Day 428: The Endless

In continuing with the spooky season festivities, today's review is of an unnervingly thought-provoking film called 'The Endless.' This is a lesser-known movie, but it's also one of my favorite creepy tales chock full of excellent character development, suspenseful moments, and clinical use of special effects on a low budget. Writer/Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who also star in the film, execute their intriguing concept exceedingly well to create a horrifying, but somehow also feel-good movie.

When two brothers, Aaron and Justin, receive a video message from the UFO death cult they escaped as children, they are drawn back into the fold by their need for closure and the cult's higher standard of living. At Camp Arcadia, the food is free, the people are friendly and the beer is plentiful, but there's something amiss about the place. Aaron and Justin can only remember fragments from their childhood, but it seems the camp's most cult-like aspects are still intact ten years later. These people clearly have something to hide, from the shed with a giant padlock, to the way nobody ever seems to leave the camp grounds. Strange happenings seem to follow everyone around too, and Justin's suspicions about the unnatural danger surrounding the camp are stoked.

They only planned to stay for a day, but Aaron is enthralled. It's a much better life than his older brother Justin has been able to build for them, and there's no evidence that what his brother has told him is true either; that the cult plans on committing suicide in a ritual called 'the ascension,' and that they would do anything to add new members to their death cult. Everyone seems happy at Camp Arcadia, almost normal. Besides the way the sky seems to have two moons, and the eccentric behavior of some of the members, Aaron can't see anything wrong here. It certainly doesn't have the same edge that his brother has always described to him to keep him from ever going back. Justin on the other hand sees more and more wrongness. Their relationship is tested as their differing perception of the cult comes into conflict.

Meanwhile the strange happenings increase in frequency until even Aaron can't help but take notice. Something is out there, watching them, and sending messages via the photographs and video tapes that the brothers keep finding around camp. Camp Arcadia is haunted by something that even the oldest members cannot fully comprehend, and if the brothers are to survive it, they'll have to work out their problems sooner rather than later.

This movie works on so many levels. Aaron and Justin's relationship, as well as their relationship with the other members of Camp Aradia are what drive the story along, but the backdrop at the camp, the strange happenings, the being that the camp worships are what make keep everything interesting. I would almost describe this movie as more of a science fiction story than a horror movie, that is, if it weren't so disturbing. It's not all doom and gloom though. The effect the being has on the landscape and the people at Camp Arcadia can be unnaturally beautiful at times. In equal measure though is the horror it inflicts on the people who were unlucky enough to get on its bad side. There are a lot of moving parts in this story, but the plot blends it all together so well with a such a powerful ending that its hard not to love it by the time its over.

I hope everyone will give this underrated gem a chance.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley