Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Alexander Ullom
Starring: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole
For some people, life can feel like a rollercoaster. But for most of us who are fortunate to live in the relative peace and safety of the western world, life is more like one long straight road. There are occasional bumps, but for the most part we spend our lives headed straight towards a certain destination. To save ourselves from going mad, we try to turn off this road as often as possible as we seek variety, but our responsibilities inevitably force us to return to the highway. One of the things we fear most is monotony and the idea that every day will be exactly the same. It's why we punish people by sending them to prison.
Writer/director Alexander Ullom explores the horror of monotony in his thought-provoking if not entirely satisfying debut It Ends. He introduces us to four young college grads who have their whole lives ahead of them, only to send them down a never-ending road with no possibility of any diversions to break the monotony.
Late one night, James (Phinehas Yoon), Fisher (Noah Toth) and Day (Akira Jackson) all pile into the Jeep Cherokee of their friend Tyler (Mitchell Cole) in search of some junk food. Ullom cleverly establishes the group dynamic by having the quartet play a silly internet game that sparks a debate over who would win in a fight between 50 hawks and one man with a rifle. Fisher and Day recognise the absurdity of the game and play it for laughs. James takes it all very seriously and attempts to break it down logically. Tyler simply refuses to take part.
Thanks to this clever bit of writing from Ullum and the believable performances of his young cast, within minutes we feel like we know these people, and we might recognise something of ourselves in their personalities. This adds necessary weight when they find themselves in their oncoming predicament.
After getting distracted, Tyler assumes he has missed the turn-off they were supposed to be looking out for. His friends assure him that they haven't passed any turn-off, but Tyler ignores them and turns around, only to find a dead end at the point where he insists they turned onto this stretch of the road. While stopped to figure out what the hell is happening, the group are swarmed by a horde of strangers who rush out of the woods and attempt to steal their jeep. Making their escape, the four friends stop their vehicle further down the road, only for another rabid horde to emerge from the woods. No matter how far they drive, the same thing happens every time they stop their jeep. No matter how far they drive, the road never ends.
It Ends is a cosmic horror variation on Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel, in which the guests at a dinner party find they are unable to leave their room. Buñuel played the scenario as an absurdist comedy, but Ullom plays his film with a straight face. He wants us to consider his film's central metaphor, but we do that pretty early on, which makes much of the film redundant. For most of the running time we're simply watching the same group of characters make the same arguments over whether to keep driving or resign themselves to their faith and join the mobs in the woods. There isn't really enough material here to justify a feature length movie, but on the other hand the central idea simply wouldn't work in a shorter format. The repetition is the point here.
If Ullom set out to demonstrate the existential terror of monotony, he's succeeded, but he's also guilty of creating a largely monotonous experience for his audience. It Ends will certainly make you think, and there is always value in a film that can prompt self-examination. It's clear that Ullom wants his audience, particularly younger viewers, to think deeply about the road they're on. But I fear the monotonous nature of It Ends will result in a lot of viewers contemplating what to have for dinner rather than querying their existential malaise.
It Ends is on Letterboxd Video Store from December 10th until January 9th, 2026.
