It Ends (2026) Neon/Horror-Thriller RT: 89 minutes Rated R (pervasive language) Director: Alexander Ullom Screenplay: Alexander Ullom Music: Matthew Robert Cooper Cinematography: Evan Draper and Jazleana Jones Release date: August 21, 2026 (US) Cast: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole.
Rating: *
The best thing about It Ends is that it ends…. eventually.
What I want to know is how the F did It Ends earn 96% on Rotten Tomatoes? Who wrote the reviews, college students who sit around in bars or coffee shops debating the philosophical aspects of pop culture? Well, let me give it to you straight about It Ends. It’s total BS, existential dread slop. It’s completely pointless. It never offers up a definitive explanation for what happens to the characters. It’s one of those movies that invite the viewer to interpret it for themselves. I have no problem with films like that. I remain one of David Lynch’s biggest fans. He was brilliantly deranged. This movie is just stupid and boring. It’s only 89 minutes long, but it feels as endless as the road the four characters are trapped on.
PLOT? WHAT F***ING PLOT? It’s more like a concept of a story idea. Four twenty-somethings- Tyler (Cole), James (Yoon), Day (Jackson) and Fisher (Toth)- find themselves on a never-ending road to nowhere while out for a drive. We know very little about them. The passengers James, Day and Fisher have just graduated from college. The driver Tyler chose to join the military, but was never actually deployed. Somehow they end up on a road that just goes on and on and on without end. They never run out of gas. They don’t get tired, hungry or even horny. They can’t figure it out.
I saw It Ends as an AMC Scream Unseen. It’s classified as horror. But here’s the thing. It’s NOT scary. Not the least little bit. There are no bloody kill scenes. The closest it comes to being horror is the bit about the people hiding in the woods on both sides of the endless road. The gang can only stop for 90 seconds before crazed people coming running out to attack the car. Like everything else in this insufferable movie, no explanation is provided.
As I said earlier, It Ends is subject to viewer interpretation. I’m going to do you all a favor and tell you what I think it means. I never do this, but I feel like it’s entirely appropriate in this case. I had it in my mind that the foursome died in an off-screen accident and ended up in some version of Purgatory. It seems logical to me. It’s what I thought when I first saw the trailer. HOWEVER, there is another theory floating around. Do you want to hear it? If you don’t, I suggest you skip to the next paragraph. It’s a metaphor for post-college life, leaving a comfortable existence for an uncertain future. It’s representative of the monotony, fear of going nowhere in life and ultimately the futility of it all. There, I just saved you the price of a ticket and two hours of your life. You’re welcome.
I can’t think of a single reason to recommend It Ends. It truly is one of the doldrums of summer. It makes perfect sense to release it during the dog days of August. Written and directed by Alexander Ullom (making a most heinous feature film debut), it feels as endless at the road the characters are trapped on despite running only 89 minutes. The characters are vaguely defined and totally uninteresting. James is the serious one. Day attempted suicide in the past. Travis’ girlfriend broke up with him. Fisher….. I got nothing. And YAY for us! We get to spend the entire run time with this bunch. I think I’d get out and start hitchhiking. It goes without saying that the acting isn’t any good. Can it even be called acting when the actors are given practically nothing to work with?
One of the unfortunate after-effects of this year’s surprise smash hit Obsession is that we’re going to be seeing a lot of inferior micro-budgeted horror movies in the foreseeable future. It Ends was made for $50,000. It premiered at last year’s South by Southwest Film Festival and picked up by Neon last December for theatrical release. Then Obsession happened. I’m sure the suits at the indie studio have been hoping to duplicate its success with It Ends since. It might turn a small profit, but I don’t see it coming anywhere close to the earlier film’s $263M box office take, especially once word gets out that it’s a steaming pile of BS. That’s what I’d like to believe anyway. Then I remember how audiences flocked to The Blair Witch Project (1999) en masse only to find it was a great big put-on. I hope it doesn’t happen again with It Ends. Let me remind you of that old saying: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Don’t be fooled. And if you are, don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.
