It Ends
When Tyler (Mitchell Cole, "Against the Spread") picks up his three recent college grad buddies he hasn't seen since his military training, they quickly fall into discussions both playful and illuminating, but tension begins to build in his white Jeep Cherokee when he appears to have missed their turnoff. Doubling back, they find the beginning of the road blocked by trees and a horde of people come running out of the woods screaming, clawing at them to stop the vehicle as Tyler speeds away. Days later, they're still on the same road and begin to search for explanations as to whether "It Ends."
Laura's Review: B+
Writer/director Alex Ullom's feature debut is an existential psychological thriller and four way character study that tackles the very meaning of life itself, a heady theme for a debut but he and his cast are up to the challenge. The fledgling filmmaker has come up with a brilliant allegory with his long, straight road, one which also demonstrates budgetary acuity.
This group wastes no time falling into familiar patterns, Tyler and Fisher (Noah Toth, "Senior Prank") debating whether 50 hawks could defeat a single man armed with a rifle, a conversation James (Phinehas Yoon, "Smoking Tigers"), sitting shotgun, refuses to participate in. Sitting in the back seat with Fisher, Day (Akira Jackson, "Against the Spread") joins in the joking, but when they begin to catch up with Tyler, all are astonished - and amused - that he ended a promising relationship with a woman because she wanted him to drive three hours to pick pumpkins. So, right off the bat we know that Tyler has no patience for long drives, that Fisher is laid back and James is the opposite, laying out his life plans right down to his projected salary and family size. Day will share something shocking when they begin to realize just what their situation is, her behavior becoming more aggressively opinionated.
After driving all night, the group will stop to consider their options. It appears that Tyler's Jeep isn't using any gas, nor do its occupants feel a need for fuel. After figuring out it takes about 90 seconds for the hordes to appear from the woods, they begin taking timed breaks to get out and move. They'll also begin to toss around theories, like whether they actually crashed and are all dead, in purgatory or hell itself, but these ideas are largely dismissed out of hand, no one believing they deserve their fate (this is where Day confesses something which James will use against her later on). They begin to take shifts at the wheel and, after a few days, Tyler volunteers to head into the woods at daybreak.
He does, but finds nothing at first. He'll be joined by James and when they find someone sitting against a tree, they tie the man up and begin to question him, but the man is incoherent, rambling. Fisher begins to have a breakdown. They come across a car facing them on the road, but when James goes to investigate, he finds it empty, its odometer revealing a terrifying number. Finally, after having driven 56,182 miles, when Tyler and James head into the woods, Tyler informs his friend he isn't going to return, seeing no point in driving endlessly. Day takes the news badly, screaming for Tyler to come back.
Now that they are three, James' reluctance to engage in stress-releasing outlets becomes more prominent. Day and Fisher orchestrate choreographed dance moves to keep their spirits up, but James will not join them, nor will he participate in their daily primal scream. Yoon carries the heaviest load in an impressive ensemble, the actor traversing the largest arc by having to reckon with the answer to the mystery, something his character has been denying all along, but each has a role to play expressing various outlooks on life and this cast of unknowns is unlikely to remain so. Those looking for a straight horror film may be disappointed, as "It Ends" isn't exactly terrifying except conceptually, although Ullom achieves some creepy moments with cinematographers Evan Draper and Jazleana Jones using shots from below to frame the tree canopy overhead and illuminating the woods shouldering the road at night with headlights, flashlights and red brake lights. They also keep things visually interesting within the Jeep, shooting from both inside and out.
It looks like Ullom is embracing horror more directly for his sophomore film, "4 x 4: The Event," a livestream fight-to-the-death competition, but given his thoughtful screenplay here, it's likely to feature more insight into the human condition. In a year where the horror genre has exploded, "It Ends" is one of the more memorable entries.
Robin's Review: B-
Four friends are on a late night food run. They struggle to find the correct turnoff and the driver, Tyler (Mitchell Cole), takes the first available right. It is a bad decision when they realize they are on a road to nowhere in "It Ends."
Being in a car, on an endless road driving days on end, never getting tired or hungry and never running out of gas. We should be hearing Rod Serling say, "You've entered the 'Twilight Zone.'" Writer-director Alex Ullom should have stuck to that iconic series format and kept "It Ends" at about an hour. At just under an hour and a half, it feels too long.
As I watched the four twenty-somethings discuss, argue and complain about their seemingly endless life plight, I know there is a metaphor (or several) that the filmmakers are shouting out. Take your pick or come up with your own – frustration on the endless toil of the masses; the lack of direction in life; the importance of patience with yourself and others; our lack of control on things around us. There are more if you dig down a bit more.
This might be considered a horror movie about being in a terrible situation with no way out and hopeless. I think filmmaker Ullum is an existentialist philosopher who cannot find a podium to talk on so he turned to filmmaking as his medium for being stuck on an endless highway. I sympathize.
Neon releases "It Ends" in NY and L.A. theaters on 8/21/26, expanding on 8/28/26.
