The Endless

What a great little gem! I've watched this film three times - something I very rarely do. What I value the most about this film is the story line. The story is tight, and simple, and clever, which is a lot more than what I can say about many mainstream sci fi blockbusters. They probably deserve even better rating, given the limited budget they had to work with, in order to get this result. Good work!

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead wanted to make a film. The problem is that they're newcomers to filmmaking and didn't have the millions it usually costs to make a movie. So, they chose to star in the film, direct, produce and Benson wrote the script! In addition, although the film has some sci-fi/supernatural elements, they managed to create some stunning special effects on the cheap! Watching it is like a lesson on economical filmmaking...and it's a darned good film to boot!

Justin and Aaron (yes, the filmmakers use their real names) both apparently left a cult many years ago. Unfortunately, their lives have sucked since and not Aaron is growing wistful and wants to return to this cult for at least a visit. Exasperated, his brother eventually agrees to make the drive to the middle of no where. And, not surprisingly Aaron LOVES the place and wants to stay. Justin, on the other hand, soon learns more about the place and is scared to death...as Aaron eventually will be as well.

I would try to explain more about the plot but it's almost impossible to describe the plot. Instead, just watch it with an open mind and enjoy the high quality of the production. It's also a film with a few funny moments as well as harrowing ones...and a film that I am very happy I saw at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

The writing had flaws and the acting by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead was too stale (they should've just stuck to directing). The 111 min run time felt like 180 mins. The pace should have been faster and the film edited down to 90 mins max. The Directing and cinematography however was very good and the overall story concept was interesting. Sure it's a low budget film, but most of the flaws wouldn't cost much to avoid/fix. It's a 6/10 from me.

I'm almost pained to watch ant film that has the tag of horror on it, as the results are so often a disappointment. The Endless however, had something I've longed for, and a level of originality that seems so rare these days

You can see it isn't exactly huge budget, but that arguably helped, a reliance more so on acring and story, rather then on mind blowing special effects. Admittedly a few scenes looked a but poor, notably the appearance of the Mountain Lion, but others such as the rope, looked great.

I loved the concept of the film, and that it left us wondering so many points. Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson did a great job.

I really enjoyed it. 7/10

Right from the door you can see that it is a limited budget, indie style movie, but doesn't make it bad in comparison to other big movies from the same genre. The storyline is pretty weird and interesting that makes you feel awkard throughout the whole movie and the concept is pretty original. The only problem I had with this movie is that it had at least 3-4 big plot holes that need to be filled so it can become a movie as a whole, like for example. how did they escape the cult in the first place ?