The Endless

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how is this movie

SO SLOW BORING

The writing had flaws and the acting by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead was too stale (they should've just stuck to directing). The 111 min run time felt like 180 mins. The pace should have been faster and the film edited down to 90 mins max. The Directing and cinematography however was very good and the overall story concept was interesting. Sure it's a low budget film, but most of the flaws wouldn't cost much to avoid/fix. It's a 6/10 from me.

I feel it is not really appropriate for people to review films where they essentially got bored and their attention wandered off. sometimes some people are just not wired to like some films. the problem here is while I did in fact lose interest in this film, I continued to force myself to stay on to it. First off, it takes a full 1 hour and 20 minutes for the film to get into its "real" plot with sci-fi/horror elements. Up until then, we are stuck with two protagonists, formerly a part of a UFO Death Cult, who inexplicably get sent a goodbye video from the cult indicating the cult is still alive. So they go back to the cult and just start squatting and paling around with their old cult friends, all while dryly navel gazing and having some of the most broad, non-specific, generalized conversations possible to convey drama without actually giving us any real substance behind it. At no point throughout the first hour and 20 minutes do I ever figure out who these people are, what they are, why they have come back, or anything at all about this supposed cult. At no point does any of the meandering dialogue ever approach anything resembling the plot at this point. The only thing we get is that one of the two friends feels at home back in his cult, and the other one doesn't. The only thing overly unusual is the appearance of two moons in the sky, which one of them coyly responds is an atmospheric effect of some sort. It takes a full hour and 20 minutes to get that far and literally no further. After a full hour and 20 minutes of NOTHING, the movie starts throwing baffling sequences that make no sense, random discoveries of tapes and computer harddrives, implications of a time paradox or the like, and constant mentioning of a "loop" which, as minutes tick past and the film rolls on, reeks copiously of Telling, and not Showing. what basically destroys this movie is it pushes its sci-fi/horror/mystery all the way literally to the very last 30 minutes, and spends the first ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES not only never even coming close to its "Loop" storyline, but settling on a character story between two characters who have no personalities and literally no meaningful interactions with anyone in the entire film. Everyone acts like they never really left the cult because they are such wafer-thin non-entities that they may as well have not been in the film at all. they could easily be replaced by any random duo, even Laurel and Hardy, and have absolutely nothing meaningful change in any way. By the time genuinely interesting head-spinning stuff starts happening, it's too late. The film has already wasted all its time and instead just taunts us with some genuinely intriguing and compelling imagery, like the fractured remnants of a far superior film that ran out of money 30 minutes in and had to be filled in with cheap, hastily written nothingness.

Slow start, but the end made it kind of worth it. This is the style of film that you want to follow to see how it concludes. There is an eerie vibe throughout and the dialogue itself makes this movie interesting. If you like films which involve cults then you will be interested enough to watch this, although there's more to its story then just a cult. I did like the fact that the protagonists are also the directors/writers of the film, it gives an extra touch to their acting. 7/10, a low budget film that delivers.

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead wanted to make a film. The problem is that they're newcomers to filmmaking and didn't have the millions it usually costs to make a movie. So, they chose to star in the film, direct, produce and Benson wrote the script! In addition, although the film has some sci-fi/supernatural elements, they managed to create some stunning special effects on the cheap! Watching it is like a lesson on economical filmmaking...and it's a darned good film to boot! Justin and Aaron (yes, the filmmakers use their real names) both apparently left a cult many years ago. Unfortunately, their lives have sucked since and not Aaron is growing wistful and wants to return to this cult for at least a visit. Exasperated, his brother eventually agrees to make the drive to the middle of no where. And, not surprisingly Aaron LOVES the place and wants to stay. Justin, on the other hand, soon learns more about the place and is scared to death...as Aaron eventually will be as well. I would try to explain more about the plot but it's almost impossible to describe the plot. Instead, just watch it with an open mind and enjoy the high quality of the production. It's also a film with a few funny moments as well as harrowing ones...and a film that I am very happy I saw at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

Seen by itself The Endless might not make a whole lot of sense. It is a companion piece to the filmmaker duo's first feature film Resolution and must make much more sense if seen together: Resolution then The Endless. Under the surface Is a gnostic view of reality in which the demiurge (who considers himself God) rules over its subjects with time and space, keeping us all in an Endless loop of birth life death rebirth et al, unless you are able to break free from the time loop prison. These guys have some real talent and am definitely looking forward to future projects.

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