Surrealist AI Video 'The Shape Store' Inspires 'Backrooms' Comparisons, Escapes 'AI Slop' Accusations

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About

The Shape Store is a surrealist AI video generated in a DIY, found-footage style showing a group of men at the grand opening of "The Shape Store," a fictional shop and amusement park based on colored shape blocks. The video was posted by the infinite_archive_ Instagram page on March 1st, 2026, and spread over the following days to sites including TikTok, Reddit and X / Twitter, becoming the subject of memes and reactions, with many praising it as a standout AI video. Some compared the video's style to The Backrooms.

Origin

On March 1st, 2026, Instagram page infinite_archive_ posted an AI-generated video showing the grand opening of a surrealist, fictional story called "The Shape Store." In the video, generated as if filmed from a low-res video camera, men are shown in a variety of situations involving colored shapes and blocks. The video gained over 88,000 views and 7,700 likes in two days. The video description reads, "[ archived footage from the grand opening of the shape store ]."

It was reposted to the @a.i.solation TikTok page that day with a watermark for the original page, garnering over 648,000 views in two days.

@a.i.solation [ archived footage from the grand opening of the shape store ] #fyp #fypシ゚viral #theshapestore #memes #hoodmemes ♬ original sound – a.i.solation

Spread

The Shape Store video spread over the following days in early March 2026, with many finding the concept and video itself intriguing.

On March 2nd, 2026, X user @FalconryFinance reposted the video, garnering over 13,000 likes and 1,400 reposts in a day. It was reposted to the /r/aivideo subreddit that same day, garnering over 2,600 upvotes in a day.

That day, X user @justalexoki quoted the repost by @FalconryFinance, writing, "idgaf about the ram prices. i want more of whatever this is," gaining over 14,000 likes and 1,200 reposts in a day.

A post reacting to The Shape Store. It reads, "idgaf about the ram prices. i want more of whatever this is."

On that same day, X user @Denneisk quoted the post, writing, "this video understands the backrooms better than anyone who claims they're a 'fan of the Backrooms,'" garnering over 8,800 likes in a day.

A post. It reads, "this video understands the backrooms better than anyone who claims they're a "fan of the Backrooms."

That night on March 2nd, X user @KaiserLoengramm quoted the post, writing, "After watching this I think I finally grasp the Black Experience. It’s living in this bizarre world you and your people never could’ve created, and you don’t understand how any of it works, and it’s all just this big shape store to you. Pristine theatrics indeed. This is true art," garnering over 15,000 likes in a day.

On March 3rd, 2026, X user and content creator @RSTYCG (Rusty Cage) quoted the post, writing, "I don’t think this is worth the shitification of every aspect of humanity," suggesting that the video isn't worth the damage that AI generation does, garnering over 7,300 likes in under a day.