The Endless (2017)

May 14, 2018 8:39 PM

A Lovecraftian horror story about two brothers who return to the cult they escaped from 10 years earlier only to find...well, something other than what they thought they were running away from. Directed by and starring Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the duo behind the 2012 meth addict horror flick Resolution and 2014's Spring, The Endless is currently at 97/80 on Rotten Tomatoes.
posted by mediareport (21 comments total)

This was a really fun, well-acted and sharply directed little horror flick, mostly avoiding jump scares in favor of classic creeping dread and building fear. The odd Easter egg referencing Resolution is a clever touch that has me wanting to see more from these two interesting filmmakers.
posted by mediareport at 8:53 PM on May 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Well yeah, this looks creepy as hell. Will have to go find it!
posted by Naberius at 10:41 AM on May 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

It only got a limited release last month but if you've got a cool arthouse theater nearby keep an eye out. Not quite as creepy as, say, It Follows or Triangle, two of my fave horror flicks of the last decade, but it's surprisingly creepy *and* surprisingly well-made. Worth seeing for horror fans.
posted by mediareport at 12:26 PM on May 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Now I need to see this. Given I live in Los Angeles I am sure I could find a place but I'm sooper lazy... do we know when it will be on Netflix/AmazonPrime/Hulu?
posted by Justinian at 12:36 PM on May 15, 2018

To answer my own question; Netlix says June. So if, like me, you are so lazy its amazing you manage to feed yourself you only have a month or so. (for the disc, streaming-only customers may have a longer wait).
posted by Justinian at 12:38 PM on May 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

Anyone waiting to see this should definitely check out Resolution in the meantime. The Endless stands strongly on its own, but it’s clearly an extension of the vision they had for Resolution and I think the added context really adds a lot to the new film.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 8:07 AM on May 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is by the Resolution people?!? Oh man now I'm even more hyped. How do they connect? Just thematically or is it in the same world? I'm worried I'll hit big spoilers if I google it.
posted by Justinian at 5:26 PM on May 16, 2018

Also, the post mentions Resolution. Pay no attention to my surprise above.
posted by Justinian at 5:27 PM on May 16, 2018

Yeah, since a lot of folks haven't seen it yet, I wouldn't want to describe it, or the connection to Resolution, too much. A lot of reviews give too much away, to be honest (I linked the least spoilery ones I could find for the post), and am really glad I went in almost totally unaware, except for "Lovecraftian" and "the Resolution guys." Suffice to say, Justinian, there's a clever connection between the two films, but it's not at all necessary to the new film if someone hasn't seen the earlier one.

I saw it at the new Alamo Drafthouse in Raleigh, which I guess makes sense since Benson and Moorhead's previous film Spring was a Drafthouse production. None of their films seem to be easily streamable at the usual venues, tho Spring is on Shudder if you pay extra for it with Prime.
posted by mediareport at 5:17 AM on May 17, 2018

You can also get Shudder by itself (not through prime). I'm a horror film fan and I enjoy the service.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:47 PM on May 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

I loved Resolution and didn’t even k ow about this, and now I’m definitely going to add this to my Shudder queue. (I’m a giant horror movie head and yep, I love Shudder.) Thanks for posting!
posted by holborne at 8:30 AM on May 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oops, sorry, misread and thought *this* was on Shudder. Anyway.
posted by holborne at 8:32 AM on May 20, 2018

Finally caught this. Definitely glad I didn't go in knowing more than y'all shared. I thought it was quite good.

I hope these folks continue to make movies, and I hope they continue to get bigger budgets. Not big budgets necessarily since sometimes that's a trap but I'm certainly interested to see what they have to say and hope they have the resources to say it adequately. Because they definitely have a voice judging from this and Resolution.
posted by Justinian at 11:30 PM on July 10, 2018

This showed up on Canadian Netflix a couple weeks ago and I just caught it. The camp reminded me a lot of a place I’d campled in Colorado, there was even homebrew beer there and lots of, uh, flower. Added to the immersivenss.

Anyway, really enjoyed it. Three thumbs up!
posted by rodlymight at 8:49 PM on October 7, 2018

This has a much more lived-in, scruffy vibe than you would expect from the premise. I liked it.

Gun-Nut Tweaker Guy is the best.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:38 AM on October 23, 2018

DirtyOldTown, which character are you saying is Gun-Nut Tweaker Guy? I feel like you might be thinking of "need a gun" guy. He was quite the character. The Gun-Nut Tweaker Guy and his BFF were good characters, but not really ones I'd call "the best". The were sober and boring.
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 7:24 PM on October 24, 2018

I mean the guy chained to the wall and stuck on a mattress. More properly, I mean him and his associate. Their weird mix of making the best of a bad situation optimism, fatalism, and affection for/frustration with each other was weirdly endearing.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:45 AM on October 25, 2018

Gun-Nut Tweaker Guy is in Resolution, mentioned in a few tweets above, so you might check it out if you a fan of GNTG and haven't seen it.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:22 AM on October 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

Just discovered this one on Netflix US, and wow. Very very cool, only betrayed by its small budget towards the very end, when it felt like it might go a little bit bigger. Shitty Carl's GOD DAMNIT cracked me the hell up. Beautifully shot, very spooky and mysterious, great imagery and cinematography.

There's even a bit of an interesting critique of capitalism for those who live on the margins of society, although it seems to resolve that critique through a demand for greater liberty, which doesn't really address the fundamental problem of shitty jobs and shitty wages.

I'm going to have to seek out Resolution.

The scenery was very nostalgic to me, having grown up in SoCal and spent time in those scrubby hills. Great film.
posted by Existential Dread at 10:33 PM on November 24, 2018

I really had a fun time reading the rabbit hole of the internet to answer all of the weird questions I had about how the setup works. I think it's definitely one of those "have to rewatch" so I can catch all of the intricacies.

Shitty Carl's GOD DAMNIT cracked me the hell up.

I literally LOLed.
posted by knownassociate at 9:33 AM on November 5, 2019

Absolutely wonderful film. Just perfect. I love how understated and economical everything is and the story is told smartly without a whole lot of nonsense mouth feelings.

Reminded me a lot of Triangle, which I also loved.

Only thing I didn’t understand is why tweaker guy doesn’t remember anything. Or is he just fucking with Mike with the “Holy shit it’s Mike!” for self-amusement every time?
posted by iamkimiam at 10:54 PM on May 30, 2020