SXSW 2025 Review: It Ends

It Ends has a thrilling premise; a group of recent grads meet back up for a road trip and find themselves in a terrifying time loop. The secluded road they are driving on never seems to end, and every time they stop they are besieged by throngs of violent strangers that pour out from the surrounding forest. In the midst of this Lynchian horror, all they can do is continuously drive (their gas never runs out despite the distance, the one boon for our unlikely travellers in this economy). 

The directorial debut of 27-year-old Alexander Ullom, It Ends features a strong ensemble cast (Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Mitchell Cole) that each get to explore their characters’ lives and fears as they endlessly drive down the same road. 

The pacing is tight without sacrificing the emotional lives of the young passengers, who each deal with their predicament in their unique ways. For a film almost entirely contained within a single vehicle, the film also remains visually striking, with the shots of the encroaching forrest and it’s unsettling inhabitants adding a beautiful, if claustrophobic, lens to the proceedings. 

While you should never need to know a film’s backstory in order to appreciate it, It Ends has a fascinating history — the film was shot (and re-shot) over many years, with financing coming in via investors found in online poker games (!) and various other unlikely sources. 

Director Alexander Ullom (who also wrote and edited the film) is a major new talent to look out for, but the greatest takeaway from It Ends may be it’s flag-waving for independent film. The sheer chutzpah and unwavering self-belief that allowed this film to finally come to fruition after so many years should be a shot of inspiration to all filmmakers in the trenches.