It Ends (2026), by Alexander Ullom

A minor classic. Minor meant only in ways regarding its (one fears) limited audience, therefore its sad demarcation as a film that probably won’t interfere much in future films' and filmmakers’ mentality. 

And yet I cannot see it as anything less than a classic. It invents a perfect loop, a definitive surreal, nihilistic, God-less and yet strangely metaphysical system which discusses meaninglessness and hope in more direct and efficient ways than several high-caliber films have attempted without one of them being as reliable in its thought-provoking / stress-inducing atmosphere. 

It certainly won’t leave you a happier person by the end of it, but not because of its existing limitations (which I don’t care to mention as they left me undisturbed). This is a “small” film with the grandest aspirations, a philosophical thriller on the essence of our existence (the what?), especially if seen under a hopelessly pessimistic wave fluctuating between Sartre and Beckett. 

And, once again, with much less conceptual complexity than say Backrooms, less horrifying energy than It Follows, or fewer screenwriting feats of growing despair than All is Lost, it sits comfortably within a modern canon of films, mostly in the horror genre, that crystallizes what one could signify as a generational angst towards a life, a world and a sense of meaning inherited that doesn’t seem to hold a whole lot of hope.

Contrary to its beliefs this is a very promising debut. It comes out in two days (21.8.2026) in the US market, I hope that it won’t be demolished in the box-office. But even when this happens, some form of cult status is all but guaranteed. And that means something.