‘The Endless’ Is a Terrific Lovecraftian Thriller

The Endless is the latest movie from the indie filmmakers behind Spring (definitely a must-see romantic science fiction horror film), Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead.  Aside from performing the writing/directing/producing duties, as what they had done in their past projects, they also served as its lead actors this time around.

The plot centers on two brothers, also named Justin and Aaron, who grew up in and escaped from a commune they presumed was a UFO death cult.  Ten years later, they receive a video message from their former companions, compelling the brothers to revisit them.  Welcomed with hospitality, they stay for a couple of days in the camp, wherein they begin to realize that there may be some truth to the cult’s beliefs after witnessing and experiencing for themselves a series of intensely strange phenomena occurring in the surrounding land.

I went into The Endless knowing nothing what it was going to be about save for the details above.  And I found its mindbending twists-and-turns quite delightful as a result.  Hence, if you, the reader of this review, haven’t seen this movie yet, I don’t want to deny you of the pleasure of also being blown away by its surprises.  So, I won’t be disclosing what’s really going on with this movie.

However, here’s one important twist that you may or may not want to know (SPOILER, I guess): it is connected to Benson and Moorhead’s first ever film back in 2012, Resolution.  Now, it’s not necessarily a prerequisite watching.  I myself had not seen Resolution prior to seeing The Endless (though I immediately did afterwards).  I’m just laying this out since you may want to check out the former before the latter.  But, again, it’s okay to jump straightaway into the latter, which is the superior one anyway.

The Endless is a terrific science fiction horror film.  Yes, its low-budget nature does result to some wobbliness.  The visual effects look rough (its movie poster – my favorite 2018 movie poster so far – is actually more aesthetically striking), and the acting isn’t compelling.  However, though it definitely would have been improved by the employment of great CGI and actors with more experience and star power, this movie is still an excellent example of an indie film accomplishing so much from having so little.  The imaginative, mythologically-rich premise and gripping, Lovecraftian story more than make up for any flaws at the technical front.

I was pretty riveted from start to finish.  I loved how the storytelling wrapped itself with so much eerie mystery – building up things to come with suspenseful, well-thought-out scenes accompanied by clever, subtle foreshadowing – and then slowly but masterfully escalated with one gratifying reveal after another.

And thus, The Endless has become one of my most favorite films of 2018.