Review · 6 August 2026
Backrooms (2026)Modal Verbs of Speculation
🎯 Today’s focus
Modal verbs of speculation — must have, might have, may have, could have — the exact language this film’s uncertainty and unanswered questions keep calling for.
🎬 Episode script
Transcript
4 chapters · about 11 minutes of reading🎭 Intro
This channel talks about movies in slow, clear English to help you practise your English listening comprehension. What if the strangest, most frightening place in the world wasn’t a haunted house or a graveyard, but an empty office building that never seems to end? Let’s talk about Backrooms.
Let’s start with the story. Clark owns a small furniture store, and one day, almost by accident, he finds a door in the back of his shop that shouldn’t be there. Behind it isn’t a storage room — it’s an endless maze of yellow, empty office spaces, stretching on with no clear end.
💽 Plot & how the story is told
Let’s start with the story. Clark owns a small furniture store, and one day, almost by accident, he finds a door in the back of his shop that shouldn’t be there. Behind it isn’t a storage room — it’s an endless maze of yellow, empty office spaces, stretching on with no clear end.
Nobody knows exactly how long Clark could have been missing before anyone realised something was wrong, since the film deliberately leaves the timeline vague at the start. Notice “could have been missing” — we use this modal form when we’re guessing about something in the past, without being completely certain.
Clark’s therapist, Dr. Mary Kline, becomes convinced something serious must have happened to him, especially once his store is found abandoned with no explanation. “Must have happened” is a strong, confident guess about the past — we use “must have” when the evidence makes something feel almost certain, even without direct proof.
Searching for answers, Mary starts investigating the space Clark disappeared into, and eventually finds her own way into the Backrooms herself. From here, the film becomes as much about her unravelling grip on reality as it is about finding Clark.
Inside, the rules of normal space and time don’t seem to apply. Rooms repeat, hallways loop back on themselves, and the lighting — flickering fluorescent tubes — never quite goes out and never quite feels reliable either.
Mary isn’t alone in there. Other people are trapped in the Backrooms too, some of whom have clearly been there for a very long time, and she has to work out who might have been telling the truth about what they’ve seen, and who might have been changed by the place itself. “Might have been telling the truth” and “might have been changed” are both speculative modals — we use “might have” when something is possible, but we genuinely don’t know for sure. That uncertainty is really the whole emotional engine of the film.
As Mary goes deeper, she encounters strange, hostile entities that seem to exist only within these shifting rooms — creatures that may have evolved specifically to survive in a space with no natural laws of its own. “May have evolved” works the same way as “might have” here, expressing a real possibility rather than a confirmed fact.
The film builds tension less through jump scares and more through pure dread — the constant feeling that something is deeply wrong with a space that should, on the surface, look completely mundane. An empty office corridor becomes one of the most unsettling settings imaginable, purely through lighting, sound design, and pacing.
Eventually, Mary does find Clark, but by that point in the story, both of them have been changed by their time in the Backrooms in ways that aren’t fully explained. Whether the version of Clark she finds could have been trusted completely is left deliberately unclear.
The ending itself is intentionally ambiguous. Without spoiling exactly how it plays out, the film never fully confirms how much of what we’ve seen actually happened, how much time has really passed, or whether Mary and Clark’s escape means what it appears to mean. Viewers are left to decide for themselves what must have been real, and what might only have existed inside the Backrooms’ distorted version of reality.
Now, let’s talk about how this story is told. Kane Parsons directs with an eye clearly shaped by his original online found-footage videos — long, quiet, static shots of empty rooms that let unease build slowly, rather than relying on constant action. Much of the horror comes from stillness and repetition rather than obvious threats.
The film also structures itself around two parallel psychological unravellings — Clark’s and Mary’s — rather than a single clear hero’s journey, which is part of why critics have praised its atmosphere while some audiences have found the lack of firm answers frustrating.
📖 Vocabulary spotlight
Alongside our grammar focus, this episode also has five vocabulary words for you — all pulled directly from how critics and fans actually describe this film and the horror subgenre it belongs to.
Liminal describes an in-between space — somewhere that isn’t quite one place or another, like an empty hallway, an abandoned office, or a hotel corridor at 3 a.m. The Backrooms is the ultimate example of a liminal space, and the word is used constantly in reviews of this film.
To disorient someone means to make them lose their sense of direction, time, or reality. The film’s looping, repeating rooms are specifically designed to disorient both the characters and the audience watching them.
An entity is a being or thing that exists, often used when we don’t know exactly what something is. Critics frequently use this word to describe the strange creatures Mary encounters, since the film never fully explains what they actually are.
Surreal describes something that feels dreamlike, strange, and not quite like normal reality — often in an unsettling way. Many reviews describe the film’s atmosphere as deeply surreal, precisely because it takes an ordinary setting and makes it feel completely wrong.
Dread is a strong feeling of fear or anxiety about something that hasn’t happened yet. Rather than relying on sudden shocks, this film is built almost entirely around a slow, constant sense of dread.
💬 Online discussion
Now, let’s talk about how Backrooms has actually been received since its release in cinemas in May 2026.
Critically, the response has been strong. The film holds a Certified Fresh score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes from over 230 reviews, with critics like Owen Gleiberman and Amy Nicholson specifically praising its atmosphere and commitment to pure, sustained unease over cheap scares.
