Endless, The (2018) [Blu-ray]
Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Following their Lovecraftian modern cult classic SPRING, acclaimed filmmakers Moorhead and Benson return with this mind-bending thriller that follows two brothers who receive a cryptic video message inspiring them to revisit the UFO death cult they
escaped a decade earlier. Hoping to find the closure that they couldn't as young men, they're forced to reconsider the cult's beliefs when confronted with unexplainable phenomena surrounding the camp. As the members prepare for the coming of a mysterious
event, the brothers race to unravel the seemingly impossible truth before their lives become permanently entangled with the cult.
Storyline: This mind-bending thriller follows two brothers who receive a cryptic video message inspiring them to revisit the UFO death cult they escaped a decade earlier. Hoping to find the closure that they couldn't as young
men, they're forced to reconsider the cult's beliefs when confronted with unexplainable phenomena surrounding the camp. As the members prepare for the coming of a mysterious event, the brothers race to unravel the seemingly impossible truth before their
lives become permanently entangled with the cult. Written by texasboyy
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, June 15, 2018 It seems that every few months there's a new viral social media meme where some "expert" has done his or her "calculations" and has stated absolutely, positively,
definitely that this time (whenever "this time" is defined as being) the End of the World is most certainly coming. It's gotten so prevalent that when someone recently posted one of these memes on Facebook, I responded on their thread,
"Already? I just finished unpacking from the last Apocalypse." That perhaps politically and/or religiously incorrect joke aside, The Endless purports to flirt with another kind of "end of the world" scenario, a subset of
eschatological musings that has its own flirtations with popular culture, namely a so-called "UFO cult" that has been awaiting an "ascension". This particular plot element has a basis in real life, as those who remember reading about a cult bearing the
name of a certain legendary (not necessarily in a good way) film may recall, but science fiction literature has been stuffed full of similar storylines for untold decades, with many of the stories hinging on the disconnect between the perhaps inherent
unbelievability that some Mother Ship is waiting to transport the faithful and that very faith that believers need to sustain their reason for banding together and looking skyward so much. The Endless has a lot of interesting elements, including
the dialectic between faith and skepticism, but what kind of ironically provides some of the most visceral impact in this feature is not the whole UFO aspect but instead the interrelationship between two brothers, Justin (Justin Benson) and Aaron Smith
(Aaron Moorhead). The fact that Benson and Moorhead not only star (not to mention play characters with their given names), but also co-direct and co-produce, with Benson providing the screenplay and Moorhead providing the cinematography, may lead some to
come to the hasty conclusion that The Endless is a "mere" vanity project. Now, there's probably no arguing that certain aspects of this film fit pretty snugly into whatever "vanity project" means nowadays, but there's a rather audaciously ambitious
quality to The Endless that deserves attention, if not always (and forgive this truly religiously incorrect pun) rapture.
One of the cool things about this very website (if I do say so myself) is how we maintain a pretty thorough database of international releases, and because I also cover Arrow UK products, I've gotten some advance press material on Arrow's upcoming release
of The Endless for the UK market, a release which also includes Benson and Moorhead's previous film Resolution. That's an especially important addition, since, as the two mention in a supplement included on this release, they
specifically fashioned The Endless as a sort of slightly refracted follow-up to Resolution, and in fact the eponymous characters they play in this film were bit parts in the earlier film. That probably will give The Endless more of a
"meta" feeling for those who have seen the earlier film, and I for one am kind of eager to get the UK release simply so I can see Resolution, frankly in the hopes that it might clear up some of the lingering questions I have after having
seen The Endless.
The baseline story in The Endless is actually rather straightforward, though there's tons of subtext and some of the presentational aspects hint at even more hidden layers of meaning. On its surface, the story deals with older brother
Justin, who helped get himself and younger brother Aaron out of a UFO cult called Arcadia. The two have been eking out a living as janitors, something Justin feels is honorable in its own way, but which obviously leaves Aaron wanting more. When a
mysterious (and kind of hilariously outdated) video tape arrives for the pair, Aaron makes a fateful decision about how to spend their minimal cash supply and invests in a tape player. That leads to another fateful decision, with Aaron convincing Justin
that the two need to return to Arcadia, if only for a day, to see if the Ascension has indeed occurred.
The bulk of the film does in fact take place at Camp Arcadia, where Justin and Aaron find their former cult "brethren" (and "sistren", if I may be permitted to coin a term), none of whom seems to have aged in the ten years since the brothers left, which
is just the first of several mysteries surrounding the locale. There is a whole retinue of odd characters at the camp, including one guy who may have given himself a lobotomy and another one who brews craft beer, seeming to put the lie to Justin's
sensational interviews when the brothers "escaped" claiming all sorts of nefarious activities. The film plays out in a series of sometimes baffling vignettes, with hints of an unseen menace (or at least an unseen something) waiting just out of
frame.
I am purposefully not spilling too many of the beans with regard to The Endless for a couple of reasons. The first, and most "confessional", is that I frankly did not understand at least some of what transpires in the film. I think I have a
"theory" as to what the brothers experience, one that may hint at a kind of purgatory (to say more probably would spoil things). The second, though, is that The Endless seems open to any number of interpretations, and to foist mine on folks
might not be fair (not that that has ever stopped me before, but I digress). The film seems to be about cults and monsters (the film begins with an epigraph from one H.P. Lovecraft), but in essence it really deals at least as much with
sibling relationships (there's another, perhaps cheekier, epigraph that appears under the Lovecraft quote at the beginning of the film). I'm not sure The Endless actually holds up to rigorous logical examination, but it's a fascinating film and one
that I think will spark a lot of conversation, especially if (as I suspect) Benson and Moorhead follow up with even more adventures with these characters.
The Endless has become something of a cult item itself since its release, and if nothing else it proves what two exuberant young filmmakers can do with a micro budget. Certain elements of the film, including some of the denizens of Camp Arcadia,
may be a tad too precious for the film's own good, and I'm frankly not completely convinced the story's attempts at a kind of Boolean structure ever completely make sense and/or pay off, but there's an increasing sense of unease that builds throughout the
film and the relationship between the brothers is nicely developed. Technical merits are strong, the supplementary package very enjoyable, and The Endless comes Recommended.
[CSW] -2.3- This reviewer said it better than I could: This movie is quite original. It is not really a "horror" movie, or even "sci-fi". I would say it is a psychological mystery thriller, with minimal action, lots of dialog, some weird
characters, and strange goings on. Did anything supernatural actually happen? Who was the villain if any? Why was there a sleight-of-hand magician? What drugs were they using? Was there a volcanic eruption? Optical illusions? Watch the movie all the way
through and think about it. A big twist at the end.
All of which I agree with but the big twist wasn't enough to resurrect any semblance of a cohesive plot other than a new rendition of Dante's Inferno with the nine circles of hell. I will admit that it is Lovecraftian which is a
subgenre of horror fiction that emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown (and in some cases, unknowable) more than gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft
[V4.5-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box
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