AI Studio Promise Announces Psychological Horror Film 'Touch Grass' from 'Backrooms' Director Dave Clark
AI firm Promise is developing a psychological horror feature called Touch Grass, with Dave Clark — the director behind Backrooms, the top-grossing film in A24's history at $395 million worldwide — set to direct. Deadline revealed the project in an exclusive published 10 August 2026.
The film is based on an original idea by Clark, not an acquired property. Per Promise's logline, Touch Grass follows a young woman who designs AI personalities for a mysterious tech company and discovers a hidden world beneath the internet called The Feed. The premise draws loosely on the "dead internet theory" — an online conspiracy suggesting much of the web is populated by bots rather than people.
Clark, who serves as Promise's chief creative officer, will direct and executive produce alongside George Strompolos and Jamie Byrne. Chris White and Bloody Disgusting founder Brad Miska are producing. Miska produces through Be Afraid Media, the horror media company behind Dread Central. Deadline
The production model is where things get unusual. Touch Grass will combine live-action actor performances, practical effects, traditional visual effects, and generative AI — a hybrid approach that folds machine-generated imagery into a conventional filmmaking pipeline rather than replacing it wholesale. Promise has stated that "artistry and filmmaking craft come first, with AI serving simply as a tool" (Promise, 24 July 2026). The company, which is backed by Peter Chernin and Google, describes itself as an entertainment studio "built for the GenAI era" aiming to "reimagine how visionary artists create film, series, and new forms of storytelling" (Promise YouTube channel).
What makes the project stand out is the gap it is trying to bridge. Most AI-generated content so far has circulated as short clips, experiments, or marketing materials — not a feature film designed for a theatrical-style release. Clark's Backrooms, adapted from the internet-born creepypasta meme of liminal office spaces, proved that an online-native horror concept could gross nearly $400 million at the global box office. Pairing that track record with a generative-AI production pipeline gives Touch Grass a commercial reference point that earlier AI film experiments have lacked.
No release date, budget, or distributor has been announced. The film is in development.
