internet horror phenomena called the backrooms.

Starting with Iron Lung, I was hyped to see it the moment I saw the trailer drop on Markiplier’s channel. See, I’ve been watching Markiplier on and off for about a decade now, I was especially entranced with his Five Nights at Freddy's lets plays. Iron Lung wasn’t Mark’s first film, previously he directed and wrote two interactive films – A Heist with Markiplier and In Space with Markiplier. Both films did rather well, especially amongst Mark’s fanbase. It’s no wonder that as soon as it was announced that he would have a theatrical release people were cheering.

I was one of those people, seeing the film as soon as it opened.

For a movie based on a video game with a singular character, constrained to a miniscule submarine, it was wonderful. The use of practical effects and eerie sound design made the movie as claustrophobic as the game. As soon as I walked from the theater, I knew it was going to be a cult classic. Iron Lung is a slow movie, I’ll admit to that, but to me that only added to the horror. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 125 minute runtime.

Just like Obsession, Iron Lung was a hit at the box office. Making seventeen times its budget, the movie expanded from a limited release to hundreds of theaters across the world. It doesn’t just end there though. The film had a recent digital release on YouTube Movies, and Mark has already started production on a physical release – all printed from his home. That’s the kind of dedication I’m looking for in a director.

The last movie I’ll speak on is Backrooms, a film I recently saw in theaters.

I’ve known about the backrooms for a long time. As someone from the Midwest, I was thrilled when I learned the original backrooms image, posted on a 4chan thread, was from Oshkosh Wisconsin. Now, that really is the backrooms.

Through there’s been plenty of adaptations by internet users, the version most people probably know is from the YouTube channel Kane Pixels run by Kane Parsons. Parsons was only sixteen when he posted his first backrooms video – a video that now sits at 84 million views. Kane transformed the backrooms from a disjointed thread to something with a whole universe and plot never before seen.

Unlike Markiplier who took the independent route when it came to producing his film, Parsons partnered with A24. When I heard that, my jaw dropped. A24, the brain behind some of my favorite movies like Lady Bird and I Saw the TV Glow, with horror hits like Midsommar and The Witch. The fact that Parsons could hit it so big on his debut was awe inspiring.

And the movie. The movie.

I’m not one to usually get terrified at horror flicks. I’ve seen enough that I can usually shake it off after viewing. But there was something about Backrooms that still leaves my skin crawling days after viewing. It’s unnerving in just about every way. I won’t spoil too much, but just beware: everything is not as it seems.

Backrooms is right up there with Obsession crossing the $212 million mark on its global opening. And that was only about two weeks ago. That marks two films, both directed by YouTubers, dominating the horror movie market.

As someone who grew up online, this is one of the most amazing things to see. I’ve seen how hard these people have worked, posting for years upon years before they hit it big. They’ve honed their craft and now they’re seeing the pay off. It’s truly something magical.

As these new directors fill the scene, I’m thrilled to see what they’ll bring to the table whether that be an adaptation or a fresh idea. What genres will they dive into? What new actors will be found? I know I’ll be in the theaters cheering them on.