Big Picture Big Sound

Horror films can take on many different shapes and sizes, different meanings and expectations. When discussing horror movies, it's easy to equate horror with violence and gore, jump scares, and over the top kills that leave audiences gasping and laughing with their friends on a Friday night at the movies. In a feature filmmaking debut, writer-director Alex Ullom upends the notion of the horror movie with his thin but effective, "It Ends."

"It Ends" centers on a quartet of friends and recent graduates who go out one night on a joyride. Tyler (Mitchell Cole), Day (Akira Jackson), Fisher (Noah Toth), and James (Phinehas Yoon) all have a shared history, but they know life is going to start taking them in different directions. On their night out, they turn down a dark road that looks and feels ominous, but they could never predict what lies ahead for them.

It's not long before something feels off to the friends. Why are they still on this particular road? Certainly, it should have ended by now. But they keep driving and the road ahead of them keeps getting longer. The terror begins to set in when they realize that there is no finish line waiting for them and their only choice is to keep driving while clinging to desperate shreds of hope that they might reach any destination soon enough.

There are moments of terror in "It Ends," such as when other beings charge at the car at specific points, but the movie is not overt with its horror. If horror films are associated with dismemberments and blood splatter, "It Ends" takes a different approach. The horror here is situational. Ullom directs with a steady hand, creating tension and unease as every moment of the 89-minute film passes by.

An open road often feels like a symbol of possibility, but Ullom uses that imagery to create dread. The road might be never-ending but somehow feels smaller as the mental states of each character begin to decline. How can a wide-open space feel like a small prison cell? It's an impressive feat from a first-time director.

"It Ends" is an exercise in atmosphere and style and from that perspective, Ullom has succeeded in his debut feature. It's easy to dismiss his movie as a gimmick, which it essentially is, but he makes the gimmick work while the characters are experiencing what is happening in the movie. The psychological horror of not knowing when the characters might be free from the road is palpable for viewers but by the final moments of the movie, it feels like Ullom ends it with a shrug. It takes the air out of an undeniably tense film.

Ullom's movie made its debut at the 2025 South by Southwest film festival and is finally trickling into theaters. After playing regional film festivals late last year and receiving strong reviews, it took a while for a buyer to come on board. There's no question as to why "It Ends" is being released now, in a post-"Obsession" and "Backrooms" world. The movie is not likely to find the success those pictures did, but it will make for a fun night at the movies.