Title – The Endless (2017)

Directors – Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring)

Cast – Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, Callie Hernandez, Tate Ellington, Shane Brady

Plot – Brothers Aaron (Moorhead) and Justin (Benson) return to a UFO cult they escaped from as teenagers in hope that it offers fulfillment to their lives that they now live. Once at the cult grounds, the brothers realise not all is as it seems.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear”

Review by Eddie on 02/07/2019

A high-concept and low-budget effort, after the underrated and really quite good Spring from 2014, The Endless see’s directing (and this time acting) duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead once more showcase some serious talent, talent that suggests we’re not far away from witnessing something truly special from the still up and coming combo.

While not as efficient and well-rounded as Spring, The Endless offers up another mind-bending offering from the team that will keep you guessing right the way through with the combination of sci-fi and horror making this independent offering a unique and sometimes mind-melting affair.

A slow-burning offering that takes a little too long to truly get going, The Endless focuses on Moorhead and Benson playing two brothers, who at a young age escaped a potentially dangerous UFO believing cult, whose habitat out in the American wildlands holds some dark and nefarious secrets.

Trying to live a normal life hasn’t really worked out too well for the brothers so they decide its best to pay their old cult buddies a visit and see if they can find answers in the past to help with their future, only to discover that leaving the cult and its lands won’t be as easy as they would’ve hoped.

Saying too much more about the mystery at the core of this tale would ruin much of the fun to be had but there’s no doubt Moorhead and Benson have crafted a seriously wicked little yarn that is nothing short of devilishly inventive, even if it doesn’t always feel like the payoff or explanation is as good as the idea at the core of the whole mysterious outing.

Taking some cues from classic genre offerings like Primer, Looper and even of all things Groundhog Day, The Endless doesn’t always click and perhaps is slightly disappointing in the character development field with Aaron and Justin not the most interesting characters, as well as not being amazingly played by the directing partners, but at least there’s a heartfelt effort here with a strong insistence on being constantly inventive and even wickedly fun in parts.

Final Say –

A high-reaching effort that is more intriguingly conceived more than astoundingly delivered, Moorhead and Benson have crafted a likable next offering after the success of Spring, which helps solidify the duo as an extremely exciting film-making pair.

3 unreliable vans out of 5