It Ends (2026) Review: A Cosmic Taco Bell Nightmare

The setup is deceptively simple. Five recent grads - James, Day, Fisher, Tyler, and the unseen but vocal presence of Fisher’s mom on the phone - pile into a Jeep Cherokee for one last nostalgic food run before they scatter into the adult world. They’re cracking jokes, arguing about the playlist, and soaking up that bittersweet “last time together” energy. Then, a wrong turn. A road that definitely wasn’t on the GPS. And suddenly, the familiar two-lane blacktop stretches into infinity, looping back on itself like a Möbius strip designed by a spiteful deity. The horror isn’t just in the endless road; it’s in the things lurking just beyond the treeline - shadowy figures, whispers that sound like your own voice, and a creeping sense that time has stopped caring about them. They’re trapped, and the only choices are to accept this new, terrifying reality or try to break the loop.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: this movie is intense. From the moment the Jeep rolls onto that cursed stretch of asphalt, the camera stays mostly inside the car, and the tension is thick enough to choke on. The director, Alexander Ullom (who also pops up as a passenger), does a fantastic job with what feels like a very constrained budget. There’s no showy CGI; instead, he relies on sound design, long takes, and the increasingly frazzled chemistry of his cast. The performances feel genuine, especially Phinehas Yoon as James, who slowly transitions from the group’s pragmatic anchor to a man unraveling at the seams. Akira Jackson’s Day brings a fierce, grounded energy that keeps the film from tipping fully into navel-gazing despair.

The script is smart, but it’s also a bit of a tease. It throws out a ton of cosmic horror imagery - haunted radio static, impossible geometry, the feeling of being watched by something older than the stars - but it never fully commits to explaining its own mythology. That’s both its strength and its weakness. On one hand, the ambiguity is effective; it mirrors the characters’ confusion and keeps you on edge. On the other, you can feel the 89-minute runtime struggling against the weight of its own ideas. A few plot threads feel abandoned, and the ending, while thematically resonant, will leave a lot of folks asking, “Wait, that was it?”

The film’s biggest asset is its atmosphere. The constant hum of the engine, the panic in the characters’ voices, the way the headlights only illuminate a few feet of road before everything dissolves into pure blackness - it all combines to create a suffocating sense of dread. This isn’t a gory slasher; it’s a slow-burn psychological trip that’s more concerned with the horror of being forgotten by the universe than with monsters jumping out at you. (Though there are a few chillingly effective “figures” in the distance that’ll linger in your memory.)

Pros

• Incredibly effective atmosphere and sound design that ratchet up tension without relying on cheap jump scares.
• A strong, believable cast that sells the escalating panic and their bonds with each other.
• A genuinely intriguing, mind-bending concept that respects the audience’s intelligence.
• The claustrophobic setting of the car is used to brilliant effect, making a single location feel vast and terrifying.
• It’s a bold, ambitious swing that never feels like a cash grab.

Cons

• The narrative can be frustratingly vague, with several mysteries left unresolved in ways that feel less intentional and more like dead ends.
• The pacing drags in the middle third, especially when the characters repeat the same arguments and realizations.
• The ending is a major mood-killer for anyone who prefers closure.
• The low budget occasionally shows in the limitations of the “cosmic forces” visuals, which are mostly hinted at rather than shown.

It Ends is a frustratingly compelling piece of indie horror. It’s a movie you’ll definitely have opinions about. It’s an exercise in sustained dread that has a lot to say about growing up, mortality, and the terrifying weight of infinite possibility - even if it doesn’t always know how to articulate it. It’s the kind of film I’d recommend to friends who love talking about what a movie means long after the credits roll, but I’d warn them to check their expectations for a traditional narrative arc. It’s a weird, ambitious, and admirably bleak little gem that fumbles its landing but earns its place in the conversation. Whether that’s a road you want to travel down is up to you, but I’m glad I took the wrong turn. Just don’t expect the GPS to help you find your way back.