Tuesday 10 April 2018

Film Review: "The Endless" (2017).


"Time is a prison" in The Endless. This science fiction cosmic horror film produced and directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, and written by Benson. Two brothers receive a cryptic video message inspiring them to revisit the UFO death cult they escaped a decade earlier. Hoping to find the closure that they couldn't find as young men, they're forced to reconsider the cult's beliefs when confronted with unexplainable phenomena surrounding the camp. As the members prepare for the coming of a mysterious event, the brothers race to unravel the seemingly impossible truth before their lives become permanently entangled with the cult.

The film stars Benson, Moorhead, Callie Hernandez, Tate Ellington, Lew Temple, and James Jordan. The cast contributed a Pirandello-esque sort of paradoxical meta-horror whose folk are unwitting players in a film (or several), desperate to find a way safely to exit the stage and escape the gaze of an unseen, and obviously viewer-like, observer.

The film is a clever, twisted and very impressive slow-burner of a chiller. The film was absolutely suspenseful, with the finale being seriously unnerving. With its great cast, unique concept, and its sharply written script, Resolution is one of the very best films I’ve seen this year. Throughout, the film had a quietly mythic power, and took many big risks that paid off. There's a sense of unease that pervades almost every frame in the film, and a key part of it is not knowing what's lurking around the next bend. This is what horror movies are supposed to do, but it hardly ever really works in practice. It not only nails it, but it does so without leaning on any jump scares, stings in the score, or cheap gore as a crutch. There are long buildups, and then there's The Endless, a movie that's virtually all nothing-much-happening setup until a still-teasing titular event that occupies just a few final seconds. It delivers a dashingly intelligent commentary on the horror genre, the nature of cinema, and the relationship viewers have to on-screen victims. It is an inventive, character-based story that provides be the breath of fresh air the genre sorely needs. It is a strangely tense and humorous meta-narrative" that "manages to keep its eerier moments surprising and its emotional life arresting. Though the film has some significant flaws, it's important that films like it get made and that filmmakers like Moorehead and Benson continue to aim high and take chances. It is a notch above your average low-budget cosmic horror flick. It has the usual scares and head-scratching events. But, the story is what locked me in. As a meditation on cosmic horror, and even film itself, it might be in danger of coming across as pretentious, if it weren't so damned entertaining throughout. Ambiguity enlivens the smart, knotty film, which routinely nods to its own artificiality while positing storytelling as a constantly evolving beast apt to save your life one moment and consume you the next. A strangely tense and humorous meta-narrative about two friends experiencing weird goings-on at a camp.

Simon says The Endless receives:


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