The horror genre in 2026 has been defined by the underdog. Curry Barker’s Obsession claiming one of the top spots at the year’s domestic box office remains one of the great success stories not just of the year, but of the decade, while Kane Parsons’ transition to feature filmmaking from his long-running Backrooms YouTube series proved similarly fruitful. The latest is Alexamder Ullom’s It Ends, an effective and widely acclaimed low-budget horror film that was picked up by Neon after its raucous 2025 premiere at South by Southwest, becoming one of the industry’s most sought-after genre pictures before finally finding its way to theaters.
It’s been a rocky road to the big screen, though. It Ends wasn’t immediately picked up for a theatrical release and instead became one of Letterboxd’s featured virtual video store releases during the app’s fledgling, and ultimately not all that impactful, foray into streaming in late 2025. Now, a full year after its SXSW premiere, it has found its unconventional way onto the silver screen, armed with a premise and immediate hook that should get butts into seats: a group of recent grads looking to spend one of their few nights left together grabbing food and hanging out before heading off to different colleges. A turn down an innocent-looking windy road proves more consequential than they could ever assume as they drive and drive… and drive until they realize the road simply won’t end.
It keeps going. When the four finally stop, their car is quickly swarmed by crowds of frantic people begging for help, only for the situation to turn ruthless, dangerous and violent. They escape with Fisher (Noah Toth) sustaining non-life-threatening injuries, while James, Day and Tyler (Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson and Mitchell Cole) remain physically unharmed. The problem, of course, is that getting away doesn’t actually solve anything. They’re still on a never-ending road, and the threat slowly shifts from physical survival to psychological deterioration, with the central question becoming less about whether they can escape and more about whether they can maintain their own sanity.
The movie is smartly broken up into segments based on how far they’ve traveled and how much longer the group can continue blindly driving. Tyler is the first to break, eventually asking to get out after they pass a car whose odometer has already hit the maximum 999,999 miles, and after they’ve personally driven another 50,000. That leaves James, Day and Fisher to co-exist with their own internal dread, venting and coping however they can as the movie gradually transforms from a survival thriller into something much more existential. At 89 minutes, It Ends can feel a little draining despite its short runtime, but I think that’s largely by design. The characters themselves are drained by their circumstances, their optimism and hope slowly eroding as they adapt to a reality that offers no obvious escape.
The cohort of actors is really strong, especially considering how anonymous the film was when it premiered and how little it seemingly had to work with. No single performer stands out above the others, which is probably a credit to the script more than anything. The relationships feel authentic to that particular adolescent age group, and the group dynamic gives the movie an emotional grounding that allows its increasingly surreal premise to work without requiring a ton of exposition.
The movie reminded me most of Backrooms, particularly in how much its building dread and imagery carry it forward. But where Backrooms eventually fell victim to over-explanation and literalization of its themes, It Ends seems much more comfortable remaining in its own skin, allowing the actual plot to stay surreal and subversive rather than explaining every strange thing that happens. That becomes especially valuable in the final stretch, where Ullom leans into an open-endedness that feels much more interested in the experience of being trapped than in providing a tidy explanation for why it happened in the first place, or where these characters go from here.
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There are some pacing issues here, particularly considering how quickly 89 minutes can feel exhausting, but I’m inclined to see that as more of a feature than a bug. It Ends is a movie about people becoming exhausted by an experience that has no end, and the film manages to make that exhaustion feel palpable without completely sacrificing its sense of mystery. It’s an admirable out-of-nowhere debut genre picture, a smartly abstract descent into madness that knows when to stop explaining itself.
Like a Gen Z M. Night Shyamalan being found in real time. Credit to Alexander Ullom.
Score: 6/10
It Ends (2026)
- Cast: Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, Mitchell Cole
- Director: Alexander Ullom
- Genre: Horror, Mystery
- Runtime: 89 minutes
- Rated: R
- Release Date: August 28, 2026
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