Metaphorical Hell Traps Young People in Indie Darling It Ends (SXSW)

Title: It Ends

First Non-Festival Release: TBD

Director: Alex Ullom

Writer: Alex Ullom

Runtime: 87 Minutes

Starring: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

This film’s review was written after its screening at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2025.

When life throws challenges at you, how do you respond? The possibilities are endless. You can fear, fight, intellectualize, and even embrace this change, but ultimately there is only so much you can do to circumvent things that are beyond your control.

Four friends – James (Phinehas Yoon), Day (Akira Jackson), Fisher (Noah Toth), and Tyler (Mitchell Cole) – are on their way out for a bite to eat when they take a wrong turn. After reaching a dead end and arguing about who is to blame, they are attacked by a mass of confused and desperate people. Terrified, the group manage to speed away in the opposite direction. After hours of driving back the way they came without finding their exit, they realize that somehow, they are trapped on the road.

An indie horror revelation, It Ends is existential dread packaged in a hang-out film gone wrong in the best way.

Its chaotic beginning sets the scene for the much different horror film It Ends ultimately transforms into once it finds its footing. Fast, disorienting, and scary, It Ends pulls out all the stops for its first act. Almost as suddenly as they are placed into their nightmare, the group manage to speed away from the throngs of wild people in the woods. Postulating how and why they are being attacked, echoes of judgment are cast on who is to blame for their situation, which only adds to the confusion and stimulation of the scene. It Ends takes a breakneck approach to horror in these first, crucial minutes to raise the stakes exponentially before gliding into its second act. Panicked over the suddenness of how their night changed, the group’s fear slowly changes when the night bleeds into the day.

As the miles add on, the characters begin taking different approaches to tackling the impossible horror of the endless road, becoming the most interesting aspect of It Ends. When the night turns into days, the characters quickly accept that nothing is normal about what is happening. Reluctantly, they settle into a routine to manage their emotions throughout the endeavor. This is where It Ends gets interesting. Horror depends on tension and release, and in It Ends this manifests differently. Instead of doing a rinse and repeat of their first few encounters with the mob of people, the characters start exhibiting desensitization to their plight. Despite the horror of their newfound existence, they process, find joy, argue, and question why this is happening. The horror becomes more existential in when they begin accepting that the road might be all there is left in life.

While it doesn’t sound for an exciting watch, the unravelling of the group serves both as psychological horror and greater commentary on society’s prospects for young adults emerging into adulthood. Mirroring the futility of life by carving out structure in their days and nights by giving time to process, to strategize, to blame, they effectively reinvent the concept of work. After months of traveling, they realize they have no future to look forward to or answers for the questions that used to keep them up at night. All that remains is the pursuit of progress. Their goals become hazy, lost in the blur of the dotted lines on the road and forgotten in the abandoned cars that line the ditches after every few mile markers.

Survival becomes more about their adherence to made up rules than their true desire to live. Much like the last two generations to come of age, everything feels hopeless and pointless. Instead of the housing marketing, debt crisis, creeping dismantling of rights, job and career redundancy, climate change, war, or another threat in the real world pressing on their conscience, their road trip becomes their personal hell.

Made entirely with a DIY spirit from young filmmakers and performers, It Ends is a masterclass in indie filmmaking that dazzles in its creative approach to horror. Thanks to its memorable and easier to produce concept, It Ends emanates a sense of hunger that reflects the initial drive of its characters. Never using its budget as an excuse, It Ends gets creative with how it uses its space. Most of the action takes place in a car on long stretches of abandoned highway, and when it’s not on the road it takes viewers to shallow depths of the forest. Even still, it never gets repetitive. The cinematography reflects this by feeling constrained and claustrophobic within the car while panning to the emptiness of the open road. The clear vision of It Ends makes it easy to understand why this film is so needed in a time when young people are feeling more distressed about their futures than ever.

There’s something infectious about stumbling upon something special in horror, and It Ends is an indie horror discovery worth celebrating. Its unique story, great cast, and excellent commentary on the terror of existing as a young person lost alone in the world make it easy to resonate. Fans of existential horror and smart, deliberate storytelling will revel in the scrappy indie film’s complex yet effective deconstruction of coming-of-age in chaos and mundanity. One thing’s for sure; you won’t want it to end.

Overall Score? 8/10