Movie Review: Gen Z Gets a Moody, Existential Horror in ‘It Ends’
With four characters and one road, the film builds tension through survival rules, timed tests and routines instead of big special effects.
- On Friday, writer-director Alexander Ullom releases his micro-budget road thriller, It Ends, in theaters; Neon distributes the film, expanding nationwide on August 28.
- Trapped in a Jeep Cherokee on an infinite road, four friends face violent strangers who attack if the vehicle stops for more than 90 seconds, forcing constant motion.
- Cast members Phinehas Yoon, Mitchell Cole, Noah Toth, and Akira Jackson portray distinct personalities; Toth and Jackson provide comedic relief while Yoon and Cole embody cynicism and pragmatism.
- Beyond the horror, Ullom shifts into philosophical territory, questioning whether victims should accept fate or struggle as characters discover the car needs no gas and they require no food.
- Premiering at SXSW, the film showcases Ullom's ability to sustain ominous mood; like filmmaker Kane Parsons, he suggests ordinary existence hides something deeply wrong beneath the surface.
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The Derrick
Review: Inventive and inspiring, 'It Ends' brings 'Backrooms' into the backwoods
"It Ends," a microbudget marvel by 20-something writer-director Alexander Ullom, has a straightforward premise that expands in your imagination. Four school pals — go-getter James (Phinehas Yoon), drop-out Tyler (Mitchell Cole), anxious Fisher (Noah Toth) and creative Day (Akira Jackson)…
It Ends Review: NEON’s Brutally Clever Cosmic Horror
Introverts and extroverts view the world in different ways. For most extroverts, a road trip with friends where small talk transforms into the random minutiae of a wandering mind sounds like a blast in eight-hour chunks. To an introvert, the prospect of spending even a fraction of that time “shooting the shit” can be its […] The post It Ends Review: NEON’s Brutally Clever Cosmic Horror appeared first on Den of Geek.
Film Review: ‘It Ends’ Gets a Lot of Mileage Out of An Impossible Premise
NEON There were so many ways in which It Ends could have been an interminable experience. A horror film without much in the way of visual horrors? A movie that largely takes place inside of a car? It doesn’t take a lot of work to see how this could have failed. What makes the flick work is how effective the sense of existential dread is here. That won’t be for everyone, of course, but if this sounds even a little bit interesting, it’s the kind o…
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