Well Go USA
It is no secret to those who know my tastes that I am no fan of the slasher horror genre. But I have often found some of the horror-alts more interesting, the ones with the creepiness built in and the monsters all humans instead of supernatural threats. Black Mirror is basically sci-fi horror and much of that is good. But it’s also easy to wind up so concerned with creating a world and a vision that the movie itself is lost.
The Endless comes from director team Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, written by Justin, and starring the two as brothers (also called Justin and Aaron). The story starts at a simple place: They are adults, escapees from what they believe was a UFO-based death cult when they were children. Yet the cult still exists decades later, and nobody has died publicly.
They find themselves enmeshed once more when they receive a mysterious VHS tape from Anna (Callie Hernandez), a girl they knew in the cult. Both brothers feel that they need some sort of closure from the experience, and although Justin thinks it’s a bad idea, he supports his brother’s plan to help him. But the cult is immediately bizarre and off-putting, yet strangely comfortable.
Justin and Aaron run into situations that seem unbelievable, unexplained events and phenomena that have a tinge of old-school Lovecraftian horror. Everything and everyone is set up for a mysterious future event, some sort of attainment or ceremony, very unclear. Despite his best efforts, Justin feels himself drawn in the world he left behind, as the movie becomes stranger and stranger.
It’s hard to explain without spoiling things, but on the other hand, this is such a weird movie, I don’t think it’ll appeal to very many people either. There is a great, creepy electronica score throughout the movie, and there’s also a great classic twilight look to the footage. It feels like it belongs in a different era although it’s also quite experimental.
I haven’t really figured it all out myself, which makes me feel like perhaps it’s unfair to judge it. But I also didn’t really enjoy it, despite recognizing the talent behind it. There’s a lot of interesting acting and dialog here, and I like to see a weird passion project from old friends instead of just another buddy stoner comedy.
I suppose I must instead admit that the overall experience simply didn’t work for me, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for someone else. On the other hand, I’m usually a relatively easy mark for this sort of oddness, so maybe that’s not so great after all.
There’s an interesting thematic concept to consider, and perhaps it’ll be something to revisit in the future after a bunch of think pieces are written on this strange, strange movie. Visual motifs are constantly thrown around, but there’s a line between pretension and annoyance, and this movie falls over that line for me.
The Endless has a run time of 1 hour 51 minutes and is not rated.
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