Audience reception has been more divided, particularly around the ending. Some viewers have said the ambiguity is exactly what made the film linger with them, while others have said they wanted at least some of their questions to have been answered by the credits, and felt frustrated that they weren’t.
Part of what makes the online discussion around this film interesting is its origin story. The Backrooms concept didn’t start as a movie at all — it began years earlier as an anonymous internet image described as a “liminal space,” which eventually inspired Kane Parsons, working online as Kane Pixels, to create a series of viral found-footage videos long before any studio was involved. That grassroots, internet-first history is a huge part of why horror fans in particular have been so invested in whether the full-length film could have lived up to the original concept.
Online, discussion tends to focus on a few recurring topics: whether the film successfully translates an internet horror concept into a satisfying full-length story, debates over what the ending actually means, and comparisons to Kane Parsons’ original short-form videos from fans who followed the project from its very beginning. Even among viewers who disagree about the ending, there’s broad agreement that the film’s atmosphere and sound design are genuinely unsettling in a way that’s hard to shake off.
⭐ The verdict
Rating
A film that succeeds far more on atmosphere than on answers. It’s a film that succeeds far more on atmosphere than on answers — if you’re looking for a horror film that explains everything neatly by the end, this might have been the wrong choice for you. But if you’re drawn to the unsettling feeling of an ordinary, mundane space turned completely wrong, this is one of the more effective examples of that kind of horror in recent years, backed up by a genuinely strong critical reception.
CEFR B1–B2
📚 Study tools
Learning focus recap
Eight speculative-modal examples from the episode, each with the rule behind it — plus the five bonus words.
Guessing about something in the past, without being completely certain.
Nobody knows how long Clark could have been missing.
A strong, confident guess — the evidence makes it feel almost certain.
Mary becomes convinced something serious must have happened to him.
Possible, but we genuinely don’t know for sure.
She has to work out who might have been telling the truth.
The same speculative form — a real possibility, not a fact.
…and who might have been changed by the place itself.
Works the same way as “might have” — a real possibility rather than a confirmed fact.
Creatures that may have evolved to survive in a space with no natural laws.
A past possibility we can’t confirm.
Whether the version of Clark she finds could have been trusted is left unclear.
A confident guess and an uncertain one, side by side in the same sentence.
What must have been real, and what might only have existed inside the Backrooms.
Imagining an outcome fans genuinely weren’t sure was possible.
Whether the film could have lived up to the original concept.
The three forms to remember: must have + past participle when you’re very confident, based on strong evidence (“something must have happened to him”); might have or may have when something is possible but not certain (“he might have been telling the truth”); could have for a past possibility you can’t confirm (“he could have been missing for days”). All three let you guess about the past without stating it as fact.
📖 Bonus words
Liminal
An in-between space that belongs nowhere.
Disorient
To make someone lose their sense of direction or reality.
Entity
A being whose exact nature is unknown.
Surreal
Dreamlike and strange.
Dread
Ongoing fear of what hasn’t happened yet.
✏️ Practice
Fill in the blank
0 of 5 correctType the missing modal verb or participle, then check. Stuck? Tap Hint to see three options.
Once his store is found abandoned, Mary is convinced something serious have happened to Clark.
Something serious must have to him.
Creatures that may have specifically to survive in a space with no natural laws.
She has to work out who have been telling the truth — it’s possible, but nobody knows for sure.
Whether the version of Clark she finds could have been is left deliberately unclear.
🧠 Check you understood
Comprehension questions
0 of 6 answeredWhat is different about the space Clark finds behind the door in his shop?
- A storage room just like the rest of the shop
- An endless maze of yellow, empty offices
- A narrow hallway that loops within seconds
Why does Dr. Mary Kline start investigating the space Clark disappeared into?
- She is searching for Kane Parsons’ old found-footage tapes
- She is trying to reopen the furniture store on her own
- She is his therapist, convinced something has happened
What does the word “entity” mean, as critics use it in this review?
- An in-between space that belongs to nowhere
- A being or thing whose true nature is unknown
- A dreamlike, unsettling feeling about the place
Why does the review use “might have” and “may have” for the trapped people and the entities?
- Because something is possible, but not confirmed
- Because the evidence makes it feel almost certain
- Because the event is guaranteed to happen very soon
How did critics respond to the film’s atmosphere, according to the review?
- They found it disappointing, unlike earlier videos
- They were divided, mostly over the ending itself
- They praised its atmosphere and sustained unease
According to the review, how did the Backrooms concept first begin?
- It began as an anonymous internet image online
- It began inside Clark’s furniture store as a photo
- It began as Dr. Mary Kline’s private therapy notes
✍️ Your turn
Try it yourself in the comments
Describe something mysterious or unexplained — a strange sound, a missing object, an unclear ending to a film — using must have, might have or could have, and practise guessing about the past without stating it as fact. Then try one of the five bonus words — to describe this film, or another story built around uncertainty.
For example: “My keys aren’t here — I must have left them at work, or they might have fallen out in the car,” or “That empty car park at midnight felt completely liminal.”Write a comment ↓📚 Keep learning
Make today’s lesson stick
Vocab pack
Backrooms flashcards
Flip through the bonus words and key phrases until they’re automatic.
Quiz
Backrooms quiz
45 questions on the film and its modal verbs, in three levels. About 5 minutes per level.
Grammar guide
Modal Verbs of Speculation
The plain-English guide to must have, might have and could have.
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