“It Ends” (2025) is what you get when Americans want to make the equivalent of an experimental film, but do not have the critical knowledge to understand and critique systems or draw on a breadth of cultural and academic work to think beyond this temporal point. It does convey an experience of four people who end up on a road that feels as if it is as long as eternity with no way to get off. Is there a reason that they ended up on this road or is it just meaningless? How long can they do the same thing or is it better to give up? Writer and director Alex Ullom uses the road as a metaphor for life, but just because it is honest does not mean that you will find the experience worth your time. Mileage may vary. Oh, and it is psychological horror with the horror almost negligible.

Tyler (Mitchell Cole, who resembles Max Thieriot) owns the car, and he has the most life experience in the group. He served in the military, was never deployed and works in HVAC (side note: my fantasy trade skill), but when it comes to personal relationships, he is the kind of guy who will wonder where all the good women are without realizing that they were running away from him. He is not bad but is clueless regarding how to have a relationship. Fisher (Noah Toth) and Day (Akira Jackson) have no such problem and appear to be dating each other but prefer keeping it casual. Their way of navigating the world seems to work, and even the test of this nightmare road does not shake them. Toth and Jackson have an easy chemistry. James (Phinehas Yoon) is comparatively the most philosophical and analytical member of the group, which means that he takes memes seriously as if Socrates was posing the question, not answering a ridiculous hypothetical question which may not have an innate value to reflect on the human experience. James’ references sound similar to “It Ends,” which does have value, but to a specific generation which got shortchanged in terms of education because of forces beyond their control and now are being turned into further mush for similar reasons. It is not this generation’s fault, but we are seeing what it looks like.

“It Ends” is honest about the infinite road with little to distinguish each day, but the most insightful part of the journey is the inability to connect with those who came on the road before and the instinct to see them or treat them as a threat. They live in a vacuum without knowing what life was like on the road before they entered it thinking that the only prior existing knowledge were those that they see. Jean Paul Sartre, who? “It Ends” is life without literacy or access to older generations, i.e. those who travelled the road long before any who are currently on it, which makes it more meaningless. Ullom could probably argue that it is not the point of the road, but the fact that he constructed a road where knowledge cannot be passed down is information. His road is a vacuum without radio, the internet and books because indeed, it can be taken away. It is life when the original creative forces are eliminated and connection is seen as a threat, robbing of resources (metaphor for Covid fatigue and fog). Thanks to AI and the corporatization of everything, only those with a relationship to tangible media and a time before the internet are unthreatened if they acquired that knowledge and skill before the Internet. If you even watch a television series like “The Walking Dead,” meaninglessness has a different shape. Whatever this generation is, they got robbed, and they know it, but they do not even know how much they lost. The movie is true, but is it worth watching?

I would prefer to rewatch “The Turin Horse,” which is black and white with almost no dialogue. I would rather have almost nothing than the potential of something with nothing. The characters are functional, and while they will be screamingly relatable to some, they were the every person, not exactly forgettable, but not substantial enough to feel any special kinship. If you enjoyed “Iron Lung” (2026), “It Ends” may appeal to you, but there will be no blood, and the end is comparatively more optimistic, the practical antidote to the seeming meaningless of life and akin to the long spoon parable. On a more minute level, it is also about the process of leaving college friends behind and navigating life without the academic school year to break it up. The quarterlife crisis writ large on screen, but not for me.

Here are the ways that a film critic can see a movie before it is released in theaters. A screening at a movie theater is ideal because a movie is going to look its best on a big screen with everyone’s attention on it. Some of these screenings are critics only or a mixed crowd with critics and a normal audience. Even though the prior is preferred, the latter helps me to understand what people will and will not like regardless of my feelings. If a screener can play on television, i.e. the largest screen in your house, it is the best screener option, and if it can play off an app without using another product like a smart device hooked up to the television, it is better technical wise. Easier to rewind and fast forward to truly understand the movie. If there are subtitles with the screener, perfect. A movie must be special and extraordinary to hold up if the screener only plays on a computer, the most unforgiving screen larger than a smart device. There are often lighting problems, which makes the night scenes indiscernible. If there are not, the filmmaker knows what they are doing, and it has nothing to do with experience or resources. Even “Game of Thrones” does not translate well to most formats. “It Ends” is no exception though initially the night scenes were promising and discernible, but that stops at the most pivotal moment.

The viewing format may have contributed to comparing “It Ends” less favorably to “Exit 8” (2025) and “Backrooms” (2026) though substantially the essence is a no frills, more grounded, bleak story that manages to stick the landing and treat its audience as if they are intelligent. Will you be scared? No unless you are afraid of discovering what kind of person you are. It is the meat and potatoes of the story, and the most chilling part is when the friends pull over, they hear someone scream, “Someone help me,” which they mock. So if you are looking for visceral horror, run the other way, but if you are looking for a soul horror, you have come to the right place.